This route connected to Dubuque Chicago on the east, making it an important route. In 1867, Illinois Central began to lease the D&SC.
In 1869, the Iowa Falls and Sioux City Railroad continued construction west, reaching Sioux City by the end of 1870.
This new construction was in response to a fear by the directors of the D&SC that the Illinois Central would lose interest in the company. Reaching Sioux City promised a large volume of traffic into Chicago.
The route helped develop several major Iowa towns, including Iowa Falls, Fort Dodge and Cherokee.
In 1888, the IF&SC was merged into the D&SC. By 1900, new connections would be open to Omaha, Sioux Falls and Onawa.
Relatively uncommon in the modern world of railroading, the Illinois Central did not fully consume the D&SC until 1946. Despite this, virtually every project was Illinois Central funded until then.
Immediately after this, the IC went to work rebuilding numerous older truss bridges along the line. This route served as the western mainline for the Illinois Central, which had grown to be considerable in size.
In 1972, the IC merged with the Gulf, Mobile & Ohio Railroad to form the Illinois Central Gulf. The ICG dissolved back into the Illinois Central in 1988.
The entire western main line and associated branch lines of the IC were sold to a railroad known as the Chicago Central and Pacific Railroad in 1985.
Just 11 years later, the route would again be purchased by Illinois Central. By 1999, the Illinois Central was purchased by Canadian National.
In 2017, Canadian National operates the Cedar Falls-Fort Dodge segment of this line as the Waterloo Subdivision.
09/09/21
Located in Webster City, this deck girder bridge crosses the Boone River.
Built in 1947 to replace an aging 1880s truss, the bridge features six spans of deck girder, set onto concrete piers.
These deck girders were built by American Bridge Company, the predominant builder of railroad spans at the time.
Overall, the bridge appears to be in fair to good condition. Some spalling of the abutments is present.
Historic photo of the previous bridge. Credit to PhotoLibrarian on Flickr, used with Creative Commons permission.
The author has ranked this bridge as being minimally significant, due to the common design and newer age.
The photo above is an overview.
| Upstream | Webster City Railroad Bridge |
| Downstream | Briggs Woods Rail Bridge |