The Des Moines Union Railway was incorporated in 1886 as a jointly owned union railroad between the Wabash St. Louis and Pacific Railroad, which reached Des Moines in 1882; and the Chicago, Milwaukee St. Paul & Pacific (Milwaukee Road) which reached Des Moines in 1882 as well.
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It was owned 50/50 between the two railroads.  Along with serving the Wabash and Milwaukee Road, it would later serve the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy along with the Chicago Great Western.
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The line started at the huge junction near the capitol, where two Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific lines, the Wabash line, a Chicago Great Western line, a Chicago Burlington and Quincy as well as a Minneapolis & St Louis line crossed.  It would then follow the Rock Island line west.  
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It crossed the Des Moines River just upstream from the Rock Island, went through downtown and entered a large yard area, where it could interchange with the CB&Q, M&STL, Milwaukee Road as well as the Rock Island.
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The Milwaukee Road and Rock Island left this yard, going west.  
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There was a spur from this yard to the Chicago Great Western Bell Ave Yard.  It had to cross the Raccoon River.
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Ideally this was a highly successful railroad.  And it was, throughout the first half of the 20th century.
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The Wabash Railroad was swallowed up by the Norfolk and Western Railway on October 16th 1964.  The N&W technically was leasing the Wabash.  
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The Wabash was fully destroyed in the fall of 1991, when the N&W purchased the railroad outright.  
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Although the N&W and the Southern Railroad had affiliations since 1982, they were completely merged in 1997, forming Norfolk Southern.
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The N&W had complete control of the DMU since 1985, when the Milwaukee Road was having problems of their own.
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The Milwaukee Road sold off their line into Des Moines in 1983 to the Chicago Northwestern, which later sold it to the Iowa Interstate Railroad, who had purchased much of the Rock Island line across Iowa from Council Bluffs, IA to Rock Island, IL in 1984. 
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They sold off their half of the Des Moines Union Railway to Norfolk Western in 1985.  Both the CB&Q and M&STL lines over the Des Moines River were removed in the 1970's.  
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When the Norfolk Southern was created, much of the DMU tracks were abandoned.  The bridge over the Des Moines River was specifically abandoned.  
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Today, while the DMU still exists on paper, most of the trackage is now gone.  Portions are now a trail, including the large bridge across the Des Moines River.