Oelwein, Iowa, Railroad Shops

Last crawled date: 1 year, 10 months ago

The Chicago Great Western Railroad shops in Oelwein, Iowa were the the hub of CGW from 1904 until after the railroad merged into Chicago & North Western Railroad in the 1970’s. The main shop building was completed in 1899 at 750 ft long, and was extend to a full 1,000 foot long in 1904. An extension to the east was completed in 1910 for the newer, longer Mallet articulated steam engines the CGW was using at the time. Walter Chrysler was the Oelwein Shops Master Mechanic and later Superintendent of Motive Power here in Oelwein around 1908 - 1909, shortly before he went on to a career in the automotive industry and later founded what became Chrysler Motor Company. The long concrete block addition to the north was completed around 1953 as the ‘running repair shop’ as the CGW dieselised. The shop buildings were in railroad service until the Union Pacific closed down their operation in 1993. It was then leased from the railroad by several private businesses until the mid-2000’s, at which point they sat empty. The historic shop buildings were finally demolished in early 2012. #CGW #Chicago_Great_Western #Iowa #Oelwein #Railroad #Railway #Shops