History

   From 1854, the Illinois Central Railroad had moved traffic from Galena to Chicago, using other railroads to fill in between East Junction (near Freeport)  and Chicago.  By the 1880's, this had become untenable.  In addition, Wisconsin was undergoing rapid growth and there was much traffic to be had there.  To address these issues, the IC chartered the Chicago, Madison & Northern in July of 1886.

     By 1888, the line to Madison had been completed by the CM&N as had  most of the line connecting the two "branches" of the Charter Lines.  Though a direct connection, some 9 plus miles in the Chicago area, would be lacking until 1891.  The line to Dodgeville was also completed by 1888, though it had been built by the Freeport, Dodgeville & Northern Railroad. 

Map

 The branch to Dodgeville was taken up in 1942.

 The line to Madison was sold on February 26th, 1980 and called the Chicago, Madison & Northern.  It was later operated by the Central Wisconsin Railroad and the Wisconsin & Calumet.  The tracks were finally taken up in the early 2000's.