NEWTON - Out on the far northeast edge of Newton where town gives way to corn and soybean fields, two pillars of smoke rose into Friday's gray dawn from the front of a nondescript steel industrial building. On an otherwise ordinary workday morning, the Iowa Interstate Railroad had issued its call to the faithful — steam! — and the faithful had answered.

"It's just the love of it," said Don "Tennessee" Angles, 46, of Jackson, Mo. "You've got to want to do it."

When the Iowa Interstate fired up its two Chinese-built steam locomotives to power excursions Friday out of Rock Island, Ill., to benefit the Salvation Army's flood relief and recovery efforts, it touched off a pilgrimage of more than a dozen men from the four corners of the country.

"We've got a great team from all over, and I'm just here to learn," said Matt Schwerin, 31, of Nicholasville, Ky.

The men converged on Newton, where the Iowa Interstate stores the two steamers, to bring them to Iowa City, where they spent last night. At 7:30 this morning, the two QJ-class — from Qian Jin, Chinese for "progress" — will leave for Rock Island at the head of a freight train organizers hope will set a record for "steam-hauled revenue tonnage in the 21st Century."

No record-setting train Friday, though. Hardly any train at all: To preserve a scant supply of coal, the two engines hauled just a single boxcar loaded with tools, spare parts and other supplies.

It didn't matter, much, to the volunteer crews of QJs 6988 and 7081. The modern diesel is more powerful and efficient, but its workings are hidden behind shrouds and hoods.


Steam's elemental force works right out in the open: Coal is shoveled into the firebox beneath the big round boiler, heating water to create steam which is ducted down to those big cylinders that push on the massive side rods that turn the big drive wheels, and 6988 and 7081 walk on down the line.

"This is old technology that was put on the shelf 60 years ago," said Michael Manwiller, 33, of Heber City, Utah, 6988's fireman.

And instead of air horns, they have whistles — hoarse, urgent steam whistles that shout to the skies.

"This is my first big steam," said Andrew Dean, 20, Desoto, Mo., who's earning his way through college at the throttle of a small narrow-gauge steamer at the Six Flags amusement park near St. Louis.

People noticed the two big engines towing their very small train through the autumn countryside. In Kellogg, a gaping man nearly drove his pickup off the road. In Grinnell, a wide-eyed blond girl waved and danced with delight on a back porch. In Coralville, motorists on Highway 6 drove with one hand, extending cell phone cameras out their windows with the other.

That's what Henry Posner, chairman of IAIS's Pittsburgh-based parent company Railroad Development Company, had in mind when he bought the QJs in 2006.

"We are a modern freight railroad — our business is giving central Iowa access to the national rail network," Posner said after meeting the steam engines in Iowa City. "But we are not afraid to celebrate the fact that we are a railroad."

By the end of Friday's 95-mile run, the QJs' volunteer crew members were tired, filthy and sore. And about as happy as they'll ever be.

"It's just a joy to make it all happen," said Manwiller.

"It's a rush, is what it is," said Angles.