Nostalgia & History > TOOTD 1/3/1958 WLO Waterloo IA

We remain in the Hawkeye state for today's train order - this one written 61 years ago today.

The Waterloo Railroad was the successor to the Waterloo, Cedar Falls & Northern, an interurban railway that actually went mostly south and east of
the first named city. 

This order was printed for the previous line, and bears a stamp with the new name.

Motor 3 was one of four SW900 units received from EMD, the last one a former EMD demo (they had ordered two more, but those were canceled and the demo received in place of one of them).

You'll notice in this era some practices linger from the electric days - besides the "motor" address, it is addressed to C&M - Conductor and Motorman.  Shaver was the name of their yard near the south end of the line, near Cedar Rapids, IA.  Shops, of course, was in Waterloo.

Initially, the Waterloo RR was jointly owned by the RI and IC, IC later acquiring the other half.  Both prized the belt line in Waterloo, with many industries, including John Deere.

When the Milwaukee pulled out of the Cedar Rapids area in 1980, , the Waterloo assumed operations between Cedar Rapids and Marion, and eventually the IC tied in the Milwaukee line into their own.  This portion I believe is gone entirely now, as is the mainline (a bike trail), several depots do remain.  Some pieces around Waterloo are still extant.

Three of the four switchers stayed in the Midwest - 3 ended up at a scrap dealer in the El Paso, TX area.

1005



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/03/19 19:19 by 22dot5_ERS.

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Interesting order, thanks for posting.  Shaver would be Shaver Yard in Cedar Rapids, some of which still exists.  
So I'm thinking this was an extra freight from Cedar Rapids to Waterloo, the "Shops" location.  

Nick Tharalson,
Marion, IA