UP Big Blue River Bridge (DeWitt)

In 1889, the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad sought to connect the end of their Council Bluffs-Chicago mainline at Council Bluffs to Lincoln, Nebraska and eventually to a point southwest near Fairbury, Nebraska; where the Chicago, Kansas & Nebraska Railway (CK&N) had built in 1887.  Because the CK&N had built a considerable network of routes around Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado; this connection was desired to give the Rock Island access to Denver.  The Rock Island purchased the CK&N in 1891.  Trackage rights were secured to cross the Missouri River on the Union Pacific Bridge into Omaha, before the route turned southwest, running through Papillion and Richfield, before crossing the Platte River at South Bend.  From here, the route continued through Murdock, Alvo and Prairie Home.  By 1892, the Rock Island had reached Lincoln, passing through the east side of the city.  In 1893, work continued south, and the route was built through Rokeby, Hallam, Clatonia, DeWitt and Plymouth before finally reaching the existing line at Jansen, Nebraska.  The Rock Island was a poor railroad, facing financial trouble regularly and often in bankruptcy.  This route hosted passenger trains known as "Rockets" for many years, although passenger trains were later discontinued.  After World War II, the Rock Island struggled to survive, proposing mergers and deferring maintenance on their routes.  Rock Island sought to keep interchange traffic between Denver and Chicago running on this line, struggling to compete with a stronger and better constructed Union Pacific system. 

By 1964, the Rock Island began attempts to merge with Union Pacific, and restructure railroads west of the Mississippi River.  This merger was eventually denied, and Rock Island turned its last profit in 1965.  In the mid-1970s, the railroad was in serious decline.  The railroad received loans to attempt to fix slow orders, received new equipment and turn a profit.  By 1978, the railroad came close to profit, but creditors were lobbying for a complete shutdown of the Rock Island.  During the fall of 1979, a strike crippled the railroad, and by January of 1980, the entire system was ordered to be shut down and liquidated.  Many of the lines and equipment were scrapped.  Profitable sections of railroad were prepared for sale.  The route between Omaha and Hallam was abandoned.  The route between Jansen and Hallam was sold to Mid States Port Authority in 1984, and began operations under Union Pacific Railroad the same year.   Today, UP owns the surviving part of this line and operates it as the Hallam Subdivision.  The line through Lincoln is now the Rock Island Trail, and plans are being made to extend the trail to US-77.  East of Lincoln, a small segment is now the Dave Murdock Trail, and the Platte River Bridge is now part of the Mopac Trail.  The remainder of this line is now privately owned and abandoned.