Streetcars first appeared in Cedar Falls in 1897, when gasoline powered Patton motor cars made 10 round trips daily between the Iowa State Normal School (UNI) and the corner of First and Main Street. A year later, the Waterloo Rapid Transit Company purchased the line. It replaced the Pattons with electric cars and connected the line to one going to Waterloo. The line's official title was the Waterloo, Cedar Falls, and Northern Railway, but it was commonly known as the "Cedar Valley Road" because of the scenic eight-mile route it followed between the Cedar River and the bluffs of Castle Hill.

A ride on the Cedar Falls loop cost 5c. The ride between Cedar Falls and Waterloo cost 15cents, or 10 rides for a dollar. It was reliable transportation too. During the memorable winter of 1936, for example, the cars never stopped running despite the terrible blizzards, (although at one point, the round trip from Cedar Falls to Waterloo took 10 hours).

The W., C.F. & N. converted to buses during the 1940s and '50s, and the trolley line fell into disuse. In town, the tracks were torn up or buried under resurfaced streets. The sole reminder of this earlier means of transportation is the Trolley Car Trail, a hiking and bicycling path administered by the Waterloo Park Commission. You can reach the trail by going north of Rainbow Drive in Waterloo on Hackett Road to the Illinois Central Railroad viaduct.

For vintage pictures of the WCF&N, see Dave's Train Pictures: Waterloo, Cedar Falls & Northern 1953-1954