Chicago & North Western Railway (CNW) — Plants in Iowa

Plaintiffs alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation that they were exposed to asbestos while working at Chicago & North Western Railway (CNW) plants in Iowa. This page documents the Iowa portion of Chicago & North Western Railway (CNW)’s multi-state operations. For the full corporate summary and plants in other states, see the Chicago & North Western Railway (CNW) manufacturer page.

Premises Description

Chicago & North Western Railway (“CNW” or “North Western” — founded 1859, headquartered Chicago, Illinois; merged into Union Pacific Railroad 1995) was through the 20th century one of the principal U.S. Midwestern Class I freight railroads. The CNW system spanned Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Michigan — including the Powder River Basin coal haul in Wyoming built jointly with UP in the late 1970s and 1980s. CNW’s flagship shop and yard complexes included Proviso Yard (Northlake / suburban Chicago IL — one of the largest classification yards in North America), California Avenue Yard / Wood Street Yard (Chicago IL), M&StL / Council Bluffs IA, Marshalltown IA, Clinton IA, Boone IA, Fremont NE, Green Bay WI, Milwaukee WI, and Escanaba MI — all major regional workplaces through the asbestos era.

Plaintiffs alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA) that Chicago & North Western Railway exposed its railroad workforce to asbestos through:

  • Asbestos brake-shoe dust at CNW rip tracks, car shops, and locomotive servicing facilities
  • Asbestos locomotive insulation on steam-era boiler lagging and diesel engine-room piping
  • Asbestos pipe covering on shop and roundhouse steam mains
  • Asbestos block insulation on shop boilers at Proviso, Clinton, and Marshalltown
  • Spray-applied asbestos fireproofing on shop structural steel
  • Asbestos ceiling and partition board in shop, roundhouse, and office buildings
  • Asbestos brake dust on freight cars received from interchange partners

Chicago & North Western Railway has been named as a Premises Defendant in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation under FELA.

Workers Exposed

  • Railroad car repairmen at Proviso, Wood Street, Clinton, Marshalltown, Boone, and Green Bay
  • Locomotive engineers, firemen, and hostlers on CNW trains
  • Railroad shop machinists, boilermakers, pipefitters, sheet-metal workers, and electricians
  • Roundhouse and locomotive-servicing workers
  • CNW yard switchmen, conductors, and brakemen
  • Shop-building maintenance workers exposed to building asbestos

If You Worked for the Chicago & North Western

If you worked for Chicago & North Western Railway — at any CNW yard, shop, roundhouse, or facility in Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, or elsewhere on the CNW system during the asbestos era — and have since been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, lung cancer, or another asbestos-related illness, you may have legal rights under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA), which is preserved through Union Pacific as successor.

Free, confidential case evaluation: Speak with O’Brien Law Firm — (314) 936-2956