CN Oak Avenue Bridge (River Forest)

In 1882, the Milwaukee and Lake Winnebago Railroad (M&LW) constructed 64 miles of new railroad between Neenah, Wisconsin and Germantown, Wisconsin.  Between 1885 and 1886, the Chicago, Wisconsin and Minnesota Railroad (CW&M) would construct an additional 66 miles of new railroad between Germantown and the Illinois/Wisconsin State Line, and the Chicago and Wisconsin Railroad Company (C&W) would construct an additional 42 miles of railroad to near Chicago at the same time.  Outside of Chicago, the line connected to the Baltimore & Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad (B&OCT) near Forest Park.  The line would be leased and operated by other railroads, including the Northern Pacific Railway between 1890 and 1893, and the Wisconsin Central Railroad from 1893 to 1899.  In 1899, the railroads would be consolidated to form the Wisconsin Central Railway (WC).  This line formed the backbone of the WC, which operated a mainline extending from Chicago to Minneapolis.  Except for short segments near Forest Park and River Forest, much of this line was single tracked. 

In 1909, the WC would be leased by the Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Railway (Soo Line), which itself was controlled by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CP). The Soo Line had constructed a large network of railroads, connecting the Upper Midwest with Canadian Railroads.  Throughout the 20th Century, the line remained a critical component of the Soo Line system.  By 1961, the Soo Line would be merged with other CP subsidiaries Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic Railroad and Wisconsin Central Railroad to form Soo Line Railroad, a company controlled by CP.  In 1984, the Soo Line would be reorganized as the Soo Line Corporation, and the railroad would be fully merged into CP in 1990.  After the Soo Line acquired the Milwaukee Road in 1986, this route became less important, as the Milwaukee Road purchase provided Soo with additional connections between Chicago and Minneapolis.  In 1987, the route would be sold to Wisconsin Central, Ltd. Known as the "new" Wisconsin Central, the railroad acquired several excess rail lines from the Soo Line and Chicago & North Western Railway, before being acquired as the American subsidiary of Canadian National Railway (CN) in 2001.  Today, CN operates this line as the Waukesha Subdivision.