Seen from the bluffs above the placid Mississippi backwaters on a July morning, a CGW eastbound will soon crossover and duck into Winston Tunnel onto home rails. With 4 loads and 142 empties, this train has 8480 tons to pull up out of the Mississippi River valley. Despite modern power, trackage, and operating practices, the CGW would not be able to stand alone as an independent carrier in the merger era. At the point in time this photo was captured, the company was in the middle of a 4-year effort to merge with the CNW after a failed attempt to join forces with the Soo Line in 1963. Almost 2 years after the day of this photo, the ICC approved the merger and in short order CNW began to chop parts of it up. It is interesting to ponder the question of whether the Illinois trackage would have become Soo's preferred route to Chicago had plan A gone into effect.
