The Chicago Junction Railway operated a switching and terminal railroad in Chicago, connecting the Union Stock Yards with most other railroads in the city. It also briefly operated an outer belt, which became the Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad in 1907. The New York Central Railroad acquired control of the company in 1922 and leased it to subsidiary Chicago River and Indiana Railroad. The line is now owned and operated by the Norfolk Southern Railway.
When the Union Stock Yard and Transit Company of Chicago was incorporated in 1865 to consolidate the Chicago stock yards, its powers included the construction of a railroad outside the city limits (then Pershing Road and Western Avenue) to link the stock yards with the railroads entering Chicago south of Roosevelt Road. [1] All nine of these railroads - the Chicago and Alton Railroad, Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, Chicago and Great Eastern Railway, Chicago and North Western Railway, Chicago and Rock Island Railroad, Illinois Central Railroad, Michigan Central Railroad, Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana Railroad, and Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway - had previously come to an agreement to finance the new property as a replacement for their individual yards. [2] In December 1865, the new Union Stock Yards and railroad opened, [3] the latter beginning at the Illinois Central near 43rd Street and heading west, largely along 40th Street, to the Chicago and Great Eastern, and then turning north to parallel the latter company's line in Campbell Avenue until it reached the Chicago and North Western Railway at Ogden Avenue.[ citation needed ] Prior to 1897, the Union Stock Yard and Transit Company (USY&T) operated its own property, except between 1887 and 1893, when a number of connecting carriers organized a transfer association to operate the railroad. [3]
Subsidiary[ citation needed ]Chicago and Indiana State Line Railway was incorporated July 13, 1880, and soon constructed connections from the south border of the stock yards to the Grand Trunk Junction Railway and Chicago and Western Indiana Railroad, and from the north border along both sides of the South Fork South Branch Chicago River to near Archer Avenue. [4] On December 15, 1897, the USY&T leased its railroad property to the Chicago and Indiana State Line. [5] In August 1897, USY&T parent Chicago Junction Railways and Union Stock Yards Company bought control of the Chicago, Hammond and Western Railroad, which was building an outer belt line around Chicago, with trackage rights over the Terminal Railroad from Argo to the stock yards. [6] [7] The Chicago and Indiana State Line and Chicago, Hammond and Western merged on April 26, 1898 to form the Chicago Junction Railway, now operating two belt lines. However, on October 31, 1907, the outer belt line was sold to the Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad, and the Chicago Junction was back to the original line of the USY&T and the ca. 1880 extensions north and south of the stock yards. [4]
On May 19, 1922, the New York Central Railroad bought control of the Chicago River and Indiana Railroad (CR&I) and simultaneously leased the Chicago Junction to the CR&I. [8] [9] The CR&I owned a line extending south and west from the Chicago Junction west of the stock yards to Elsdon. On August 26, 1958, the CR&I acquired the property of the Chicago Junction and lessor USY&T, [10] and in 1976 the Consolidated Rail Corporation acquired the CR&I's lines, except for the old Chicago Junction east of Prairie Avenue in Kenwood, which had been abandoned in the 1960s.[ citation needed ] The Norfolk Southern Railway now owns and operates the line as the CR&I Industrial Track, except east of the Chicago Line, [11] where Chicago Rail Link operates it east to Metra's Rock Island District and the rest has been abandoned.
The Cincinnati, Lebanon and Northern Railway (CL&N) was a local passenger and freight-carrying railroad in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Ohio, connecting Cincinnati to Dayton via Lebanon. It was built in the late 19th century to give the town of Lebanon and Warren County better transportation facilities. The railroad was locally known as the "Highland Route", since it followed the ridge between the Little and Great Miami rivers, and was the only line not affected by floods such as the Great Dayton Flood of 1913.
The Chicago and Western Indiana Railroad was the owner of Dearborn Station in Chicago and the trackage leading to it. It was owned equally by five of the railroads using it to reach the terminal, and kept those companies from needing their own lines into the city. With the closure of Dearborn Station in 1971 and the Calumet steel mills in 1985, the railroad was gradually downgraded until 1994 when it became a subsidiary of the Union Pacific Corporation.
The Porter Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in the Chicago, Illinois, area. Formerly a part of the main line of the Michigan Central Railroad, it now connects CSX's former Baltimore and Ohio Railroad line and the Chicago Fort Wayne and Eastern Railroad from the east with the Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad towards Blue Island, Illinois.
The Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis is a Class III switching and terminal railroad that handles traffic in the St. Louis, Missouri, metropolitan area. It is co-owned by five of the six Class I railroads that reach the city.
