Cedar Rapids and Iowa City Railway

Not officially part of the Iowa Interstate system, the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City Railway (CRANDIC or CIC) has always been an important part of the Iowa Interstate story, and so is included here. Founded in 1904 as an electric interurban railway between its namesake cities, the line lives on today as a wholly-owned subsidiary of its parent utility company, Alliant Energy. Stopping regular electric passenger service in 1953, the line dieselized and continued to provide freight service along its original route, now known as the CIC First Subdivision and roughly paralleling I-380. In 1981, it picked up the former Milwaukee Road line between Cedar Rapids and Homestead, IA, which became known as the Third Subdivision. The line originally extended between Cedar Rapids, IA, and Ottumwa, IA, where it joined the line between Davenport and Kansas City, but today the CRANDIC's portion is all that remains. Somewhere along the way they also picked up the former Rock Island 7 mile branchline between Iowa City and Hills, IA, which is today the CIC Second Sub.

For years, the First Sub handled the majority of the traffic, interchanging rather large amounts of freight with Iowa Interstate in Iowa City via what's known as the Hill Track. This is a steep piece of trackage that extends out of the west end of IAIS's yard and is about as close to street running as you can get without being in the street as it winds down to the CIC connection. In poor condition, running through a residential neighborhood, and with numerous opportunities for grade crossing collisions, something better was found in 2000. On 11-Feb-2000, Yocum Connection - a full wye interchange between the IAIS Third Sub and CIC Third Sub at Homestead, IA - was placed into service, and would become the new primary interchange point for the two railroads.

In Aug 2004, it changed again, from an important interchange point to a fundamental part of IAIS operations on the IAIS Third Sub. As part of an experimental six month trial expected to become permanent, the CRANDIC no longer operates the through freights on this line. Rather, daily interchange with the IAIS is accomplished at Smith-Dows yard, with IAIS running the ICCR / CRIC (Iowa City-Cedar Rapids and reverse) turn out of Iowa City every morning. This train is typically made up between 1000h and 1200h at Iowa City and then works up to Smith-Dows. It switches out the freight, and sometime in the late afternoon returns to Iowa City. It makes for a very regular, easy to follow daylight train. This train is also the reason the IAIS acquired the four leased LLPX SD38-2s. The line from East Amana to Walford is quite steep against northbounds, and the ICCR trains typically run very heavy (100 cars is not atypical).

In addition to the daily ICCR/CRIC turn, there are also coal trains and unit grain trains that ply the line off IAIS. The coal trains originate on the Canadian National, and are handed off to IAIS at Peoria on the IAIS's Second Sub. These then make their way over the IAIS First and IAIS Third Subs, head up the CIC's Third Sub, unload, and head back to the Peoria gateway. Often, the run back from Cedar Rapids is handled combined with the day's CRIC job, leading to a monsterous train and an incredible amount of power on the front (the coal train power is combined with the ICCR power for the run). The grain trains come in from the west of Yocum (Newton, typically), and are sometimes handed off to the ICCR at the Yocum wye. The CIC's Third Sub is a vital and active part of today's IAIS that's easy to railfan in the daylight, unlike many other parts of the system that operate primarily at night.


   CRANDIC FIRST AND THIRD SUBDIVISION TIMETABLES
CEDAR RAPIDS AND IOWA CITY RAILROAD - FIRST SUB
CEDAR RAPIDS, IA, TO IOWA CITY, IA
Maximum Speed: Unknown    Length: 25.5 miles
Entire line Track Warrant Control
Radio: CIC - 161.055 MHz and 160.500 MHz
Mile
Post		 Station Sidings Other
Tracks		 Notes
W
E
S
T
B
O
U
N
D
 
0.0 Cedar Rapids, IA
 
E
A
S
T
B
O
U
N
D
0.5 UP Interchange
2.1 PinneyWyeEngleside Wye - Connection between CIC First and Third Subs
2.6 Waconia
5.5 Konigsmark
8.5 Swisher
13.5 Mid River
16.9 North Liberty
19.9 Oakdale
23.2 Coralville
25.0 University
25.5 Iowa City, IAConnection to IAIS IC yard and CIC Second Sub


CEDAR RAPIDS AND IOWA CITY RAILROAD - THIRD SUB
CEDAR RAPIDS, IA, TO YOCUM CONNECTION, IA
Maximum Speed: Unknown    Length: 21.8 miles
Entire line Track Warrant Control
Radio: CIC - 161.055 MHz and 160.500 MHz
Mile
Post		 Station Sidings Other
Tracks		 Notes
W
E
S
T
B
O
U
N
D
 
0.0 Cedar Rapids, IA
 
E
A
S
T
B
O
U
N
D
0.5 UP Interchange
2.1 PinneyWyeEngleside Wye - Connection between CIC First and Third Subs
4.5 Smith-Dows YardYardYard serves as IAIS/CIC interchange point
MP approximate - not on CIC timetable
8.1 Fairfax
11.6 Walford
17.1 East AmanaMP approximate - not on CIC timetable
18.4 Amana
19.7 Amana Refrigeration
21.8 Yocum ConnectionJunction with Subdivision 3