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Headquarters | Chicago | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Reporting mark | CEI | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Locale | Chicago, Illinois, St. Louis, Missouri, Evansville, Indiana and southern Illinois | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dates of operation | 1877–1976 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Successor | Split between Missouri Pacific Railroad later Union Pacific Railroad and Louisville and Nashville Railroad later CSX | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Technical | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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This article relies largely or entirely on a single source .(July 2015) |
The Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad( reporting mark CEI) was a Class I railroad that linked Chicago to southern Illinois, St. Louis, and Evansville. Founded in 1877, it grew aggressively and stayed relatively strong throughout the Great Depression and two World Wars before finally being purchased by the Missouri Pacific Railroad (MP or MoPac) and the Louisville and Nashville Railroad (L&N). Missouri Pacific merged with the C&EI corporate entity in 1976, and was later acquired itself by the Union Pacific Railroad.
The Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad was organized in 1877 as a consolidation of three others: the Chicago, Danville and Vincennes Railroad (Chicago-Danville, November 1871), the Evansville, Terre Haute and Chicago Railroad (Danville-Terre Haute, October 1871) and the Evansville and Terre Haute Railroad (Terre Haute-Evansville, November 1854). Intended to merge or purchase railroads that had built lines between the southern suburbs of Chicago and Terre Haute, Indiana through Danville, Illinois, the C&EI constructed a new line from Chicago to a Mississippi River connection in extreme southern Illinois at Thebes.
The management of the Chicago and Eastern Illinois and the Chicago and Indiana Coal Railway ("the Coal Road" or C&IC) became intertwined and eventually a connection was built between the two railroads between Goodland, Indiana (on the C&IC) and Momence (on the C&EI). By 1894 the Eastern had merged the C&IC. The C&EI continued this vigorous growth into the next decade. [1]
The city of Danville, Illinois was the midpoint of the primary mainline between Chicago and Evansville. The first repair shops for locomotives and cars were built on the west side of the city in 1877 at the intersection of East Fairchild and Section Streets. When it became apparent that the original shops had become obsolete, it was decided to build new shops on the east side of town in the Oaklawn neighborhood. By that time the C&EI was considered a large regional railroad with 737 miles of mainline, 159 locomotives, 125 passenger cars, and 11,000 freight cars. Expansion of the railroad in the early 1900s led to the near doubling of the shop capacity just a few years later, at which point about 1,200 people were employed there. [2]
In 1902, the Frisco purchased a controlling interest in the Chicago and Eastern Illinois and continued building; first a connection between the two railroads at Pana, Illinois, next extending the line in Indiana to Evansville and a connection with the Ohio River. However, in 1913 financial problems led to the collapse of the Frisco, and the Eastern was once again on its own by 1920. The C&EI spun off a variety of their lines, including the "Coal Road" (which became the Chicago, Attica and Southern Railroad). The C&EI did not survive the Great Depression intact, entering bankruptcy in 1933, re-emerging just before World War II in 1940. The railroad continued its brisk growth once again, gaining access to St. Louis, Missouri in 1954.
The Missouri Pacific Railroad began to quietly purchase C&EI stock in 1961. After approval was gained from the Interstate Commerce Commission, Mopac assumed control of the C&EI in May 1967. [3] One of the stipulations of the merger required sale of C&EI's Evansville line to the Louisville and Nashville Railroad in 1969. [4] The line directly south of Chicago to near Danville was actually purchased by both railroads (and continues to be owned and operated jointly by MoPac and L&N's successors, Union Pacific Railroad and CSX Transportation). The C&EI was maintained as a separate subsidiary for a few years, but Missouri Pacific merged it in 1976. The route from Woodland Junction, Illinois through Danville into Indiana became part of L&N and its successors (now CSX), while the western fork toward Thebes and St. Louis became MoPac/UP.
The Chicago terminal for the C&EI passenger trains was Dearborn Station, sometimes known as 'Polk Station.' LaSalle Street Station was used during Frisco control of the railroad.
