Chicago & Northwestern Transportation Company Records, 1907-1971
Collection Number: 5533

William Butler Ogden, a railroad investor (b. 1805), took over the Madison and Beloit Railroad in Wisconsin, extended the lines and later, after the financial troubles of 1857, reorganized the line into the Chicago and North Western Railway, into which the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad was also merged.

The Chicago and North Western Transportation Company [CNW] was a Class I railroad in the Midwestern United States, often called the North Western. The CNW also called itself the "Pioneer Railroad," because one of its predecessor lines, the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, was the first railroad to run out of Chicago. The railroad operated more than 12,000 miles of track in seven states (Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, Illinois, Missouri, and Michigan) before retrenchment in the late 1970s. At the height of the railroad era, the CNW was one of the most profitable of the Midwestern railroads and one of the longest railroads in the United States because of mergers with other railroads, such as the Chicago Great Western Railway, Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway and others.

The CNW's earliest predecessor, the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad [GCU], was chartered in 1836. In 1848, it operated the first steam locomotive out of Chicago. Despite this early success, the GCU had many problems, including an inability to build tracks to Galena, Illinois, one of its supposed terminals, and instead had to rely on an interchange built by the Illinois Central to reach the city. These problems led to it being purchased by William Butler Ogden. Ogden was the first mayor of Chicago and a railroad investor. Ogden had already taken over the Madison and Beloit Railroad in Wisconsin and extended its lines. After the financial trouble of 1857, Ogden founded and incorporated the CNW. The CNW was chartered on June 7, 1859, by the legislatures of Illinois and Wisconsin. Five days previously, it had purchased the bankrupt Chicago, St. Paul and Fond du Lac Railroad. Ogden now controlled numerous roads in the Midwest; by 1865, they were merged into one system, the CNW, with over 850 miles of track. Ogden left the company in 1868 and became president of the Union Pacific. This was after one of CNW's predecessor lines, the Cedar Rapids and Missouri River Rail Road, had reached Council Bluffs, Iowa, in 1867, establishing a direct interchange with the Union Pacific, the first transcontinental railroad. By the end of the 19th Century, the CNW operated on over 7,000 miles of track, connecting such cities as Chicago, Omaha, Milwaukee, Duluth, Rapid City and the Twin Cities.

The CNW opened its Proviso Yards in Chicago in 1929. This facility was the largest of its kind when it was built, containing 224 miles of tracks and a huge diesel shop. The CNW was a "granger" railroad, primarily serving agricultural businesses. Potatoes were ones of its main crops, and the Potato Sheds in its Wood Street Yards were the largest in the world. It also did extensive business in transporting sugar beets, corn and wheat. The CNW also operated extensive passenger lines, including serving as one of the main commuter lines for Chicago.

The CNW was unique among American railroads in that it ran on a left-hand main, which meant that traffic was routed to the left instead of to the right. This was common among railroads built by British companies, but not among American ones.

The CNW was badly affected by the Great Depression, declaring bankruptcy in 1935 and not emerging until 1944 with the surge in traffic that happened because of the mobilization of men and goods for World War II.

The post-war period saw another sharp decline in the CNW's profits, as freight increasingly moved to the highways and the CNW had a large amount of secondary trackage that was a massive drain on the company since the industries on these lines no longer used the rails to ship their goods. However, even with this reality, the CNW still made major acquisitions in the late 1950s and 1960s, gaining control of the Litchfield and Madison Railway in 1958, the Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway in 1960, and the Chicago Great Western Railway in 1968.

In 1972, the CNW was sold to its employees and renamed the Chicago and North Western Transportation Company. In 1985, the employee owned stock of the company was transferred to the newly formed CNW Corporation, ending the employee owned period. By 1995, track sales and abandonment had reduced the total mileage of the CNW to about 5,000 miles. The company was purchased by Union Pacific [UP] in April 1995 and ceased to exist as an independent entity.

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Chicago & Northwestern Transportation Company Records #5533. Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library.

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