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.
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 the Nora Springs (12 miles east of Mason City) at the junction of the Milwaukee road to Shell Rock, near Waterloo. They operated as a shortline. It was completely purchased between Manly and Cedar Rapids by 1982, for a total of 5.4 Million.
Today, the Iowa Northern has a few more branch lines, but their mainline continues to be from
Manly to Cedar Rapids. The line sees about 2 trains a day, and is in decent condition.
06/26/21
Located in the town of Rockford, this large deck girder span crosses the Shell Rock River.
Built in 1898, the bridge features four deck girder spans. These spans contain fishbelly ends, an uncommon feature for the bridges. This possibly indicates the previous bridge was a through girder span.
The substructures of the bridge are built of stone and concrete. The entire bridge received an upgrade in 2011.
Overall, the bridge appears to be in good condition. It can be accessed from either side.
The author has ranked this bridge as being locally significant, due to the common design.
The photo above is an overview.
Upstream | Nora Springs Rail Bridge |
Downstream | Clarksville Trail Bridge |