Chicago and North Western Transportation Company

Chicago and North Western

Map of the Chicago and North Western Railway. Black lines are trackage owned by the Union Pacific Railroad, green lines are owned by the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad, blue lines are owned by other railroads, and dotted lines are abandoned.
A North Western freight train, led by EMD GP15-1 No. 4408, travels through Niagara, Wisconsin on October 5, 1988
Overview
Headquarters	Chicago, Illinois
Reporting mark	CNW
Locale	Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Wyoming
Dates of operation	1859–1995
Successor	Union Pacific Railroad Some trackage in Wisconsin is operated by the Wisconsin and Southern Railroad
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge

The Chicago and North Western (reporting mark CNW) 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 (8,000 km) of track at the turn of the 20th century, and over 12,000 miles (19,000 km) 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 (or Chicago and North Western Railway Company).

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.^[1] Union Pacific (UP) purchased the company in April 1995 and integrated it with its own operation.