OCTOBER QJ TICKETS & TIMES AVAILABLE
Posted Saturday, September 6, 2008
The City of Rock Island now has the times and online ticket sales available for the October QJ charity trips. The schedule can be found [here], and tickets can be purchased from [this link]. - NDH

FIRST IAIS ES44AC PAINTED
Posted Saturday, September 6, 2008
IAIS 510 has emerged in black, red, and gold from Mid America Car in Kansas City, MO. So far, it's deep within their yard, but the first few clear pictures have emerged. Dan Schueth has allowed me to repost his shot of 510 here, so for everyone curious about what IAIS's new power is going to look like, take a look [here]. - NDH

FIRST FIVE ES44ACs LEAVE ERIE, PA
Posted Saturday, August 16, 2008
The first five of Iowa Interstate's dozen new ES44ACs have left GE's locomotive factory in Erie, PA. IAIS 502, 503, 504, 508,and 510 left Erie via Norfolk Southern on the morning of Friday, 15-Aug-2008. They're on NS 145, and if I understand this train correctly, it's a manifest for Hannibal, MO. For those looking for the units, the train was called out of Bellevue, OH, on Saturday morning at 0145h. It looks like they'll go straight to KC on the NS.

IAIS 505 and another unit were spotted on the outbound NS tracks at Erie this morning (Saturday, 16-Aug-2008). They'll most likely be westbound this afternoon. K Bauer (CSX4838 on Trainorders.com) caught these two this morning, and I've added his shots (with permission) to the new [IAIS 505 roster page].

The units are in primer, and will move to Kansas City, MO, to be painted and prepped for service at Mid-America Car. (MAC is the same shop that overhauled and painted the 700s and 150s as well, and has done a good deal of other work for IAIS.) - NDH