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Chicago and North Western Railway Logosvg
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CNW, CNWS, CNWZ
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Illinois , Iowa , Kansas , Michigan , Minnesota , Missouri , Nebraska , North Dakota , South Dakota , Wisconsin , and Wyoming
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1865
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1995
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Union Pacific
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Chicago, Illinois
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The ( in the
United States . It was also known as the '''North Western'''.
The Chicago and North Western Railway was chartered on
June 7 ,
1859 . It had purchased the assets of the bankrupt Chicago, St. Paul and Fond du Lac Railroad five days earlier. On
February 15 ,
1865 , it officially 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.
The North Western had owned a majority of the stock of the
Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis And Omaha Railway (Omaha Road) since
1882 . On
January 1 ,
1957 , it officially leased the company, and merged it into the North Western in
1972 . The Omaha Road's main line ran from an interchange with the North Western at
Elroy, Wisconsin , to the Twin Cities, down to
Sioux City, Iowa , and then finally to
Omaha, Nebraska .
The North Western picked up several important short railroads during its later years. It finalized acquisition of the Litchfield and Madison railroad on
January 1 ,
1958 . The Litchfield and Madison railroad was a 44-mile bridge road from
East St. Louis to
Litchfield, Illinois . 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.
On
July 1 ,
1968 , the 1,500 mile (2,400 km)
Chicago Great Western Railway was merged into the North Western. This railroad went from Chicago to
Oelwein, Iowa . From there, separate lines went to the Twin Cities, Omaha, Nebraska, and
Kansas City, Missouri . A connection from
Hayfield, Minnesota , to
Clarion, Iowa , provided a Twin Cities to Omaha main line. The Chicago Great Western duplicated the North Western's routes from Chicago to the Twin Cities and Omaha, but went the long way. This merger provided access to Kansas City and further eliminated competition. After abandoning a plan to merge with the
Milwaukee Road in
1970 ,
Benjamin W. Heineman , who had headed the CNW and parent
Northwest Industries since
1956 , arranged the sale of the railroad to its employees in
1972 . The words "
Employee Owned " were part of the company logo in the ensuing period.
.]]
After the
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad (Rock Island) stopped operating on
March 31 ,
1980 , the North Western won a bidding war with the
Soo Line for purchase of the roughly 800-mile "Spine Line" from the Twin Cities to Kansas City, Missouri, via
Des Moines, Iowa . The North Western's bid of $93 million was approved on
June 20 ,
1983 , by the
ICC . The line was well-engineered, but because of deferred maintenance on the part of the bankrupt Rock Island, a major rehabilitation was undertaken in
1984 . The North Western then began to abandon the Oelwein to Kansas City section of its former Chicago Great Western trackage, which duplicated Spine Line service.
In April,
1995 , the Chicago and North Western Transportation Company was merged into the
Union Pacific Railroad .
Chicago and North Western locomotives continued to operate in their paint schemes for several years after the merger.
As Of 2007 , two engines remain on the UP with full C&NW paint (C&NW 8646 and 8701). Union Pacific has decided to leave these 2 locomotives in their current condition until either of them suffers a serious mechanical problem, in which they will be overhauled and repainted at
Jenks Shop in
North Little Rock . In addition to this, many former C&NW units have received "patches" with a new road number and reporting mark to match their new owner's roster. Approximately 40 "patched" units remain on on the Union Pacific and several others work under different owners. However it is still possible to find untouched C&NW units in service. For instance
C&NW 411 and
C&NW 1518 are kept and preserved at the
Illinois Railway Museum , CNW 4160 is kept on the outskirts of the Union Pacific
Yard in
Janesville, Wisconsin , and several other GP7s, GP9s, and a few other C&NW locomotives are owned by various regionals, shortlines, or industries.
Union Pacific continues to follow its new tradition of releasing "Heritage" units to represent the paint schemes of companies absorbed by UP. After completion of painting at the
Wisconsin And Southern Railroad 's Horicon, Wisconsin shop,
UP 1995 , an EMD SD70ACe locomotive painted in a "Heritage" C&NW paint scheme, was unveiled on
July 15 ,
2006 , at
Ogilvie Transportation Center in Chicago, IL. OTC is the site of the former North Western Station, now serving as UP's Metra terminus. The unit was then placed in dedicated service on former C&NW trackage, sometimes paired with the C&NW 8646 and 8701.
locomotive as it passes east of
Ames, Iowa on
November 23 ,
1954 .]]
The CNW's most famous train, the Chicago-Twin Cities ''400'' was introduced in
1935 to compete with the
Chicago, Burlington And Quincy 's ''Zephyr''s and the
Milwaukee Road 's ''Hiawatha''s. This train was named because it traveled the 400
Mile s between the cities in 400 minutes. CNW was the first system to start a high-speed Chicago-Twin Cities schedule because it used refurbished instead of new equipment, but in
1939 , modernized the ''400'' with new
E3A diesel locomotive pairs and streamlined cars.
CNW eventually renamed the first ''400'' to the ''
Twin Cities 400 '' as the CNW stuck almost all of its passenger trains with the ''400'' moniker, including the ''
Flambeau 400 '', ''
Rochester 400 '', and the ''
Kate Shelley 400 ''. CNW ceased running the ''Twin Cities 400'' in
1963 , and all intercity passenger service on CNW ended with the formation of
Amtrak in
1971 .
In conjunction with
Union Pacific and
Southern Pacific , the North Western operated some long distance
Passenger Trains including the ''
Overland Limited '', ''
City Of Los Angeles '', ''
City Of San Francisco '', ''
City Of Denver '', and the ''
Challenger ''. These services lasted from 1889 to 1955, after which the CNW route to Chicago was changed to the
Milwaukee Road 's on account of poor track conditions.
B Unit rebuilt with a "Crandall Cab" by the CNW shops.]]
The CNW was known for running "left-hand main" on double track mainlines. In other words, traffic was routed by default to the track on the left rather than the track on the right. In the United States, most railroads followed the "right-hand main" operating practice, while "left-hand main" running was more common in countries where automobile traffic drove on the left as well. According to a display in the
Lake Forest station, the reason for this was a combination of chance and inertia. When originally built as single-line trackage, the C&NW arbitrarily placed its stations on the left-hand side of the tracks (when headed inbound toward Chicago). Later, when a second track was added, it was placed on the side away from the stations so as not to force them to relocate. Since most passengers waiting at the stations were headed toward Chicago, the inbound track remained the one closest to the station platforms. The expense of reconfiguring signals and switches has prevented a conversion to right-hand operation ever since.
The railroad also purchased a great deal of its equipment second-hand. CNW shop forces economized wherever possible, earning the railroad the nickname "Cheap and Nothing Wasted."
Finally, the CNW has a following of more than 3,000 members of the
Chicago And North Western Historical Society .
- 1
- 2
- The ''Trains'' staff (November, 1990). Timeline. ''Trains'', pp. 21-47.
- (1973). ''Handy Railroad Atlas of the United States''. Rand McNally & Co. p.53.