The Gateway Eastern Railway is a railroad subsidiary of the Kansas City Southern Railway (KCS), owning a 17-mile (27 km) main line between East Alton and East St. Louis, Illinois, United States. Originally created in 1994 as a subsidiary of the Gateway Western Railway, which acquired the East St. Louis-Kansas City line of the Chicago, Missouri and Western Railway in 1990, it was acquired by KCS along with its parent in 1997.
The Chicago, Ft. Wayne & Eastern Railroad is a short line railroad offering service from Tolleston, Indiana to Crestline, Ohio, United States over the former Fort Wayne Line of the Pennsylvania Railroad. It began operations in 2004 as a division of the Central Railroad of Indianapolis (CERA), under the overall corporate ownership of RailAmerica. CFE operates 273 miles (439 km) of rail leased from CSX.
The Western New York and Pennsylvania Railroad is a short-line railroad that operates freight trains in Western New York and Northwest Pennsylvania, United States. The company is controlled by the Livonia, Avon and Lakeville Railroad, with which it does not connect. It started operations in 2001 on the Southern Tier Extension, a former Erie Railroad line between Hornell, NY and Corry, PA, owned by the public Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Allegany and Steuben Southern Tier Extension Railroad Authority (STERA). Through acquisitions and leases, the line was extended from Corry to Meadville, PA in 2002 and to Oil City, PA in 2006. In 2007, the WNY&P leased and sub-leased portions of the north–south Buffalo Line, a former Pennsylvania Railroad line mostly built by a predecessor of the defunct Western New York and Pennsylvania Railway. The two lines cross at Olean, NY.
The Chicago, Peoria and St. Louis Railroad (CP&StL) was a railroad in the U.S. state of Illinois that operated a main line between Pekin and Madison via Springfield. Its property was sold at foreclosure to several new companies in the 1920s; the portion north of Springfield has since become the Illinois and Midland Railroad, while the remainder has been abandoned, except for a portion near St. Louis that is now owned by the Norfolk Southern Railway.
The Warren and Trumbull Railroad is a part of the Ohio Central Railroad System, which was bought by Genesee & Wyoming Inc. in 2008, operating three lines in and near Warren. It began operations in 1994 on a line formerly operated by CSX Transportation, and expanded in 1996 on two ex-Conrail lines.
The following is a brief history of the North American rail system, mainly through major changes to Class I railroads, the largest class by operating revenue.
The following is a brief history of the North American rail system, mainly through major changes to Class I railroads, the largest class by operating revenue.
The Chicago and Southern Railroad built a rail line in northeastern Illinois, extending south from Chicago to Thornton. It now mainly forms part of the Grand Trunk Western Railroad, while the north end has been operated by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, the Illinois Northern Railway, and most recently the Central Illinois Railroad.
The Grand Trunk Junction Railway was a subsidiary of the Grand Trunk Railway that built a connecting line along 49th Street in Chicago, Illinois. The company was incorporated on June 11, 1880, and opened on August 29, 1881 under lease to the Chicago and Grand Trunk Railway. Its line was double-tracked and began at the Chicago and Grand Trunk's main line at Elsdon, heading east across the Columbus, Chicago and Indiana Central Railway and just south of the Union Stock Yards to a junction with the Chicago and Western Indiana Railroad, a terminal railroad that gave the Chicago and Grand Trunk access to downtown Chicago, and which the Grand Trunk Junction acquired a one-fifth interest in. The Polk and Forty-ninth Streets Junction Railway, which did not construct any railroad, was incorporated on March 27 and merged into the Grand Trunk Junction on June 21, 1889. On January 15, 1901, just after the Chicago and Grand Trunk was reorganized as the Grand Trunk Western Railway, the latter company bought the property of the Grand Trunk Junction.
The Baltimore and Ohio and Chicago Railroad (B&O&C) was a subsidiary of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) that owned the line from Willard, Ohio to Chicago, Illinois.
The Kenwood branch was a rapid transit line which was part of the Chicago 'L' system from 1907 to 1957. The branch served the Kenwood neighborhood of Chicago and consisted of six elevated stations. It opened on September 20, 1907 and closed on December 1, 1957.
The Wabash Railroad was a Class I railroad that operated in the mid-central United States. It served a large area, including track in the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, and Missouri and the province of Ontario. Its primary connections included Chicago, Illinois; Kansas City, Missouri; Detroit, Michigan; Buffalo, New York; St. Louis, Missouri; and Toledo, Ohio.
The Stock Yards branch was a rapid transit line which was part of the Chicago 'L' system from 1908 to 1957. The branch served the Union Stock Yards and the Canaryville neighborhood of Chicago and consisted of eight elevated stations. It opened on April 8, 1908, and closed on October 6, 1957.