Last Days of the Iowa Northern

Description

The Iowa Northern Railway was started in the early 1980s to run on the former Rock Island line north out of Cedar Rapids, IA, through Waterloo and up to Manly, IA. The class III rail line had fairly consistant operations before being purchased by Canadian National in 2024.

The railroad had unique power, with rebuilt their ex-Amtrak F40M-2F cowls, GP40LW-2s, HLCX leasers, and a number of road slugs, along with their GP38-2s in a neat paint scheme remeniscent of the old Canadian Pacific scheme. We begin at the south end of the railroad in Cedar Rapids, IA, and follow the tracks north as they pass through the open fields of central and northern Iowa.

Join us as we visit the railroad in its final days of independence!