Iowa All Over: Riding the rails in central Iowa

For train lovers, the James H. Andrew Railroad Museum and History Center in Boone could be one of their favorite places on Earth.

Located two hours west of Cedar Rapids, the Railroad Museum and History Center is a part of the Boone and Scenic Valley Railroad, a division of the Iowa Railroad Historical Society.

The museum features thousands of pieces of train memorabilia. The museum's collection includes - among other items - custom-built train sets, track inspection bicycles, lanterns and conductors' outfits.

The items were donated by James H. Andrew, born in 1921 in Greene County. He went to auctions around the country to collect items, explained Mike Wendel, the railroad museum's director.

Andrew ultimately donated more than 6,000 items to the museum before he died in September.

'He wanted future generations to have the same love of trains that he did,” Wendel said.

The museum, run by volunteers, has been open since 2012 and boasts 1,000 books as well as a theater room. As part of its 2015 speaker series, the museum will bring in a railroad author, a historian and other guest speakers.

One of the signature items on display in the museum is an original drawing of the original Kate Shelley High Bridge. The bridge itself, built in 1901, sits just a couple of miles away from the museum.

It's the longest double-track railroad bridge in the United States, Wendel said, and it is on the National Register of Historic Places. According to the Boone Visitors Guide, construction began on a replacement - constructed to the south, crossing the Des Moines River - in 2006 and opened in 2009.

The bridges, like the museum, tell a lot about the character of Boone and of Iowa.

'The very fabric of this state is built upon railroads,” Wendel said. 'It's one of the most overbuilt railroad states in the whole nation, and the reason why is because they were all headed out to Council Bluffs and Omaha, the beginning of the transcontinental railroad.”

And to understand farming of Iowa, to shipping of livestock in Iowa, to freight today, 'you have to understand the railroads,” he added.

'That's why Boone has always been a railroad town and still is a railroad town,” he said.

The first railroad that came through Iowa was the Mississippi-Missouri railroad, which started in the 1850s, Wendel said.

In addition to touring the train museum, visitors can ride the rails by purchasing a ticket for a dinner, dessert or picnic train ride on the Boone and Scenic Valley Railroad. Dinner trains depart from Boone from April through October.

On Saturdays during the railroad's regular season, a large Chinese steam locomotive pulls the trains.

Even when it's not running, the locomotive is impressive. Purchased new from the Datong Locomotive Works in China, the locomotive boasts Chinese and American flags on the side.

A quote in Chinese is translated into English on the train: 'The (locomotive is a) dragon that swims through the blue ocean between two friendly nations.”