The C&NW operated the line for a few years after the CGW merger, but abandoned the portion from Lime Siding east in the early 1970s. The C&NW, working with the State of Minnesota, used the more favorable CGW grade into Mankato. The C&NW built a link between the two lines where they neared each other on the outskirts of Mankato before they both descended into the Minnesota River Valley. The Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad uses these joined segments as its Tracy Subdivision. The remaining segments became the trail, with a route necessary around a farm that had taken over the abandoned route across from Lime Siding.