Preliminary Information

The Canadian National Railroad (CN) is a class 1 railroad throughout Canada and part of the US. It bought out the Iowa Northern Railway in 2025 and has taken over their operations, thus being the primary operator in and out of Oelwein.

Canadian National was incorporated in 1919 as a consolidation of a number of smaller railways that were failing. They gave up their passenger service to VIA Rail in 1978. The railway was privatized in 1995.

In 2023, the CN put in an offer to buy the Iowa Northern. The process was completed in 2025. For now Iowa Northern still exists as a separate company with the financial backing and over a century of experience to support it.

By Central Data Bank at en.wikipedia, CC BY 3.0