History: The Next 50 Years

Throughout the 1950s, '60s and '70s, the CRANDIC continued to expand freight service to businesses in the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City corridor.

In the 1980s, the CRANDIC acquired the Milwaukee line through Amana, as well as the Rock Island line from Iowa City to Hills. This expansion helped the railway play a key role in bringing four new major industrial companies to the area in the 1990s.

Locomotive 102 rolls through fall foliage near
the University of Iowa campus in 1995.

Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), located in southwest Cedar Rapids,
is one of the CRANDIC's largest customers. The facility requires
round-the-clock service, including weekends and holidays.

Dependable rail service was a key factor in Weyerhaeuser's decision to locate its
cardboard recycling facility in Cedar Rapids in 1995. The successful partnership
between Cedar River Paper and the CRANDIC earned the railway the
1998 Win-Win Award from the National Association of Rail Shippers.

Clothing styles have changes through the years, but the dedication of the CRANDIC
crew remains constant. All departments pride themselves on a commitment to safety -
including the Shops crew featured here in 2003. Mandatory safety rules require the use
of hard hats, safety glasses, steel-toed shoes and hearing protection.

This photo was taken at the Fairfax/Walford Railroad Day in 2001. The CRANDIC
delighted area residents with free food and passenger train rides to Amana.

In 2001, this 6,000-pound monument
was placed at CRANDIC's classification
yard in southwest Cedar Rapids.
The yard was re-named
for the CRANDIC's co-founders
Isaac Smith and Stephen Dows.

Engine 111 pulls freight
south of Walford, Iowa.