Preliminary Information

The Chicago and North Western was a Class I railroad in the Midwestern United States. It was also known as the “North Western.” The railroad operated more than 5,000 miles of track at the turn of the 20th century, and over 12,000 miles of track in seven states before retrenchment in the late 1970s. Until 1972, when the employees purchased the company, it was named the Chicago and North Western Railway.

The C&NW became one of the longest railroads in the United States as a result of mergers with other railroads, such as the Chicago Great Western Railway, Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway and others. By 1995, track sales and abandonment had reduced the total mileage to about 5,000. The majority of the abandoned and sold lines were lightly trafficked branches in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. Large line sales, such as those that resulted in the Dakota, Minnesota, and Eastern Railroad, further helped reduce the railroad to a mainline core with several regional feeders and branches. Union Pacific (UP) purchased the company in April 1995 and integrated it with its own operation.

1859 to 1968

The Chicago and North Western Railway was chartered on June 7, 1859, five days after it purchased the assets of the bankrupt Chicago, St. Paul and Fond du Lac Railroad. On February 15, 1865, it merged with the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, which had been chartered on January 16, 1836. Since the Galena & Chicago Union started operating in December 1848, and the Fond du Lac railroad started in March 1855, the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad is considered to be the origin of the North Western railroad system. Other lines acquired and added to the network included the Chicago, St. Paul and Fond du Lac Railroad in 1859, the Winona and St. Peter Railroad in 1867, the Chicago, Milwaukee and North Western Railway in 1883, the Sioux City and Pacific Railroad in 1880, the Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley Railroad in 1884, and the Milwaukee, Lake Shore and Western Railway in 1893. They also held extensive property in Michigan, particularly its Upper Peninsula, to the point where they were one of the largest property owners in the state. By 1899, the company had rostered 1,380 locomotives, 1,176 passenger cars, and 49,484 freight cars.

Changing traffic patterns and competition with automobiles and trucking disrupted the railroad’s profitability by mid-20th century. After nine years in bankruptcy, the C. & N. W. was reorganized in 1944. It had turned rapidly to diesel power, and established a huge diesel shop in Chicago. Its Proviso Freight Yard, located 12 miles (19 km) west of the city center in suburban Cook County, was constructed between 1926 and 1929 and remained the largest such in the world, with 224 miles of trackage and a capacity of more than 20,000 cars.

Potatoes from the west were a main crop loading of the C. & N. W., and its potato sheds in Chicago were the nation’s largest. It also carried western sugar beets and huge amounts of corn and wheat. This road, like other lines depending strongly on transportation of crops, was adversely affected by government agricultural credit policies, which sealed a lot of products on the farms where they were produced. Although it stood sixteenth in operating revenue in 1938, it was eighth in passenger revenue among American railroads. It served Chicago commuters; its 400 streamliners provided intercity transportation, and it provided an eastern link to bring the Union Pacific’s passengers from Omaha, Nebraska and points west to Chicago.

The North Western acquired several important short railroads during its later years. On July 30, 1968, the North Western acquired two former interurbans — the 36-mile Des Moines and Central Iowa Railway (DM&CI), and the 110-mile Fort Dodge, Des Moines and Southern Railway (FDDM&S). The DM&CI gave access to the Firestone plant in Des Moines, Iowa, and the FDDM&S provided access to gypsum mills in Fort Dodge, Iowa.

On November 1, 1960, the North Western acquired the rail properties of the 1,500-mile Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway. In spite of its name, it ran only from Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Peoria, Illinois. This acquisition provided traffic and modern rolling stock, and eliminated competition.