Between 1854 and 1929 more than 200,000 orphaned and abandoned children boarded trains on the East coast and headed west to find new homes. About 8,000 to 10,000 of these children were taken in by Iowans. On today's Talk of Iowa, we'll find out about the history of the orphan trains and the children who rode them. Guests are Sue Sutton of the National Orphan Train Complex; Mary McLain, a former newspaper reporter and daughter of an Iowa Orphan Train rider; and Jim Phillips of Mason City, whose father, J. Harold Phillips, came to Iowa in 1912, when he was 6, aboard a train filled with children.
