The Northern Cross Railroad was a project of the State of Illinois beginning in the late 1830s. Its purpose was to create an east-west transportation link across the state to promote development; eventually most of it became part of the Wabash Railroad. Motive power for the initial strap-rail trackage of the Northern Cross was the Rogers, the first locomotive to operate west of the Alleghenies and north of the Ohio River. The Wabash displayed this rubber-tired parade replica at the 1948 fair.