| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Burlington, Iowa |
| Locale | Iowa |
| Dates of operation | 1876–1903 |
| Successor | Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 3 ft (914 mm) |
| Length | 123.6 miles (198.9 km) |
The Burlington and Northwestern Railway (B&NW) was a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge railroad system in Iowa that operated during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It connected Burlington, Iowa with branches to Washington and Oskaloosa, Iowa. Incorporated in 1875 as the Burlington and Northwestern Narrow Gauge Railway Company, it began carrying traffic in 1876, when it also dropped 'narrow gauge' from its corporate name. The line reached Washington in 1880, operating over 52.5 miles (84.5 km) of track. In 1881, the Burlington and Western Railway Company, a subsidiary of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (CB&Q) was formed to connect the line to Oskaloosa, completed in 1883. For two decades, both lines were operated as a single system, until on June 20, 1902, the system was widened to standard gauge and the B&NW was adsorbed by the B&W. Later that year, the system was leased to the CB&Q, and in 1903, the entire system was deeded to the CB&Q.[1][2][3]
The B&NW-B&W system was one of only two narrow-gauge lines in Iowa to survive into the 20th Century. Only the Bellevue and Cascade lasted longer.[4]
- ^ W. W. Baldwin, The Burlington and Western Railway Company, Corporate History of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company and Affiliated Companies Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, 1921; pages 203-207.
- ^ Willard I. Toussaint, Charles Mason and the Burlington-Northwestern Narrow Gauge Railroad, The Annals of Iowa, vol. 38, no. 3 (Winter 1966); pages 186-203.
- ^ J. P. Crittenden and Chas. B. Helffrich, Burlington and Northwestern Rw. Co., New York Securities, A Descriptive and Statistical Manual of the Corporations of New York City and Brooklyn, and the Railroads of the United States, New York Securities, 1893; pages 257-258.
- ^ Ben H. Wilson, Iowa and the Narrow Gauge, The Palimpsest, vol. 13, no. 4 (1932); pages 141-153, discussion of the B&NW starts on page 151.