Waterloo Cedar Falls & Northern

Company History: The WCF&N was born from the 1904 reorganization of the Waterloo & Cedar Falls Rapid Transit Company. The 138 mile system was Y-shaped with Cedar Rapids at the base, running northwest to Waterloo where it split with one line to Cedar Falls and Sumner and the other to Waverly, all in the state of Iowa. They also had an important belt line around the city of Waterloo. The track and right of way were built to the standards of the local steam roads. This permitted regular interchange of freight traffic with Illinois Central, Chicago Great Western, Chicago & North Western and Rock Island but the line was strung with trolley wire and passenger service was provided with electric interurban cars. Freight trains were mostly pulled by steeple-cab electrics but the WCF&N also rostered steam locomotives for transfer runs to connecting lines. A 1954 fire in the Waterloo roundhouse destroyed most of the interurban fleet and a few of the freight motors. In 1955, the railroad was sold and became the Waterloo Railroad under the joint ownership of Rock Island and Illinois Central.

Successor/Parent History: This company was founded in 1955 by Rock Island and Illinois Central to jointly purchase the Waterloo Cedar Falls & Northern interurban line after a fire destroyed that line’s interurban cars and two of their freight motors. The new Waterloo Railroad would be a diesel powered. It connected Cedar Rapids with Waterloo, Cedar Falls, Sumner and Waverly, Iowa. In 1968, IC bought out Rock Island's stake. Within a couple of years, operations on the WLO were more or less incorporated into the larger IC system. However, WLO remained a separate company with their own charter. Much of the track has been abandoned over the years and the remains were even included in the ICG spinoff of Chicago Central & Pacific, only to end up back in the family when IC repurchased the CC&P. Throughout that period and through some reorganizations, the WLO company remained in the IC/ICG/IC/CN family even when their track did not. Their WLO reporting marks have been used on a large fleet of leased freight cars over the years.

Text Courtesy of Craig Ross at Bluford Shops.

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