Ahnapee and Western Railway

The Ahnapee and Western Railway (A&W) was a common carrier short line railroad located in northeastern Wisconsin.

The railroad ran 34.5 miles (55.5 km) from a connection with the Kewaunee, Green Bay and Western Railroad at Casco Junction to the lakeshore terminals of Algoma in Kewaunee County and Sturgeon Bay in the "Door County thumb" of Wisconsin. Other towns along the line include Casco, Rio Creek, Forestville, Maplewood, and Sawyer. The name of the railroad comes from the city of Ahnapee, which was founded along the Ahnapee River and became Algoma in 1899.

The A&W was incorporated on August 18, 1890, and was built from Casco Junction to Algoma in 1892 and extended to Sturgeon Bay in 1894. It was financed by Edward Decker, a prominent businessman in the area, to dovetail with his logging, publishing, and other commercial interests centered at Casco. Decker sold the company on August 1, 1906, to the Green Bay and Western Railroad (GB&W). The A&W became a division of the GB&W and the physical plant of the line was substantially upgraded in the period around World War I. Through the Depression years the railroad saw a decrease in traffic and the GB&W looked to sell the line during World War II despite short term increases in carload traffic due to wartime production of naval vessels and of wood products at industries along the route. The A&W also transported German prisoners of war to Door County to work the fruit harvest season during the war years.

The A&W was sold by the GB&W to local interests on May 31, 1947. Vernon Bushman of Green Bay, Wisconsin, purchased the railroad and, along with his brother Erv, operated the road whose carloadings were dependent on the local shipbuilding, plywood, evaporated milk, lumber, and petroleum products-related industries.

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