The Chicago Great Western Railway was a
Class I railroad
In the United States, railroad carriers are designated as Class I, II, or III, according to annual revenue criteria originally set by the Surface Transportation Board in 1992. With annual adjustments for inflation, the 2019 thresholds were US$ ...
that linked
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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,
Minneapolis
Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
,
Omaha
Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest city ...
, and
Kansas City
The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...
. It was founded by
Alpheus Beede Stickney
Alpheus Beede "A.B." Stickney (June 27, 1840 – August 9, 1916) was the first president of the Chicago Great Western Railway, from 1884 to 1909.
Youth and education
Alpheus Beede Stickney was born in Wilton, Maine, on June 27, 1840, the fi ...
in 1885 as a regional line between
St. Paul
Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...
and the
Iowa
Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...
state line called the Minnesota and Northwestern Railroad. Through mergers and new construction, the railroad, named Chicago Great Western after 1892, quickly became a multi-state carrier. One of the last Class I railroads to be built, it competed against several other more well-established railroads in the same territory, and developed a corporate culture of innovation and efficiency to survive.
Nicknamed the Corn Belt Route because of its operating area in the
midwestern United States
The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...
, the railroad was sometimes called the Lucky Strike Road, due to the similarity in design between the herald of the CGW and the logo used for
Lucky Strike cigarettes.
In 1968 it merged with the
Chicago and North Western Railway
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 of track at the turn of the 20th century, and over of track in seven states befor ...
(CNW), which abandoned most of the CGW's trackage.
History
Predecessor railroads
![1903 Poor's Chicago Great Western Railway](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/1903_Poor%27s_Chicago_Great_Western_Railway.jpg)
In 1835, the Chicago, St. Charles & Mississippi Airline railroad was chartered with the intent of building a railroad west out of Chicago.
The railroad never began construction, and its rights to build were transferred in 1854 to a new company, the Minnesota & North Western (M&NW), which eventually began construction in 1884 of a line south from St. Paul, Minnesota to Dubuque, Iowa.
[Middleton, et al., page 234] In 1887, the Chicago, St. Paul & Kansas City Railroad acquired the M&NW, and by the end of the decade, under the leadership of St. Paul businessman
A.B. Stickney,
it had established routes west to Omaha, Nebraska, south to St. Joseph, Missouri, and east to Chicago, Illinois, via the
Winston Tunnel
The Winston Tunnel is a railroad tunnel located 9 miles (14.5 kilometers) west of Elizabeth, Illinois.
The tunnel was completed in 1888 for the Minnesota and Northwestern Railroad, a predecessor to the Chicago Great Western Railway (CGW). The ...
near Dubuque.
In 1892, the railroad was reorganized as the Chicago Great Western.
Early 20th century
![Chicago Great Western ad 1907](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/Chicago_Great_Western_ad_1907.jpg)
In 1907, the
panic of 1907
The Panic of 1907, also known as the 1907 Bankers' Panic or Knickerbocker Crisis, was a financial crisis that took place in the United States over a three-week period starting in mid-October, when the New York Stock Exchange fell almost 50% from ...
caused Stickney to lose control of the railroad, and ownership passed to financier
J. P. Morgan
John Pierpont Morgan Sr. (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913) was an American financier and investment banker who dominated corporate finance on Wall Street throughout the Gilded Age. As the head of the banking firm that ultimately became known ...
.
[Middleton, et al., page 235] In 1910, the CGW introduced four
McKeen Motor Car Company
The McKeen Motor Car Company of Omaha, Nebraska, was a builder of internal combustion-engined railroad motor cars (railcars), constructing 152 between 1905 and 1917.
Founded by William McKeen, the Union Pacific Railroad's Superintendent of Motiv ...
self-propelled railcars, its first rolling stock powered by internal combustion engines.
In the same year, the railroad also purchased ten large
2-6-6-2s from the
Baldwin Locomotive Works
The Baldwin Locomotive Works (BLW) was an American manufacturer of railroad locomotives from 1825 to 1951. Originally located in Philadelphia, it moved to nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania, in the early 20th century. The company was for decades t ...
.
Two years later, the railroad acquired an experimental battery powered motorcar from the Federal Storage Battery Car Company.
In 1916, the railroad began standardizing on
2-8-2
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a leading truck, eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles and two trailing wheel ...
steam locomotives, which served through the 1920.
In 1923 CGW purchased from the soon to be dominant company EMC, two of EMD's first gasoline-powered cars. During the 1920s, as ownership changed again to the Bremo Corporation, a group of investors led by Patrick Joyce, an executive at the
Standard Steel Car Company
The Standard Steel Car Company (SSC) was a manufacturer of railroad rolling stock in the United States that existed between 1902 and 1934.
Established in 1902 in Butler, Pennsylvania by John M. Hansen and "Diamond Jim" Brady, the company quic ...
,
the railroad expanded its use of self-propelled vehicles.
At the end of the decade, 36
2-10-4 steam locomotives were purchased from Baldwin and the
Lima Locomotive Works
Lima Locomotive Works was an American firm that manufactured railroad locomotives from the 1870s through the 1950s. The company took the most distinctive part of its name from its main shop's location in Lima, Ohio. The shops were located between ...
.
Mid 20th century
During the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
, the railroad trimmed operations by closing facilities and abandoning trackage. It purchased its first diesel-electric locomotive, an yard switcher from
Westinghouse, in 1934. In 1935, the CGW began trial operations of
trailer on flatcar trains, which were expanded the following year into regular service, initially between Chicago and St. Paul, but rapidly expanding across the system by 1940.
In 1941, it was reorganized in bankruptcy, and late in the decade a group of investors, organized as the Kansas City Group, purchased the CGW.
