Amtrak rolls through 50 years

It’s a friend maker.

It can be a blessing.

It gives a different view of America.

It’s a reminder of America’s past with bold proposals for its future.

It’s Amtrak; the passenger rail service that stops in Creston.

As the government-created and owned passenger rail service looks ahead it can look back on its growth during its first 50 years, which were acknowledged May 1.

For decades prior, private railroads offered passenger service, but struggled to make it financially sound. To keep passenger rail service an option, in 1970 Congress created Amtrak so those companies could get out of the business, but passenger trains still be an option for travelers.

The Saturday, May 1, 1971, Creston News Advertiser explained Amtrak’s debut in Creston. It appeared to be a seamless transition.

“The last Burlington Northern Railroad passenger train on the main line through Creston left Creston at 12:48 p.m. today.

It was the eastbound California Zephyr, which left San Francisco, California, on Thursday. It will complete its run to Chicago early this evening.

The first train through Creston under the new Amtrak rail passenger system will arrive here at 9:05 p.m. tonight. It will be the westbound to Denver, Colorado. The first eastbound Amtrak train will arrive here at 5:18 a.m. Sunday, enroute to Chicago.

The Amtrak Chicago-Denver and Chicago-San Francisco routes are over the Burlington Northern line across Iowa. The Amtrak trains will make four stops in Iowa at Burlington, Ottumwa and Osceola as well as Creston.

The Amtrak train will run to Denver daily and on to San Francisco three times each week.

The Amtrak rail system went into operation at 12:01 a.m. today when the new corporation established by Congress last year assumed responsibility for operating 182 passenger trains it allowed the 20 participating railroads to drop 178 other trains.

One of the trains discontinued is the former BN Nebraska Zephyr train.

Railroad employees here said passengers will find little change in operation under Amtrak. The train will be operated by BN crews. Tickets will be purchased from BN clerks at the depot here, and information also will be given at the ticket office here,” states the story.

Ken Pollard, 71, of Lenox has ridden Amtrak and said the form of transportation has its own environment.

“It’s always an adventure,” he said. “You go through the little towns and see them from a different angle. It’s different than driving down Main Street.”

He said he likes the train casual atmosphere compared to a commercial plane where passengers “are hurried up to get on.”

Pollard said he has a sentimental relationship to trains as his father and grandfather both worked on the railroad.

Pollard said the services provided on Amtrak add to the experience.

“It’s easier to eat on the train than in the car,” he laughed.

The dining car on Amtrak comes with an actual table and service.

“The people who ride the train are always interesting. There is much more camaraderie,” he said.

Bill Robinson of Creston is a regular rider of the train and has also met people with unique stories.

“During a summer visit to Denver the (train) car was nearly full,” he said about the trip.

He happened to meet someone who was not from the United States.

“She was a geologist from Wales. Some of my ancestors are from Wales. This was her first visit to the U.S.A. and wanted to see some of the country, so she had flown into Chicago and was taking the train to San Francisco for a geology conference there,” he explained.

Robinson also pointed out how the train can do things other forms of transportation has trouble.

He said, in December 2006 Denver was hit with a blizzard. He feared the snow would trap him in the Colorado capital.

“I made it back to Union Station from my appointment just in time before much of Denver shut down. Eventually, the interstates and the airport were shut down. Amtrak was scheduled to leave and we inherited a few people who had been at the airport. How they made it from the airport to the train station was a mystery,” he said.

Finally, late in the evening Amtrak followed a freight train out of Denver.

“The other train plowed the snow ahead of us. We were the only people to escape the city that night. Once we got out of the heavy snow the freight train pulled onto a siding allowing Amtrak to pass,” he said.

The California Zephyr, the name of the Amtrak line that goes through southern Iowa, uses the same rail line as the freight and coal trains. Unfortunately, Amtrak is not guaranteed to always be on time because of the freight trains and has to deal with derailments and other disruptions with rail service.

Children older that 12 are allowed to ride Amtrak alone following some guidelines. Wyatt Franklin, 18, of Creston has done that.

“I was 13 or 14, and by myself,” Franklin said about his trips to visit family in Illinois. “The staff is really nice. The seem to actually care for you”

Unlike airplanes, Amtrak seats are first-come-first-serve.

“It’s a free-for-all for a seat,” Franklin said.

But there are benefits of the strategy.

“I’ve made some amazing friends and met some really nice people. There are a lot of nice people who ride the train. People you probably never would have thought talking to. I don’t see myself going up and saying, ‘Hi, my name is Wyatt.’ You feel obligated to do that.”

Creston is one of six Iowa towns with an Amtrak stop. Creston is along the California Zephyr service which connects Creston to Osceola, Ottumwa, Mount Pleasant and Burlington. The Zephyr line stretches from Chicago to the greater San Francisco area.

According to Amtrak fiscal year 2019 statistics, which ended Sept. 30 that year, Creston had 3,281 passengers combined get on or off at Creston. The fiscal year runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30. Osceola had 14,026 riders.

Fort Madison is on the Southwest Chief line that runs from Chicago, through the extreme southeast corner of Iowa, Missouri and Kansas and eventually to Los Angeles.

President Biden’s infrastructure proposal includes expanding Amtrak to additional cities. In Iowa, the growth would include Iowa City. If Biden’s original plan is approved, South Dakota would be the only state of the contiguous 48 without being part of an Amtrak train route.

Part of the history, heritage and charm of traveling by train are the depots across the country, some of which Amtrak uses. Creston is no different.

According to Great A

merican Stations Amtrak relocated its passenger waiting room to the historic Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (CB&Q) depot in downtown Creston in August 2019; Amtrak had formerly occupied a small portion of the BNSF Railway office building located just a few hundred feet to the east.

In preparation for the move, Amtrak carried out a $1.3 million improvement project at the depot to ensure it is accessible for all passengers. Work included modifying entryways, installing new fixtures and hardware in the restrooms, relocating seating and adding new signage, parking spaces and a passenger loading zone.

Amtrak occupies the original waiting room, located on the depot’s western end. It features dark red terrazzo floors and an oak coffered ceiling supported by classical columns clad in glazed tile.

The walls are of glazed buff brick and green tile wainscot, which help reflect the ample natural light entering the room through large round arch windows. Oak trim is used around the windows and doorways. Customers waiting for the train may enjoy model trains and displays detailing the town’s railroad history.

Creston was established in 1868 by the CB&Q, which chose this location as a division point. The town was so named because it sits on a crest of land between the basins of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. By the late 1800s, Creston was a major rail hub with more than 50 daily trains passing through town.

The three-story depot, opened in 1899 at a cost of $75,000, has exterior walls of buff brick with stone trim at the base and in various belt courses. Large dormers finished with coping punctuate the steeply pitched roof line. A sense of grandeur is evoked by large, round arch windows and doorways on the ground floor, which in addition to the waiting room originally included a ticket office, lunch counter and baggage room. Historic images show the depot once had a canopy that wrapped around its southern and western sides to protect passengers from inclement weather, but it was later removed.

Since Creston was a division point, the depot also contained railroad offices on the upper levels for the division superintendent, dispatcher, road master, physician and other officials. The depot abutted the busy Creston yards, which had one of the largest roundhouses in the CB&Q system.

After the railroad moved its operations out of the building in the 1970s, the city purchased the property. When the building was threatened with demolition, residents voted in favor of a bond to support its preservation, and in 1974 the depot was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Today, the first floor also houses an art gallery, senior center and exhibits, while the second floor is reserved for municipal use.