The Midwest Electric Railway celebrates 50 years

For 50 years now the Midwest Electric Railway has operated at The Midwest Old Threshers Reunion.

Today, hundreds of people ride the 2.5 mile loop that circles the reunion’s grounds.

There are several streetcars that operate on the track.

Two of the streetcars still in use are No. 1779 and 1718, both of which were built in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1911. Both were in operation until 1965, before they and a group of other cars came to the US.

The cars came to the Old Threshers in 1970 and 1973.

Streetcar 9 is the flagship streetcar of Old Threshers. It has been in Iowa since its creation in 1910.

The car was owned by the Southern Iowa Railway (SIR) in Centerville, Iowa in 1954.

With the OK from the SIR, the Iowa Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society used the car for excursions on the weekends, and the “Iowa Railway Historical Museum” was created.

Over time, the museum acquired even more cars, and eventually Car 320 came along. After SIR was sold, the new owners wanted all the equipment gone.

Old Threshers at the same time was looking for a way to move campers in an expanded grounds.

Eventually a deal was struck, and car’s 9 and 320 came to Old Threshers in 1968.

Other cars that can be seen on the grounds include car 381, which was the last streetcar to run in Iowa. Car 1945, is the newest of the collection. Car’s 3279 and 1100 are both railway equipment. With the former being a scratch-built box motor, and the latter being a flat motor.

Wes Bender, who is the Midwest Electric Railway Historian has played an integral part in preserving the long history of the reunions streetcars.

He holds presentations throughout the reunion, giving people a look at the history of streetcars at Old Threshers.

Bender’s love for streetcars stretches back to his childhood.

“I felt in love with streetcars thanks to my mother,” Bender said. “I’m originally from St. Louis, and when I was three years old my mother took me shopping and we road on this beautiful bright red streetcar and I got hooked. I loved it.”

He was first introduced to Old Threshers in 1981 while working in the military and has never looked back.

“In the late 1970s my love and attraction for streetcars was reinvented,” Bender said. “In 1981, I was working for the military, and I had to stop here at the armory. The first thing I noticed, overhead wire. I said, ‘they have street cars here.’ I was taken over to the car barn and show all the cars. I was told how to become a volunteer and I’v been coming ever since.”

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