The Chicago Great Western Railway, The Corn Belt Route

The Chicago Great Western Railway is one of the lesser-recognized fallen flags because of its small size and the fact that among most of the other granger roads it was a David among Goliaths. Altogether the railroad consisted of less than 1,500 miles of trackage serving Chicago and points northwest and southwest including St. Paul/Minneapolis, Omaha, and Kansas City. However, what the railroad lacked in size it more than made up for in customer service. Always the innovator the CGW was constantly looking to streamline operations and not only find new customers but also retain the ones it already served. Alas, however, the railroad would succumb to the economics of a region so overpopulated with railroad tracks that by the 1960s demand was no longer able to support supply and the CGW merged with the Chicago & North Western Railway in the late 1960s to save itself from a gloomy fate, such as what would happen with neighbor Rock Island roughly ten years later.

Like all granger roads the CGW first and foremost served the farmlands, the territory which it operated through and it did this successfully for over 70 years. However, unlike many other railroads it did not embrace the streamliner concept and only kept a modest passenger train fleet before it finally gave up on the business altogether in the mid-1960s when competition from the highways and other railroads made the Chicago Great Western realize that it was fruitless to continue the money-losing operation.

Prior to this, however, the railroad realized the mediocrity of the passenger business. As early as the 1920s it was looking for innovative and cheaper methods of carrying about its passenger operations, especially on light branch lines that made little, if any, revenue at all hauling people. It did this by purchasing a number of gas-electric motorcars, which were typically single car operations that were powered by conventional gasoline engines and could handle the job much more cheaply than a steam/diesel locomotive and coaches.

For the CGW’s small size the railroad interestingly had the future TOFC (Trailer-On-Flat-Car) innovation (also known as "piggyback") to its credit by being one of the first to pioneer the concept in the 1930s as a means to combat the ever-increasing truck traffic threat, especially when the new interstate highways were being constructed in the 1950s.

Despite the railroad’s attempt to remain as efficient as possible by the 1960s traffic was just drying up. It was not the only railroad suffering, however, as many of the granger roads were also facing traffic crises, as America’s Heartland region could simply no longer support so many railroads. The railroad had talked with many neighboring railroads over the years about possible mergers but none allowed for much in the way of savings. Eventually the Chicago Great Western would find a partner in the way of the Chicago & North Western and the merger took place in 1968. While the merger with the C&NW signaled the end of the CGW the railroad likely had no other alternative as traffic was simply no longer able to support the railroad and it likely would have fallen into another bankruptcy. The CGW was certainly one of the more interesting granger roads that will forever be remembered for its innovation and commitment to not only itself but also the customers which it served.

Please Click Here To Return To The Main Fallen Flags Section

For an all-time diesel locomotive roster of the Chicago Great Western Railway please click here. Also, for an excellent listing of EMD-built diesel locomotives, including those owned by the CGW please click here. Lastly, please click here to locate preserved CGW diesel locomotives.

The American Locomotive Company

The Baldwin Locomotive Works

The Electro-Motive Corporation/Electro-Motive Division

For a more complete roster of Chicago Great Western Railway steam locomotives please click here. Also, for information regarding surviving CGW steam locomotives please click here.

Notable Chicago Great Western Railway Passenger Trains

Blue Bird: (Twin Cities - Rochester)

Great Western Limited: (Chicago - Twin Cities)

Legionnaire: (Chicago - Twin Cities)

Mills Cities Limited: (Kansas City - Twin Cities)

Minnesotan: (Chicago - Twin Cities)

Nebraska Limited: (Twin Cities - Omaha)

Rochester Special: (Twin Cities - Rochester)

Red Bird: (Twin Cities - Rochester)

Twin Cities Limited: (Omaha - Twin Cities)

(A deep thanks to the Museum of the Rockies at Montana State University for allowing Ron Nixon's historic collection of the Chicago Great Western Railway to be featured here. Please note that the photos featured on this page feature their corresponding image number so that you may quickly and easily find more information about it from their website. To view Ron Nixon's entire collection please click here.)

Share Your Thoughts