NS Des Moines River Bridge

In 1882, the Des Moines and St. Louis Railroad (DM&StL) constructed 68 miles of new railroad, extending from Albia, Iowa to Des Moines, Iowa.  In 1888, about 2.5 miles within the city limits of Des Moines were sold to the Des Moines Union Railway, a switching railroad operating within Des Moines.  In 1899, the Moulton, Albia and Des Moines Railroad (MA&DM) constructed an additional 29 miles of track, connecting an existing line at Moulton, Iowa to the end of the DM&StL at Albia.  Both railroads were consolidated into the Wabash Railroad in 1899.  The Wabash was reorganized as the Wabash Railway in 1915.  The Wabash would become a respected railroad network in the Midwest, with a principal mainline connecting Detroit with Kansas City.  While the Wabash was a smaller railroad, it also operated a number of branch lines to serve other railroad hubs in the Midwest.  Between Albia and Harvey, Iowa; the Wabash line paralleled a Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad (CB&Q) line that served the same endpoints.  In 1934, the Wabash and CB&Q agreed to share trackage between Albia and Tracy, Iowa.   The original Wabash was removed between Albia and Hamilton, Iowa in 1935; and the Wabash and CB&Q shared the Wabash tracks between Hamilton and Tracy.  The Wabash was controlled by the Pennsylvania from 1931 through the early 1960s.

During the early 1960s, Iowa began work on Lake Red Rock, a large dam and lake to improve flooding concerns on the Des Moines River.  As part of the work, the Wabash was forced to consolidate operations and relocate between Harvey and Runnells, on the southeast side of Des Moines.  The Wabash and CB&Q agreed to jointly use the CB&Q tracks between Harvey and Swan, Iowa; and Wabash tracks between Runnells and Des Moines.  In 1964, a new connection and bridge across the Des Moines River was completed between Swan and Runnells.  In 1964, the railroad was acquired by the Norfolk and Western Railway (N&W), which operated a sizable network of railroads in the eastern United States.  In 1982, the N&W was merged with the Southern Railway to form Norfolk Southern Railway (NS).  The segment between Moulton Junction, Iowa and Albia was abandoned in 1993 and sold to the Appanoose County Community Railroad (APNC).  In 2016, the APNC was purchased by the Iowa Southern Railway (ISRY), which is operated by Progressive Rail. Today, NS continues to operate the Albia to Des Moines line jointly with CB&Q successor BNSF Railway.  ISRY operates the segment between Moulton Junction and Albia.  The remainder of the line has been abandoned, with much of the original route between Harvey and Runnells under Lake Red Rock.