The Iowa Northern Railway

While shortline service began as early as 1981 the IANR was not created until 1984 from the remains of the same former Rock Island branch line (the Rock was liquidated and shutdown in 1980), albeit only sections were in service at this time between Cedar Rapids and Vinton, and Shell Rock to Nora Springs (today the main line runs from Cedar Rapids all of the way north to Manly with a branch extending from Cedar Falls to Oelwein).

The railroad was once owned by a group of grain elevators and coupled with the fact that it lies in granger country, and is currently enjoying the ethanol boom, it comes as no surprise that one of the Iowa Northern’s stables for freight is grain although it does haul other agricultural and merchandise products.

The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, better known as simply the Rock Island was a legend even during its own time (the railroad even had a song named after it!). And perhaps this is what makes it’s ending so depressing. For all of the railroad’s fame and recognition, this did not translate into wealth and power. Several times throughout the railroad’s history it would go into receivership, its last in 1975 when it would be liquidated five years later in 1980.

However, even with an eye-catching and famous passenger train coupled with a number of aggressive management teams over the years, the railroad’s very network continued to haunt it. The Rock Island’s days were not good as traffic retreated after World War II. This traffic loss was a result of competing railroads and the emergence of the Interstate highway system.

The “unofficial” end for the Rock Island began in 1964 when the Union Pacific approached the railroad interested in merger. What resulted was an extremely drawn out and complicated merger proposal that would end in the Interstate Commerce Commission changing its policies on future proposals to take much less time to complete. After ten years of proceedings the ICC finally granted the Union Pacific the right to merge with the Rock Island. However, there were so many stipulations still attached, coupled with the fact that after ten years of proceedings the Rock Island had literally fallen apart, that not only did the Union Pacific not want it but also no other railroad.

The Chicago Great Western is one of the lesser-recognized fallen flags because of its small size and the fact that among most of the other granger roads it was a David among Goliaths. Altogether the railroad consisted of less than 1,500 miles of trackage serving Chicago and points northwest and southwest including St. Paul/Minneapolis, Omaha, and Kansas City. However, what the railroad lacked in size it more than made up for in customer service.

Currently the Iowa Northern’s roster consists entirely of EMDs ranging from versions of F40s to GP40-2s. The below roster is courtesy of The Diesel Shop:

#451, #454, #458 and #461 - EMD F40PHR

#678 - EMD F40PHR

#2003 - EMD GP20

#3800-#3811 - EMD GP38-2

#4000, #4001-#4003 - EMD GP40-2LW

Always the innovator the CGW was constantly looking to streamline operations and not only find new customers but also retain the ones it already served. Alas, however, the railroad would succumb to the economics of a region so overpopulated with railroad tracks that by the 1960s demand was no longer able to support supply and the CGW merged with the Chicago and North Western in the late 1960s to save itself from a gloomy fate, such as what would happen with neighbor Rock Island roughly ten years later.

For more reading on shortlines like the Iowa Northern consider the book American Shortline Railway Guide from author Ed Lewis. The book has gone through several updated editions to keep up with the ever-changing world of the shortline industry. Today, the publication highlights almost 600 shortlines across the country with general background information about each (such as roster information, rail line history, radio frequencies, etc.). If you have any interest in shortlines you will very likely enjoy this book.