Boone (Kate Shelley Bridge)

The Kate Shelley Bridge sits about 3 miles west of Boone on Union Pacific's Overland Route, the historic Chicago-to-West Coast mainline. Two massive structures span the Des Moines River valley side by side: the original 1901 Boone Viaduct (2,685 feet long, 185 feet above the river) and the 2009 replacement bridge (2,813 feet long, 190 feet high). The new bridge handles all revenue traffic at speeds up to 70 mph, while the 1901 lattice-steel viaduct remains in place as a service track and historic landmark.

Most railfans set up along Juneberry Road, which passes directly beneath both bridges and provides unobstructed views from the valley floor. From there, the scale of the structures is dramatic — you hear the horn echoing across the valley well before the headlight appears on the bluff, and the rumble of loaded cars crossing the steel deck carries for miles in the quiet rural landscape. The approach from the west side of the river offers the most accessible and photogenic viewing angles.

Note that the bridge and surrounding rail property are owned by Union Pacific and are private property. UP maintains security cameras on the bridge, and trespassing — especially walking onto the bridge structure — can result in legal trouble. Stay on public roads and gravel pulloffs.

The Des Moines River valley at this crossing is a broad, wooded cut through the rolling Iowa prairie. The river flows roughly north-to-south here, with the UP mainline crossing east-to-west. Bluffs on both sides rise steeply from the valley floor, cloaked in native oak and hickory. Beyond the bluffs, the landscape opens to corn and soybean fields typical of central Iowa.

The setting is profoundly rural — the nearest houses are scattered farmsteads, and apart from train noise, the valley is remarkably quiet. Iowa's continental climate produces crisp, low-humidity mornings in spring and fall that are ideal for photography, with early fog sometimes clinging to the river. Summer brings long days but heat and haze; winter offers stark silhouettes of the lattice-steel viaduct against grey skies, though gravel roads can be slippery. The coexistence of the century-old iron viaduct and the modern concrete bridge gives the scene a layered, time-spanning quality that few Midwestern rail locations can match.

The bridge carries Union Pacific's Boone Subdivision, part of the Overland Route — UP's historic mainline connecting Chicago with Council Bluffs/Omaha and points west. This double-track corridor handles a heavy volume of through freight traffic. Typical consists include unit grain and ethanol trains (especially heavy during fall harvest), double-stack intermodal, mixed manifest freight with tank cars and center-beam lumber flats, and auto rack trains.

Amtrak's California Zephyr does not use this route — it runs via the BNSF Transcon through southern Iowa. Passenger sightings are limited to occasional UP business-car specials, geometry trains, or inspection vehicles. The 2009 bridge was engineered for two trains to operate simultaneously at 70 mph, so meets on or near the span occur regularly.

The east-west alignment of the bridge dictates lighting strategy. Morning sun illuminates the north-facing girder work and is ideal for shooting eastbound trains from vantage points on the north side of the valley. Afternoon sun works best from the south riverbank, backlighting westbound trains with reflections off the Des Moines River.

From Juneberry Road directly beneath the bridges, a wide-angle lens (24-35mm) captures the full height of the towers and the dramatic perspective of both structures side by side. For shots from the county road grade crossings on the bluffs east of the bridge, a telephoto lens (200-300mm) compresses the perspective and makes the bridge appear even taller against the horizon. The old 1901 lattice viaduct makes a compelling foreground element when framing trains on the active 2009 bridge.

Sunrise and sunset produce golden light through the iron truss work of the old viaduct, while blue-hour silhouettes of locomotives against pastel skies are possible from the west-side approach. Night visits reward patient photographers with dramatic headlight beams cutting through river valley fog.

The bridge honors Catherine Carroll "Kate" Shelley, an Irish immigrant girl who risked her life on the stormy night of July 6, 1881. A pusher locomotive from the Chicago & North Western Railway had crashed through the Honey Creek bridge near her family's home after floodwaters washed out the trestle supports. Kate knew an eastbound express passenger train carrying some 200 passengers was due through at midnight. Armed with a lantern that went out in the rain, she crawled on her hands and knees across the long Des Moines River railroad trestle in the dark to reach the Moingona depot and warn the station agent. The express was halted safely in Ogden. Of the four men on the wrecked pusher engine, two were saved with Kate's help; one was found dead and one was never recovered.

Kate received a gold medal from the Iowa legislature (crafted by Tiffany & Co.), a $100 reward and lifetime rail pass from the C&NW, and a gold watch from the Order of Railway Conductors. In 1901, the C&NW built the Boone Viaduct — then the longest, highest double-track railroad bridge in the world — designed by noted bridge engineer George S. Morison. Though never officially renamed, it became universally known as the Kate Shelley High Bridge. She was the first woman in U.S. history to have a bridge named after her.

Kate lived until 1912, spending most of her life in the Moingona area. She served as station agent at the Moingona depot from 1903 until her health declined. A passenger train, the Kate Shelley 400, was later named in her honor, operating from 1955 to 1963. Union Pacific completed the new parallel concrete-and-steel Kate Shelley Bridge in 2009 at a cost exceeding $50 million, with the first revenue train crossing on August 20, 2009.

The Kate Shelley Bridge is one of a handful of locations in the Midwest where a major Class I mainline crosses a deep river valley on a structure of genuine monumental scale. At 190 feet above the water, it provides the kind of elevation drama usually associated with mountain railroading — but set against the Iowa prairie, accessible by gravel roads, and free of crowds.

What makes this site truly distinctive is the side-by-side presence of two historic bridges spanning the same valley: the 1901 George S. Morison-designed lattice-steel viaduct and the 2009 concrete replacement. Together they represent over a century of American railroad bridge engineering. The human story is equally compelling — Kate Shelley's 1881 act of courage is one of the most famous episodes in American railroad lore, commemorated by museums, a memorial trail, and the bridge names themselves. Boone County's broader railroad heritage, including the Boone & Scenic Valley heritage railroad and the nearby High Trestle Trail Bridge, makes this a destination where a railfan can spend an entire weekend.