Chicago & Western Indiana

Company History: The C&WI opened in 1880 connecting various line haul railroads in the Chicago area to Dearborn Station. Ownership of the line, which included Dearborn Station itself, was split between Erie, Monon, Wabash, Grand Trunk Western, and Chicago & Eastern Illinois. Santa Fe also used Dearborn Station but was strictly a tenant. In the diesel era, C&WI relied on Alco RS1’s. They switched the passenger and express cars for the lines using Dearborn, except for Santa Fe who used their own switchers. C&WI also ran their own commuter service utilizing RS1’s pulling Erie-designed Stillwell coaches lettered for C&WI. The advent of Amtrak meant the closing of Dearborn Station and the transition of the Chicago & Western Indiana into a “paper” railroad, having leased its routes to its parent roads. Today, the company, which has 82 miles of track, is jointly owned by Union Pacific, Canadian National, Norfolk Southern and CSX.

Brief History: The U.S. is a country of 50 states covering a vast swath of North America, with Alaska in the northwest and Hawaii extending the nation’s presence into the Pacific Ocean. Major Atlantic Coast cities are New York, a global finance and culture center, and capital Washington, DC. Midwestern metropolis Chicago is known for influential architecture and on the west coast, Los Angeles' Hollywood is famed for filmmaking.