The Chicago, Missouri and Western Railway (CM&W; ) was a

Class II railroad Railroad classes are the system by which freight railroads are designated in the United States. Railroads are assigned to Class I, II or III according to annual revenue criteria originally set by the Surface Transportation Board in 1992. With a ...

that operated in the midwest of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

between 1987 and 1989. Never financially stable, less than a year after it was created it was

bankrupt Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the de ...

and sold off its lines piecemeal to other railroads in 1989. CM&W RR was also used as the logo for the train line on THE VIRGINIAN western series of NBC which ran from 1962 to 71

History

The

Chicago and Alton Railroad The Alton Railroad was the final name of a railroad linking Chicago to Alton, Illinois; St. Louis, Missouri; and Kansas City, Missouri. Its predecessor, the Chicago and Alton Railroad , was purchased by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1931 an ...

(C&A) had built and operated lines from

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Springfield, Illinois Springfield is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Illinois. Its population was 114,394 at the 2020 United States census, which makes it the state's List of cities in Illinois, seventh-most populous cit ...

, from Springfield to Roodhouse, Illinois and

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

, and from Roodhouse to

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...

and

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

, until that railroad was merged into the

Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad The Gulf, Mobile and Ohio was a Class I railroad in the central United States whose primary routes extended from Mobile, Alabama, and New Orleans, Louisiana, to St. Louis, Missouri, St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri, as well as Chicago, Illin ...

(GM&O (reporting mark GMO)) in 1947. The GM&O itself was merged into the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad (ICG) in 1972. When the ICG began spinning off its redundant lines, the Chicago, Missouri and Western Railway (CM&W (reporting mark CMNW)) purchased the lines from the ICG on April 28, 1987. The line struggled financially, leading to deferred maintenance on the track, and the company was bankrupt within the year.

Parent company

Venango River was formed by former Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe managers to purchase the legendary

South Shore Line The South Shore Line is an electrically powered commuter rail line operated by the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD) between Millennium Station in downtown Chicago, Illinois and the South Bend Airport station in Sout ...

from the

Chessie System Chessie System, Inc. was a holding company that owned the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O), the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O), the Western Maryland Railway (WM), and Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad (B&OCT). Trains operated u ...

. The South Shore acquisition met with modest success, but whether the success correlated with management skill is still up for debate. The Chessie had all but neglected the railroad, making success easy to come by. Further, the Chessie equipped the South Shore with ten new locomotives ideal for shortline railroading, leading to low maintenance costs. Flush with success, Venango River purchased the CM&W from ICG with the South Shore as guarantor of the loans at Citibank. President John Darling had grand dreams of serving three steel mills belonging to National Steel, one in Detroit, one in Burns Harbor (on Chicago South Shore), and one near St. Louis (on CM&W).

Failure

Collective insight suggests Venango River overpaid for the railroad, and could not service the debt with revenues. While South Shore revenues were directed toward servicing CM&W debt for a time, when the state of Indiana failed to adequately subsidize South Shore's passenger trains, the house of cards fell. The affair was not helped by the dilapidated ex-Western Pacific EMD GP40 locomotives acquired for CM&W (only a few were repainted for CM&W). The Chicago-St. Louis line was acquired at bankruptcy sale by the

Southern Pacific Transportation Company The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the names ...

and, as a result of the UP buyout, is now part of

Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad is a Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United States after BNSF, ...

. The Kansas City-St. Louis (along with Roodhouse-Springfield) line was purchased by

Gateway Western Railway The Gateway Western Railway was a Class II railroad that operated 408 miles of former Chicago and Alton Railroad track between Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri. It also operated between Kansas City, Missouri, and Springfield, Illinois on the ...

, eventually coming under Kansas City Southern control.

Notable service and trackage rights

*Piggyback service from South Shore's Burnham Yard to St. Louis *Amtrak's Chicago-St. Louis service *Chicago Terminal trackage rights to connect Chicago South Shore and CM&W and other area railroad yards, including Proviso (still held by CSS) *Run-through steel coil shipments between CM&W, CSS, and GTW (for National Steel) *Business trains featuring bright orange CSS locomotives and business cars as well as other leased business cars

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chicago Missouri Western Railway Alton Railroad Defunct Illinois railroads Defunct Missouri railroads Railway companies established in 1987 Railway companies disestablished in 1989 Spin-offs of the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad 1987 establishments in Illinois 1989 establishments in Illinois