The Final Nail In The Coffin For Iowa Northern. Back on January 30, 2024, Canadian National Railroad and the Iowa Northern Railroad filed an application seeking approval from the STB (United States Surface Transportation Board) for CN to purchase and buyout the IANR. A short few days ago on January 14th, the STB had officially approved Canadian National’s acquisition of the Iowa Northern Railroad almost a full year later. Now that this upcoming railroad acquisition is approved by the STB, February 13, 2025 is slated to be the last “official” days of operation for the Iowa Northern before CN officially takes over IANR and their trackage between Manly, IA and Cedar Rapids, IA. February 13th is when STB’s decision is effective, and CN can take control anytime after that. But noticeable changes aren’t speculated until at least this summer.
Temperatures In Central Iowa and Waterloo were subzero as result of a polar vortex moving in. My dashboard in my car read as low as -5°, and the weather app had said real feel with wind chills were below -20°. But no matter the temperature, sunny weather doesn’t stop me! Train WABU, Waterloo to Butler (Shell Rock, IA), is a nightly nighttime job for the most part, however IANR did not run one the night prior, so they had ran one in daylight during my day trip out there. With a pair of IANR F40PH’s, and a pair of slug sets in charge, WABU can be seen here utilizing trackage rights on Canadian National’s Waterloo Division while enroute to their own mainline and their yard in Shell Rock, which will be under Canadian National ownership in just as short as a few weeks. Here, they are crossing the historic truss bridge over the Cedar River. It was built In 1899 by the Illinois Central Railroad and sees an estimate of under 10 trains a day by CN and IANR.
Get those last photos soon, as Iowa Northern is about to highball into the sunset!
