Former U.S. railroad company.
It was created when employees of the financially troubled Chicago and North Western Railway Co. purchased its assets in 1972. The initial company, founded in 1859, evolved from the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, which had been the first railroad to enter Chicago (1848). Employees ceased to hold a majority of the company's stock in 1983. The system served an 11-state region west of Lake Michigan, with principal routes in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Nebraska. It was purchased by Union Pacific in 1995.