Northwestern Trail - Silver Creek Bridge

In 1859, the Sheboygan and Mississippi Railroad (S&M) constructed 14 miles of new railroad, extending from Sheboygan, Wisconsin to Plymouth, Wisconsin.  The following year, an additional 5 miles were constructed to Glenbeulah, Wisconsin.  The S&M was foreclosed in 1861, and was reorganized as the Sheboygan and Fond du Lac Railroad (S&FdL).  In 1868, the S&FdL constructed an additional 24 miles of railroad from Glenbeulah to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin; followed by 35 additional miles to Princeton, Wisconsin in 1871.  The S&FdL was foreclosed in 1880, and became the Sheboygan & Western Railway (S&W) the same year.  The S&W was consolidated into the Chicago, Milwaukee and North Western Railway (CM&NW) in 1881, which was sold to the Chicago & North Western Railway (C&NW) in 1883.  In the late 19th Century, the C&NW constructed and acquired a number of railroad lines throughout the Midwest, eventually developing a vast network.

In the early 20th Century, the C&NW began expanding existing branch lines to provide greater connectivity throughout the system.  The Princeton and North Western Railway (P&NW) was charted as a subsidiary of the C&NW, and constructed 86 additional miles between Princeton and Marshfield, Wisconsin in 1901.  Later that year, the P&NW was fully purchased by the C&NW.  This line connected a number of C&NW lines throughout central Wisconsin, and terminated at Marshfield, which was also the junction of another C&NW secondary line and a Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railway (Omaha Road, a C&NW subsidiary) line.  In addition, the line allowed the construction of branches from Bannerman, Wisconsin to Red Granite, Wisconsin and from Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin to Nekoosa, Wisconsin.  As this route was mainly a connecting line, some segments were abandoned early on.  The segment between Arpin and Marshfield was abandoned in 1937 in favor of trackage rights over the parallel Soo Line.  The line between Plymouth and Peebles, Wisconsin was abandoned in 1954, followed by the segment between Fond du Lac and Peebles in 1969 and the Red Granite branch in 1970.

Through the second half of the 20th Century, the remaining route remained a secondary line, mainly carrying timber to paper mills in central Wisconsin.  The segment between Bancroft, Wisconsin and Wisconsin Rapids would be abandoned in 1975, followed by the Ripon, Wisconsin to Bancroft segment in 1981 and the Wisconsin Rapids to Marshfield segment and the Nekoosa Branch in 1982.  The final segment to be abandoned was between Fond du Lac and Ripon in 1987.  In 1995, the C&NW was purchased by the Union Pacific Railroad (UP).  In 2015, the State of Wisconsin acquired the Kohler, Wisconsin to Plymouth segment of this line, leasing it to Wisconsin & Southern Railroad (WSOR).  Today, UP operates the Sheboygan-Kohler segment as the Kohler Industrial Lead and WSOR operates the Plymouth Subdivision between Kohler and Plymouth.  A segment of the line in Peebles is used as part of the Peebles Trail, while the Fond du Lac to Rosendale segment is part of the Mascoutin Valley State Trail.  An additional short segment has been reused as a trail near Ripon, and WSOR also owns a short stub of the former line in Ripon.  The remainder of the line remains abandoned.