Chicago Missouri & Western

Company History: Blink and you would have missed it! The Chicago Missouri & Western was a spin-off of Illinois Central Gulf and began operations in 1987. The 633 mile line basically consisted of the old Alton Railroad that had merged into GM&O in 1947. From the Chicago area, the line headed southwest to Springfield where it split with one line going to St. Louis and the other heading west to Kansas City. ICG was selling off all of its east-west mains in an effort to concentrate on its core north-south lines.

Unlike most ICG spin-offs, the deal did NOT include a fleet of orange and white geeps rebuilt at the Paducah shops. Instead, Chicago Missouri & Western leased 62 locomotives of just 3 EMD models: GP40s (all originally WP including WP's Bicentennial engine,) GP38s (all originally Penn Central,) and SW1500s (all originally Pittsburgh & Lake Erie.)

The road was not well financed and just 11 months after startup, the CM&W declared bankruptcy. In 1989, the Southern Pacific bought the St. Louis to Chicago line under a new subsidiary called "SPCSL." The following year, the line from Springfield, Illinois to Kansas City became the Gateway Western.

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.