| Oelwein took its nickname of "Hub City" from being the junction of Chicago Great Western's Kansas City line with their Chicago-Twin Cities mainline. When C&NW acquired CGW they abandoned the majority of CGW's trackage, but kept the large yard and shops here. The yard became a preferred place to store power, so photos of large deadlines of F units and the like from Oelwein are common. A small portion of the Chicago line to south of 7th Street SE was left in place, but whatever customer was there has since closed or stopped using rail service. The west leg of the wye is the only one still active, as Iowa Northern services town from Waterloo on a piece of the old Kansas City line. Transco Railway Products uses the former shops, and a couple customers are served near Highway 3 on a stub of the old line toward St. Paul. |