For those of us who know Merlin and Carol and the rest who are missing out by having not met them...
Their store is smack in the middle of downtown Cedar Falls, probably less than 1/2 mile from the mighty Cedar River. This is the same river that's so terribly flooded Cedar Rapids, etc.
Carol tells me that they've managed to haul out a semi load of stock and that they've been pumping water out of the basement for 10 days.
They've had some water in the basement but little or none on the main floor.
They're holding up well. I told her I wish there was something I could do for them but really, there's not much that could be done at this point.
All of Waverly is devastated, as is so much of the Cedar Valley.
I'm sure the destruction will be heavy on all the RR lines in the area, from CN to Iowa Northern, to ICE, and all. I'll bet the equipment losses will be horrendous.

that is beautiful country. my brother went to college in nearby Mt. Vernon.
hope your friends hold out OK.

John, I live in northwest Iowa, 224 miles due west of Caboose Stop, How about you? Contact me at cbqer@aol.com.

Dick

Merlin has a really nice O Scale layout in that basement, so I hope it was not too damaged.

They are one of the friendliest, honest and best train stores around.

I used to stop regularly when I worked in that area. Carol always had a "basket case" Walther passenger car at a great price. These were lovingly restored by me and still run great. Where else could you get a scale length passenger car with trucks for $25?

They come up to the Madison and Milwaukee shows and they are always my first stop. Great prices and great service.

Any word on the nearby museum collection of O Scale engines? I hope those are okay too.

ROB MOZGAWA
MADISON< WI

I agree that they are very nice people, while I haven't had the pleasure of meeting Carol yet. I see Merlin every month at the RR show at the DuPage County Fairgrounds and recently at a railroadiana show at the Kane Co. Fairgrounds. We are from Spencer and Ruthven, Iowa and I want to stop at see his store on the next trip back to see relatives. We currently live in the western suburbs of Chicago.

Dick, we lived in Sioux City from 1967 to 1971 but haven't had any occasion to go back in years. My grandfather on my Mom's side was a roadmaster for the CNW and lived in SC for awhile. I used to love listening to his railroad stories when I was a boy, back when dinosaurs still roamed the earth. I seem to recall that CNW was the big railroad in Sioux City when i lived there. It must be UP now?

I wish the very best to all the people effected by the flooding. It is really tough coming back from a big flood.

Art

Chugman,

The largest now in Sioux City is the BNSF. Sioux City averages about 25 trains a day between the BNSF, UP, CN (IC). Just think though, during the height of the Stock Yards, Sioux City was one of the largest rail markets in the country. I have been told 9th to 14th largest. We had Milwaukee, GN, CB&Q, IC, C&NW, CGW, and the Sioux City Terminal. The stock yards were surrounded by railroads with the Terminal sliding cars across to different lines.

Dick

no doubt, Dick, with a sweet aroma!

It was always real nice in July especially with a south wind. We would go outside and say, "smell the money." Boy, could it stink.

Dick

When we moved to Sioux City in 1967, the realtor was driving us around and pointed to a very large pile of cow manure south of town. She said they were proud of that because it represented the health of the stock yards. I've seen a lot of examples of corporate or community pride but that was the only time that a pile of crap was held in such high esteem. That being said, we very much enjoyed the four years that we lived in Sioux City. We had moved from the little town of Spencer, Iowa and it seemed like the big city to us. After living in the suburbs of Chicago for 15 years it doesn't seem very big anymore. The last time I was in Sc was in 1995 and I didn't have much time to look around but it still seemed like a great town to me.

sounds like an appropriate monument for Washington DC to me.