Backers of the line had originally planned to reach Brookings, South Dakota,[2] and construction westward resumed in 1922 with completion to Cosmos and extension to Lake Lillian the following year.

The Minnesota Western Railway continued to operate passenger service into the late 1940s, but it was reduced in 1939 to one daily (except Sunday) round trip over the line.

The MW subsequently saw deferred maintenance and reduced service as the C&NW sought to abandon the line.

In 1967, C&NW asked the Minnesota Railroad and Warehouse Commission for permission to abandon the Gluek to Hutchinson segment.

Two years later, the C&NW was back before the MRWC to ask permission to abandon the line from Hutchinson to Plymouth, Minnesota.

Chicago and North Western was merged into the Union Pacific Railroad in 1995, and the remnants of the Luce Line between Interstate 494 and downtown Minneapolis are now operated as the UP's Golden Valley Industrial Lead.