The FEVR line extended from Fremont to nearby Hooper. It was originally built in 1869 as part of the larger system, the Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley Railroad (FE&MV) & effectively nicknamed the "Cowboy Line". In 1903, the Chicago and North Western Railway (CNW) acquired the FE&MV & continued to operate the line until 1982, when the section from Fremont to Norfolk (known by C&NW as the West Point Subdivision) was abandoned after flooding along the Elkhorn River damaged the section. From the mid-1970s until the abandonment in 1982, freight traffic volumes had been mildly declining along this stretch of the Cowboy Line. The museum acquired the Fremont to West Point section in 1985.