The Waterloo and Cedar Falls Rapid Transit was organized in 1895 to build an 8-mile line from Waterloo to nearby Cedar Falls, Iowa, which it completed in 1897. In 1904 the company renamed itself Waterloo, Cedar Falls and Northern Railway and began expanding outward, completing a 22-mile line from Waterloo north to Waverly in 1910 and a 60-mile line south to Cedar Rapids, where connection was made with the Cedar Rapids & Iowa City interurban, in 1914.