When the government took over the lines of the WCF&N, they were not managed well and fell into disrepair. Ownership was given back to the WCF&N after the war. Things ran rather smoothly for the next several years and the line prospered. Then the push for motorized transportation began to grow, and, in 1924, the WCF&N bought motor buses to supplement their service. In 1936, streetcar lines were replaced all together in Waterloo and, in 1941, the same was done in Cedar Falls. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Transit Company then purchased the bus lines in 1953. Two years later the WCF&N was bought by the Illinois Central and the Rock Island Railroads; it was renamed the Waterloo and Cedar Falls Railroad. When the last trolley made its final run in 1958, it marked the end of streetcar operation in the state of Iowa.

Last trolley