Iowa

The Iowa Chapter of the NRHS has been the sole NRHS presence in the state of Iowa since 1953. While the Chapter hosted numerous excursions in the first decade, the focus of the Chapter has been the history and preservation of railroads in the Hawkeye State. Today, the Iowa Chapter hosts an annual trip on one of the last electric railways in the state, the former Mason City & Clear Lake Railway, now the Iowa Traction Railroad, with former Chicago, North Shore and Northern car 727, once owned by the Chapter and operated on the now abandoned Southern Iowa Railway, out of Centerville, Iowa. The Iowa Chapter now works to preserve the histories of not just the electric railways that once served the state, but all railroads in the Hawkeye State. We aren't large or hugely active, but we are passionate about our railroad history.