Traffic volume
Traffic volume continued to drop off until operation was reduced to a single train a week. In 1979, the ICC gave C&amp;NW permission to abandon the line. As reported in the Summer 1983 Northwestern Line Magazine, a 37.79-mile segment of the line between Wabeno and Tipler was sold for continued operation as a short line. The last time a Chicago &amp; Northwestern crew operated a train on the Laona Line was June 29, 1979.