If you say Rutledge to railroaders around the CP/ICE/IMRL/SOO/MILW, the famed hill at Ottumwa comes to mind. This grade is a steep 1.8% out of the Des Moines River Valley leaving Ottumwa. Their are alot of stories/tales about adventures on this hill if you work with some of the old heads over this route. At the bottom of the hill is the diamond with the BNSF Ottumwa Sub and a short 4000 foot approach signal for southbounds. One has to get the train down the hill just right to see the absolute signal for the diamond at the bottom, if not, there are plenty of stories/tales about the conductor walking down to look and they don't get back on as the train blows past. I only had a few trips down here, but it is something to get use too. Modern power probably helps alot with better dynamics? I was in the trio of SD40-2's era when I worked to Ottumwa back in 2004.
Here we have 474 picking up cars off the siding on the top of the grade before heading into Ottumwa.
