Just east of Brooklyn, Iowa, Iowa Interstate 2-10-2 6988 leads the 3rd of 5 benefit rides to raise money for the Brooklyn Volunteer Fire Department through the farmlands of Eastern Iowa in a scene that screams classic mid-America. The benefit trips are a tradition that Iowa Interstate Railroad has been doing for a least a decade as a way to give back to the communities that they serve and run through by raising money for the volunteer fire departments for the host cities and towns that are selected by the Railroad each year.
Despite the classic look of this scene, there is one fact that does spoil the Americana feel of this picture, albeit only a small amount.
To most people, this looks like any steam engine that sports the classic American look. But for railfans that know about this engine & those with a more keen eye, you'll begin to notice some things that don't add up, like the rather small driver wheels for a engine of this size and the all-weather cab that doesn't match the design or look of other all-weather cabs fitted to other North American designs, just to name a couple. Upon closer examination, you start seeing the maker marks & builder plates on the engine, which are all in Chinese and are dated for 1985. It's then that most people realize that this engine is actually a QJ class engine that was built by the Datong Locomotive Works, in China, in 1985, where it ran on the Jitong Railway in Mongolia up until it's retirement there in 2005. Shortly after its retirement, Rail Development Corporation, the parent company to Iowa Interstate, bought it & sister engine 7081, made them compliant with FRA standards, and shipped them to Iowa to 2006 for use on special events, excursions, and benefit trips. For the first 5 years, the engines, with a few minor changes to make them legal to operate in the U.S., sported their classic Chinese look, but for Train Festival 2011, the 6988 was "Americanized," or given the Robert Franzen treatment as I call it, to make it look like a hybrid between a Southern Railway engine (Franzen's favorite fallen flag) and a Rock Island engine (the heritage road that Iowa Interstate operates on).
The engine, along with 7081, would continue to operate several times a year through 2013, until liability & insurance issues, along with several other reasons, forced the engines to be parked in the shop in Newton, Iowa, where they sat serviceable & ready to run while the volunteer organization that operates & maintains them and RDC searched for a solution to continue running the engines. While they did come close a couple of times to running the 6988 between 2014 & 2017, the future of the engines started to look bleak to outsiders, as railfans & locals wondered if either engine would ever run again. In the summer of 2018 though, it was announced that for the first time since 2013, one of the two QJ's, the 6988, would run the weekend of August 18th & 19th for the benefits of the volunteer fire departments in Mitchellville & Brooklyn, Iowa. Since this was the first time since 2013 that either engine has run & the first time since 2012 for the 6988, there was a lot of excitement surrounding the weekend & the volunteers, crews, Iowa Interstate, & the engine itself, which was now sporting an freshened up paint job to have it matching with the rest of Iowa Interstate's motive power, made sure to put on a good show for those riding and watching them trackside.
While another event for the engine to run for is in the works & scheduled to occur sometime next spring, the two engines yet again hold an uncertain future. With the boiler ticket for 6988 expiring next July, & with the 7081's boiler ticket already expired (at least I think it is), the increasing insurance cost & liability concerns over using volunteers, and several other factors are raising concerns amongst railfans about their future. I can say though that after listening & speaking to Henry Posner III, the founder & chairman of Rail Development Corporation, several times over the weekend (a very nice & down to earth man, by the way), I'm confident that we will continue to see steam on the Iowa Interstate for years to come. 8-19-18
