Railroad Development in Mason City

Railroad Development in Mason City. Steam Era, 1869 - 1955. [Left Panel] , Steam railroad history began in 1869 for Mason City when the McGregor and Missouri River Rwy laid track from Nora Springs to Clear Lake and became part of the effort to link Chicago with South Dakota, and in 1870-71 when the Mason City and Minnesota, and the Iowa Central RR began to establish a north-south route to move coal from the Fort Dodge area. These and other short-line railroads in the region eventually merged by the early 1900's into the five major rail lines that served Mason City for most of the steam era.

A sixth railway of the steam era was the local Mason City and Clear Lake RR, an electric rail service begun in 1897 that still exists today as the Iowa Traction RR. It served to interconnect businesses, passengers, and rail transfer services between the major regional RR lines.

A few major industries of the steam era such as cement, bricks, tile, fertilizer, sugar, diary, livestock and meat industries are shown on the map, but many other businesses such as fruit, groceries, lumber, coal, kerosene, oil, fur and hides, furniture, grain, milling and feed, also depended on the railroads to move the products in and out of Mason City. Region wide, passenger services grew fast, and in 1915 nearly 2 million passengers were served by the M&StL RR alone.

You can trace the route of the five railroads on the map by following the heralds.

Railroad Herald Legend , Chicago Great Western RR , Chicago, Milwaukee, St Paul and Pacific RR , Chicago [&] Northwestern RR , Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific RR , Mason City and Clear Lake RR , Minneapolis and St Louis RR

[Central Panel] , Railroad Transitions in Mason City , Chicago Great Western , 1886 - Mason City and Fort Dodge RR , 1901 - Chicago Great Western , 1968 - Purchased by Chicago and NorthWestern RR

Chicago [&] NorthWestern , 1889 - Iowa, Minnesota and North Western RR , 1899 - Chicago, NorthWestern RR , 1995 - Purchased by Union Pacific RR

Milwaukee , 1869 - McGregor and Missouri River Company , 1871 - Chicago, Milwaukee and St Paul RR , 1985 - Soo Line RR , 1991 - Canadian Pacific RR , 1997 - I and M Rail Link , 2002 - Iowa, Chicago and Eastern

Minneapolis and St. Louis RR , 1872 - Iowa Central RR , 1912 - Minneapolis and St Louis RR , 1960 - Chicago [&] NorthWestern RR , (1995 - Purchased by Union Pacific RR)

Rock Island , 1909 - St Paul and Des Moines Short Line , 1911 - St Paul and Kansas City Short Line , 1913 - Rock Island RR , 1980 - Liquidated. Some track and equipment to CNW

[Right Panel Photo Captions, from top] , Downtown Mason City in 1874, looking west toward Central Park

CNW RR over Lime Creek , (Winnebago River, NW of cement plant)

Corner Cafe and Cobb Furniture store at SW corner of State St. and Main Ave. (Federal), 1909, future site of the Frank Lloyd Wright designed bank and hotel

Mason City and Clear Lake RR pulling Kennedy Farms refrigerated cars. , Colorful and decorative, "billboard" box cars and refrigerator cars were common sights during the steam era

M&StL #130, a 4-4-0 "American" built in 1882 by Manchester Locomotive Works.

M&StL #634, a 2-8-2 "Mikado" built in 1920 by Brooks Locomotive Works. During world war two this workhorse of the rails became known as a "MacArthur".

In the mid 1930s, diesel powered locomotives began to be introduced, and shared nearly 25 years with steam on the rails before steam phased out in the late 1950s. The demise of steam power was swift on most major railroads, and except for remote rail lines, tourist excursion lines, and museum displays, steam locomotion has all but disappeared in favor of diesel power. The smoky, smelly, sooty days of steam are long gone in favor of clean efficient diesel power. But nothing will match the drama, majesty, and romance of a mighty steam locomotive on the rails.