From the yard and junction with the line from Cedar Rapids, on the east side, at Manly (MP 225.4), where the erstwhile Chicago Great Western line one turned away to the north-northeast, the line heads north, single track, Automatic Block System, Rules 400 to 406, maximum speed 40 mph, past the yard at West Yard (MP 226.5), the 4,084 ft. siding and 1,750 ft. spur at Kensett (MP 229.5), and a 5,706 ft. spur at Northwood (MP 235.9), turning just west of due north, north again past the border between Iowa and Minnesota and the 6,076 ft. siding at Gordon (MP 240.9), north-northwest, past a 9,261 ft. spur at Glenville (MP 245.9), where an ICG line trails in from the east and its right-of-way continues alongside, Murtaugh, and northeast at Curtis, where another Rock Island line trails in from the west and a 20 mph speed restriction starts, past a flat crossing with the Milwaukee Road at MP 252.3, the C&NW (M&StL) Yard at Albert Lea (MP 252.6), a flat crossing with the Milwaukee Road (MP 252.4), and the 4,888 ft. siding and yard at Albert Lea (MP 252.7).