Chicago and North Western Railway

The Chicago and North Western Railway, also known as the North Western, was a Class I railroad company in the midwestern United States that operated more than 5,000 miles of track at the turn of the 20th century and over 12,000 miles across seven states before retrenchment in the late 1970s. The company grew through mergers with other railroads, including the Chicago Great Western Railway and the Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway, and was renamed the Chicago and North Western Transportation Company in 1972 when its employees purchased the company; by 1995 track sales and abandonment had reduced its total mileage to about 5,000, with large line sales such as the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad further shrinking it to a mainline core. Union Pacific purchased the company in April 1995 and integrated it into its own operation.