I visited my dad at this location as a kid...I've thought of this place so many times and had no idea it was now abandoned. My dad worked here until 1970 and then transferred from Des Moines to Pittsburgh to the Neville Island location for a few more years until maybe 1975? I wish I could have shown him this video. Thanks for posting.
Miss the old “Green and Yellow”……36 years in locomotive department CNW/UP…..retired in 2010 . Great career and great people! Would not trade it for anything👍👍😎❤️🇺🇸
So um, yea, unfortunately not possible. This 100+ year old magnificent and historical structure was torn down by the city of Des Moines in 2005 in an agreement with the bridge's owner at the time, Norfolk Southern Railway, as I recall. At taxpayer expense of course, with an even more pathetic excuse of a report to validate the necessity of doing so. To your point, however, this was a Chicago Great Western bridge in its heyday, connecting to the fairly recently active Bell Avenue Railyard, once one of the major railyards in the city. Here's the kicker: not but hardly two miles from this video's right of way looking southwest, is the trailhead for the... you guessed it... "Great Western Trail" which utilizes this exact line right of way as a bike/etc. trail to Martensdale, Iowa and originates in Water Works Park. The city of Des Moines, in its ever abundant logical rationale, failed to connect those two points; excruciatingly so as at the time of demolition in 2005, the "Great Western Trail" was one of the most popular trails in the metro and would have also added historical flare to the absolutely burgeoning Gray's Lake Park trail and recreation network. And even more painfully, the very large historical Chicago Northwestern truss bridge just east of the Scott Street Bridge at the confluence of the Des Moines and Raccoon Rivers, has also been torn down in an eerily similar matter instead of preserving its historical status. Railroads are one of, if not the, single most influential utility that made both Iowa and Des Moines what they are today. It's just sad is all, with the misappropriations and whathaveyou.
The residential alleys looked shabby back in 1998, like on 28th Street just north of McVicar Freeway. Hope the city took care of that. Some folks have garages back there.
Des Moines sure has changed in 23 years. There used to actual businesses that conducted actual economic activity. Not just bars and resturants. And thats the East Side. There is no village there, that's something made up by hipsters.
I'm not from DSM but have worked and spent a lot of time there the last 30 years. It's amazing the changes. Younkers, the R&T, Babe's. The Hipsters taking over down town and the East Side. (It aint no village). It's great you captured these moments.
Cant believe this was 22 years ago. My friends and i spent hours downtown skateboarding in the 90s. Lots of fond memories at locales that are long gone.
Iam not sure when the bridge was torn down but this was known as the crooked train bridge as a kid because at some point in time the top was pushed during one of our many floods until it went crooked hence the name crooked train bridge
Thank you so much for posting this as lam a born and raised Des Moines resident and to see 235 as it used to be and Des Moines 21 years ago it is so cool to see this but next time better music lol
At 2:30 you can see Beeline Color and Des Moines Blue Print co. Does this mean that Beeline Blue on ingersoll merged companies some time ago? How cool!!!
My first job out of college was 1015 Tuttle Street. I spent a couple years in this plant before I went to Saudi Arabia to start a plant for PDM. Thank You for Posting. This has many, many good memories. Looking over my shoulder, "I would not change a thing!".
