Owned by the Itel Rail Corporation, FRVR had problems from the start, plagued by big debt and little revenue.
The Fox River Valley Railroad actually began to take shape more than 100 years earlier when the Rock River Valley Union Railroad, a predecessor of the Chicago and North Western Railway (C&NW), reached Fond du Lac from Minnesota Junction in 1854.
C&NW continued building north from Fond du Lac and reached Green Bay in 1862.
[1] Right from the start, FRVR struggled under the weight of heavy debt, continually suffering from cash flow problems.
Itel tried to remedy the situation by placing it under common management with the Green Bay and Western Railroad in 1991.