"My husband John was at the store in Aspinwall, and I
called him and told him 'a train just wrecked in your field'," Goldie
Meeves said. "The next summer we had onions growing all over in the
field."
Clara Ehrichs said the engineer apparently didn't realize the cars had derailed
as he was around the curve. "All at once he seemed to notice that he only
had part of a train, so he backed up to see where the other part had
gone," she said.
The derailment six months later was not as bad; cargo of the derailed cars included onions and lumber, and some of the cars were empty.
"We heard about it over the radio," Clara Ehrichs
said. "It had happened early in the morning just beyond the curve to the
east of town. We looked out our window and could just see the 'back end' of the
train."
Page 30
ODDS AND ENDS
THE MILWAUKEE RAILROAD
By May 1, 1882, the Chicago, Milwaukee and St.
Paul Railroad had reached Dedham, a point 16 miles east of Aspinwall and 176
miles west of the starting point near Marion. The company then had in operation
4,260 miles of tracks, 527 locomotive engines, 16,740 freight cars, 207
passenger cars, 33 sleeping and parlor cars, and 135 baggage, postal, mail and
express cars.
During the year ending December 31, 1881, the Milwaukee
carried 2,985,885 passengers, with a few more going east than west; the average
mile rate was 2.86 cents. A total of 2,222,413 tons of freight was moved east
and 2,053,675 tons of freight was moved west; the average mile rate was 1.7
cents.
-- The Milwaukee Road -- Its First 100 Years, published in 1946
ODDS AND ENDS
Harry and I took our children, Marilyn and Mark, to California by train in
1968. We left on the Milwaukee from Omaha at 4 a.m., traveled all day and
night, and arrived the next afternoon at Anaheim; in California we visited our
sons Randall, who was stationed in the Navy, and Curt, who worked in San Diego.
The train ride was very enjoyable, and there weren't many stops. The round trip
for all four of us cost $197.
Irene Jansen
ODDS AND ENDS
The railroad always seemed to have a problem with
a bad washout of the tracks west of Aspinwall.
John Babik, Omaha
ODDS AND ENDS
Irene Schacht (Armentrout) and I were about 10 or 12 when we would travel
by train from Aspinwall to Manning to visit our Grandma Kai and Aunt Hattie. We
would leave at 8 a.m. and arrive back home in the afternoon; at Manning we
would get to go uptown and shop, and we really felt we'd had a big day in town.
Our train tickets cost 10c each way. This was about 1923.
Gertrude (Schroeder) Mork
ODDS AND ENDS
H.C. Martins was born in Germany and came to the United States at the age
of three with his family. When he was 18 he went to West Side and worked for
his brother, P.J. Martins, for a while, and then began farming in Iowa
Township. H.C. later moved to Aspinwall. He helped lay the rails for the new
railroad tracks; in 1888 he returned to Westside and opened a hardware
business. The business has continued under the family name for more than 70
years.
Westside Centennial Book, published in 1969
ODDS AND ENDS
My father, Andrew Babik, worked for the Chicago,
Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad as a section laborer in Aspinwall. I remember
the 10 hour days he put in six days a week.
John Babik, Omaha
ODDS AND ENDS
When I came to Iowa in 1913, they were building the double track from Chicago to Manilla. Now in 1982, no trains
run through Aspinwall any longer.
Clara Ehrichs