The Green Bay and Western Railroad, The Green Bay Route

The Green Bay and Western Railroad, also known as the "Green Bay Route," was a bridge line connecting Green Bay and central Wisconsin with Winona, Minnesota. The GB&W’s origins date as far back as the mid-19th century and the railroad is best remembered for the movement of auto part and agricultural products. However, to railfans the Green Bay Route is best remembered for its large all-Alco fleet of diesel locomotives as the railroad possessed an impressive fleet of various models from the builder. The downfall of the GB&W was its loss of interchange and car ferry traffic. By the late 1980s the railroad had lost many of its connections with its western interchange partners as a result of mergers and bankruptcies. Couple this with the downfall of carfloat movements (which the GB&W depended heavily on) and the railroad was destitute by the early 1990s during which time it became part of Wisconsin Central Ltd., itself purchased by Canadian National in the fall of 2001.

To better reflect the railroad’s new name it was changed to the Green Bay & Minnesota Railroad that year, at the same time coming under the control of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western (the Lackawanna). After the main line to Winona was completed the new railroad found traffic and profits hard to come by and after two bankruptcies emerged as the now-famous Green Bay and Western Railroad in 1896.

The extent of the Green Bay and Western Railroad was reached in 1906 once it took control of the Ahnapee & Western Railway, which connected the railroad with Kewaunee and Sturgeon Bay where carfloat/barge operations were established with both the Ann Arbor Railroad to Frankfort, Michigan and the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway to Ludington, Michigan.

With its profitable carfloat operations in the east the railroad also had extensive interchange points in the west with railroads including the Ahnapee & Western Railway (Casco Junction, Wisconsin); Chicago & Northern Western (Green Bay, Merrillan, New London, and Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin and Winona, Minnesota); Chicago, Burlington & Quincy (East Winona and Winona, Minnesota); the Milwaukee Road (Green Bay and Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin and Winona, Minnesota); and the Soo Line (Black Creek, Plover, Stevens Point, and Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin).

The downfall of the GB&W began in 1978 when it was purchased by the Itel Corporation. While ownership by Itel did not directly hurt the railroad it’s loss of traffic could not be turned around and by the early 1980s the Green Bay & Western was seeing a mere one carfloat movement daily after the Ann Arbor discontinued the service. By 1990 car ferry service ceased altogether and the GB&W was nearly destitute. Finally, with fortunes not improving, a few years later in 1993 the GB&W was purchased by the Fox Valley & Western Railroad, a subsidiary of the new Wisconsin Central system (Wisconsin Central, Ltd.). Then, in 2001 the WC itself was purchased by the Canadian National Railway. Today, the Green Bay and Western Railroad still survives on paper although its operations have long since been integrated into the Canadian National Railway.

If you are interested in learning more about the Green Bay and Western Railroad please consider joining the Green Bay & Western Historical Society. The society is a relatively new organization but is dedicated to preserving the history of the Green Bay Route and your support and help in not only contributing to that effort but also the growth of the society would be very welcomed and deeply appreciated.

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For an all-time diesel locomotive roster of the Green Bay and Western Railroad please click here. Also, for an excellent listing of EMD-built diesel locomotives, including those owned by the GB&W please click here. Lastly, please click here to locate preserved GB&W diesel locomotives.

The American Locomotive Company

General Electric

For a more complete roster of Green Bay and Western Railroad steam locomotives please click here. Also, for information regarding surviving GB&W steam locomotives please click here.

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