In 1946, a demonstrator
EMD F3
The EMD F3 is a B-B freight- and passenger-hauling carbody diesel locomotive produced between July 1945 and February 1949 by General Motors’ Electro-Motive Division. Final assembly was at GM-EMD's La Grange, Illinois plant. A total of 1,11 ...
diesel locomotive set operated on the CGW, immediately prompting the company to purchase a wide variety of diesels, and by 1950 the railroad had converted completely to diesel motive power.
In 1949,
William N. Deramus III
William Neal Deramus III (December 10, 1915 – November 15, 1989) was an American railroad executive; he led the Chicago Great Western Railway (CGW), the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad, and the Kansas City Southern Railway (KCS) through perio ...
assumed the presidency, and began a program of rebuilding infrastructure and increasing efficiency, both by consolidating operations such as dispatching and accounting and by lengthening trains.
In 1957, Deramus left the company, and Edward Reidy assumed the presidency.
Merger
As early as 1946, the first proposal was advanced to merge the Great Western with other railroads, this time with the
Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad
The Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad was a Class I railroad that linked Chicago to southern Illinois, St. Louis, and Evansville. Founded in 1877, it grew aggressively and stayed relatively strong throughout the Great Depression and two Wor ...
and the
Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad
The Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railway was a Class I railroad company in the United States, with its last headquarters in Dallas, Texas. Established in 1865 under the name Union Pacific Railway, Southern Branch, it came to serve an extensive ra ...
. Upon the failure of a later merger opportunity with the
Soo Line Railroad
The Soo Line Railroad is the primary United States railroad subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway , one of seven U.S. Class I railroads, controlled through the Soo Line Corporation. Although it is named for the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sa ...
in 1963, the board of the Great Western grew increasingly anxious about its continued viability in a consolidating railroad market.
Testifying in 1965, before the Interstate Commerce Commission in Chicago, President Reidy stated
that although it was operating in the black it would not able to continue: The simple fact is that there is just too much transportation available between the principal cities we serve. The Great Western cannot long survive as an independent carrier under these conditions.
The CGW, therefore, was open to a merger with the
Chicago and North Western Railway
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 of track at the turn of the 20th century, and over of track in seven states befor ...
(CNW), first proposed in 1964. After a 4-year period of opposition by other competing railroads, on July 1, 1968, the Chicago Great Western merged with Chicago and North Western.
At the time of the merger, the CGW operated a system, over which it transported 2,452 million ton-miles of freight in 1967, largely food and agricultural products, lumber, and chemicals, for $28.7 million of revenue.
After taking control of the CGW, the CNW abandoned most of the former CGW trackage.
Trail Conversion
A 20 mile section of the railroad right of way from Des Moines, IA south to Martensdale, IA was turned in the Great Western Trail. In addition, a section of track was converted to trail usage also known as the Great Western, running intermittently between Villa Park, Illinois and Sycamore, Illinois.
Passenger operations
The Chicago Great Western was not known for its passenger trains, although it did operate several named trains, mostly running between Chicago and the Twin Cities. Despite the railroad's small size and meager passenger fleet, it looked for ways to more efficiently move passengers, such as employing all-electric (battery powered)
and gas-electric motorcars on light branch lines, which were cheaper to operate than traditional steam or diesel-powered trains.
Notable passenger trains from its major terminals included:
* ''Blue Bird'' (Minneapolis/St. Paul–Rochester)
* ''Great Western Limited'' (Chicago–Minneapolis/St. Paul)
* ''Rochester Special'' (Minneapolis/St. Paul–Rochester)
* ''Red Bird'' (Minneapolis/St. Paul–Rochester)
* ''Legionnaire'' (Chicago–Minneapolis/St. Paul)
* ''
Minnesotan'' (Chicago–Minneapolis/St. Paul)
* ''Mills Cities Limited'' (Kansas City–Minneapolis/St. Paul)
* ''
Nebraska Limited'' (Minneapolis/St. Paul-Omaha)
* ''Omaha Express'' (Minneapolis/St. Paul-Omaha)
* ''Twin City Express'' (Omaha-Minneapolis/St. Paul)
* ''Twin City Limited'' (Omaha-Minneapolis/St. Paul)
* ''Maple Leaf Route'' (Minneapolis/St. Paul, Rochester, Stewartville, Racine, Spring Valley MN etc. to Chicago IL)
On September 30, 1965, the railroad ended passenger operations when the overnight trains between the Twin Cities and Omaha arrived at their respective endpoints.
[Fiore 2006, p. 68]
See also
*
Chicago and North Western Railway
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 of track at the turn of the 20th century, and over of track in seven states befor ...
*
List of Illinois railroads
The following railroads operating in the U.S. state of Illinois.
Current railroads Common freight carriers
* A&R Terminal Railroad (ART)
* AgRail (AGRL)
* Ag Valley Railroad (AVRR)
* Alton and Southern Railway (ALS)
* Belt Railway of Chic ...
Notes
References
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Further reading
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External links
Hub City Heritage CorporationOelwein Railroad Museum
* There are two sites named ''the Unofficial Chicago Great Western page'':
*
the Unofficial Chicago Great Western page*
the Unofficial Chicago Great Western siteChicago & North Western Historical Society(includes predecessor roads)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chicago Great Western Railway
American companies established in 1892
American companies disestablished in 1968
Railway companies established in 1892
Railway companies disestablished in 1968
Defunct Illinois railroads
Defunct Iowa railroads
Defunct Kansas railroads
Defunct Minnesota railroads
Defunct Nebraska railroads
Railroads in the Chicago metropolitan area
Former Class I railroads in the United States
Predecessors of the Chicago and North Western Transportation Company
Defunct Missouri railroads
1892 establishments in Illinois
1968 disestablishments in Illinois
1968 mergers and acquisitions