The new extention would cross the Cedar River in Cedar Rapids, continue north through Shellsburg, Vinton and La Porte City before arriving in Waterloo.
In 1876, the railroad went into receivership and was sold to the Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern. The BCR&N built 5 more miles to Manly, Iowa in 1877 where it then purchased trackage rights over the Iowa Central to Northwood. The Iowa Central never built past Northwood, and the BCR&N built to Albert Lea, where it could meet up with the M&STL. The Iowa Central used this line too.
After building and buying all the way to St. Paul, MN in 1902 the BCR&N was purchased by the Rock Island Railroad. (CRIP) The Rock Island had trackage rights in the St. Paul area. This completed the Spine Line. The Spine Line ran from St. Paul, MN to Kansas City, MO. This line was crucial to the Rock Islands health. The Spine Line ran through Mason City, splitting off at Manly, in Cerro Gordo County.
But the Rock Island was a poor railroad, often going into Bankruptcy. Negotiations began for a Union Pacific and Rock Island merger in 1960, and fell through in 1980. The line here was well engineered, but due to a suffering Rock Island became unkempt and unmaintained. The Rock Island entered receivership in 1980. The Iowa Northern purchased the portion from Cedar Rapids to Vinton. A few years later, they acquired the gaps between sections. They also acquired a 13 mile branch to Dysart from Vinton, which was abandoned in 1994.
Today, the Iowa Northern provides good service between Waterloo and Cedar Rapids, and is the only direct link between the towns remaining.
The track and bridges have been strengthened and rebuilt for stable operations.
06/26/21
This bridge is a six span deck girder bridge over Bear Creek, and is the southern crossing in Shellsburg.
The southern half of the bridge was assembled in 1902, the northern half in 1959. At some point in the late 1980s, the south end failed, resulting in a temporary jump span and pier being built. The span and pier were replaced with higher quality material in 2011.
Writing on the bridge clearly states that the northern bridge spans were moved from a bridge between Shell Rock and Waverly, Iowa in 1959. This bridge crossed the Shell Rock River, and the line was abandoned early that year. It appears that the spans were installed late in 1959.
Today the bridge is in decent condition after new bearing blocks were added to piers #2, 4 and 6. It is unknown why several spans were moved here in 1959, although derailments and floods are all possibilities. Even through the spans were moved in during the fall of 1959, the double track remained until at least 1965.
In addition, bridge also appears to have been double tracked at one point.
The author has ranked this bridge as being locally significant, due to the common design.
The photo above is looking from the north bank. Blueprints were supplied by TIGER and Iowa Northern Railway.