Having found the gravel road, I made my turn and noticed a "Bridge Out" sign next to the road. I figured I would follow the road until I either found the CGW trestle, or was stopped by a large gap in the road where a bridge once stood.
I didn't have any luck finding the CGW trestle, but I did come across "Road Closed" signs blocking the road, and ahead was an old single lane truss looking bridge that was in the process of being dismantled.
Since I was there, and I had camera in hand, I decided to record a few pictures of the old bridge before it was completely torn out. As I was taking a few detail shots of the bridge remains, I noticed what looked a couple of upside down flat cars laying in a ditch on the other side. While this peaked my interest, time was running short, and I needed to continue journey.
About a month later, with Iowa highway map in hand, I found myself on the other side of the now torn out bridge. Laying there in the ditch next to the gravel road were two 89 foot Trailer Train flat cars.
The flat cars had been stripped of all appliances. With good sunlight, I proceeded to take detail shots of the undersides.
After all, how often is a modeler presented with fully lit under frame shots. This was a first for me, being able to record bolster, cross member, and floor reinforcements.
As I was clicking away, it became more apparent that these Trailer Train discarded cars were going to be somehow incorporated into a replacement road bridge. Iowan's are known for practicality and metal working, so it seemed like a plausible possibility. Time would tell though.
As my time was drawing to a close, I wanted to record the reporting marks and car numbers, should a record of the car's dispositions be needed. Unfortunately, Spring had sprung in full force, and the native Iowa grasses and weeds were starting to shroud the car sides. But, there was enough showing that I could somewhat capture the car's identifying marks.
It's now 2 years later, and the "Bridge Out" sign next to gravel road has long since been removed. For about a year now, I've meant to stop and see the new road bridge, and more importantly see what became of those 89' flat cars.
As I had theorized 2 years prior, the flat cars were indeed used as a road deck for that replacement bridge. And much to my surprise, the bridge retained much of that flat car look, complete with reporting marks, car number, and even the Trailer Train logo.
Looking like something we modelers would do in scale, the bridge builders simply sliced and spliced the flat car decks together to form the bridge road deck. I've seen similar application of decommissioned flat cars being used as bridges, but the use was limited to private roads and railroad access roads. This is the first time that I've seen such a use on a rural county road though.
Once again, time was drawing to a close. As I drove out to the main road, I couldn't help but think that the last time Lamont saw a TOFC flat car was back in the early 70's just before the Chicago and North Western railroad suspended service on the former CGW line. It's ironic that some 40 years later, TOFC service (that's Tractor on Flat Car) returns to Lamont.
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