During the 1970s and 1980s the C&NW could run between Chicago and St. Paul with two lines south of Wyeville. The shorter route went through Madison and the other went through Milwaukee. Which route was used for Chicago-St. Paul through freight ?
The line via Butler(Milwaukee) was used for trains between Chicago and St. Paul or Superior.
Prior to about 1970, the hottest Chicago-Twin Cities trains were routed through Madison, and shown in the employee timetables. By the time I started working for CNW in early 1971, they had shifted to the Milwaukee routing. My first road job was as a “fireman” on 483 from Proviso to Butler (483 was a Twin Cities train).
Would these freight trains have gone through Butler, or would they have all stopped and been reblocked ?