The Quad Cities, East St. Louis, and Western Railroad came about in the early 2000’s. I had moved to St. Louis in 1999, and after a couple of other jobs, started working for a Midwest regional scrap metal company in 2001. The job had me travelling mostly in and around Iowa, going as far West as Lincoln, NE and as far North as St. Paul, MN. It was in these travels that the love of trains my father had instilled me in re-awakened, and I knew I had to start playing with trains again.
My dad loved his prototype railroads, and living in California for the majority of his life, focused on UP, SP, and other Western railroads. His collection of engines and rolling stock reflects his favorite railroads. I knew if I was going to do something, I had to come up with some sort of a story, some locations, and a name, or it would never feel right.
Living in the St. Louis metropolitan area, I had to include that in the name somehow. I had spent a lot of time in and around Davenport, IA, one of the four cities that make up Iowa/Illinois “Quad Cities” area. It seemed pretty natural to include them in the name if I could. And growing up in California, the “Western” part seemed appropriate. After thinking about it a bit, I realized that the “QU” from “Quad Cities”, the “EST” from “East St. Louis”, and tacking on the “Western” at the end, made for a cool set of names:
- Quad Cities, East St. Louis, and Western – Perfect for the “old time” railroad naming schemes
- QUEST Western – An abbreviated, “streamlined” name to fit the more modern scheme of today’s railways
Thinking about how to round it all out, and settle on final locations for my eventual layout, I thought about other significant places in my life.
I grew up in Livermore, CA, so that was an obvious location to consider modelling. My family also spent a lot of time in the Pacific Northwest, visiting family and enjoying vacation time, and since that was such a huge part of my childhood, with so many fond memories, I wanted to include that as well.
When my brother got out of the Army, he “retired” to Dubuque, IA, another town I was fond of from my scrap metal days.
With all that in mind, I grabbed a blank map, and started connecting the dots, which left me with this:
And with that, the Quad Cities, East St. Louis, and Western Railroad, or QUEST Western for short, was born.