The C&EI operated many streamliners. Its own trains, the Chicago to Cypress Meadowlark , and the Chicago to Evansville Whippoorwill were short lived. The C&EI ran the Chicago to Evansville portion of the L&N's Humming Bird , and Georgian . The railroad also participated in the Chicago to Florida passenger service on the "Dixie Route", with trains such as the Dixie Limited, the Dixie Flyer , the Dixie Mail, the Dixie Flagler , and the Dixiana. It handled the trains from Chicago to Evansville, which then passed to the Louisville and Nashville, Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis, Central of Georgia, Atlantic Coast Line and Florida East Coast. In 1968 the C&EI terminated its Chicago to Evansville passenger operations, resulting in the loss of the Chicago leg of the remaining trains among those mentioned above, the Georgian and the Humming Bird. The Georgian was discontinued as a named train at this point. The C&EI's sole remaining train was the two and a half hour Chicago - Danville, Illinois Danville-Chicago Flyer. [5]
Miles of road operated at year end: 945 in 1925, 863 in 1967, 643 in 1970 after L&N took over its piece. Track-miles operated: 1928 in 1925, 1435 in 1967, 1067 in 1970. In 1967 it reported 3173 million ton-miles of revenue freight and 41 million passenger-miles.
Dearborn Station was, beginning in the late 1800s, one of six intercity train stations serving downtown Chicago, Illinois. It remained in operation until May 1, 1971. Built in 1883, it is located at Dearborn and Polk Streets, to the south of the Loop, adjacent to Printers Row. The station was owned by the Chicago & Western Indiana Railroad, which itself was owned by the companies operating over its line. The station building headhouse now houses office, retail, and entertainment spaces, and its trackage yard, behind the headhouse, was redeveloped into part of the Dearborn Park neighborhood.
The Missouri Pacific Railroad, commonly abbreviated as MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers. In 1967, the railroad operated 9,041 miles of road and 13,318 miles of track, not including DK&S, NO&LC, T&P, and its subsidiaries C&EI and Missouri-Illinois.
The Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway was a railway company that operated in the U.S. states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. It began as the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad, chartered in Nashville on December 11, 1845, built to 5 ft gauge and was the first railway to operate in the state of Tennessee. By the turn of the twentieth century, the NC&StL grew into one of the most important railway systems in the southern United States.
The Louisville and Nashville Railroad, commonly called the L&N, was a Class I railroad that operated freight and passenger services in the southeast United States.
The Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League was a Minor League Baseball organization that operated for the better part of 60 seasons, with teams based in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska and Wisconsin. The league began play in 1901 and disbanded after the 1961 season. It was popularly known as the Three–I League and sometimes as the Three–Eye League.
The Indiana Rail Road is a United States Class II railroad, originally operating over former Illinois Central Railroad trackage from Newton, Illinois, to Indianapolis, Indiana, a distance of 155 miles (249 km). This line, now known as the Indiana Rail Road's Indianapolis Subdivision, comprises most of the former IC/ICG line from Indianapolis to Effingham, Illinois; Illinois Central successor Canadian National Railway retains the portion from Newton to Effingham. INRD also owns a former Milwaukee Road line from Terre Haute, Indiana, to Burns City, Indiana, with trackage rights extending to Chicago, Illinois. INRD no longer serves Louisville, Kentucky, and the Port of Indiana on the Ohio River at Jeffersonville, Indiana, through a haulage agreement with the Louisville & Indiana Railroad (LIRC).
Chauncey Rose was an American businessman during the 19th century.
The Indiana Railroad (IR) was the last of the typical Midwestern United States interurban lines. It was formed in 1930–31 by combining the operations of the five major interurban systems in central Indiana into one entity. The predecessor companies came under the control of Midland Utilities, owned by Samuel Insull. His plan was to modernize the profitable routes and abandon the unprofitable ones. With the onset of the Great Depression, the Insull empire collapsed and the Indiana Railroad was left with a decaying infrastructure and little hope of overcoming the growing competition of the automobile for passenger business and the truck for freight business. The IR faced bankruptcy in 1933, and Bowman Elder was designated as the receiver to run the company. Payments on bonded debt were suspended. Elder was able to keep the system virtually intact for four years, and IR operated about 600 miles (970 km) of interurban lines throughout Indiana during this period. During the late 1930s, the routes were abandoned one by one until a 1941 wreck with fatalities south of Indianapolis put an abrupt end to the Indiana Railroad's last passenger operations.
The Chicago, Danville and Vincennes Railroad was a railroad company that served various communities along the eastern border of the U.S. state of Illinois in the 1870s. The original plan called for a line to connect Chicago with Lawrence County, Illinois via Danville and Paris; it ran from Chicago to Danville before it was consolidated into the Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad in 1877.
The Humming Bird was a named train of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad (L&N). The train, inaugurated in 1946, originally ran from Cincinnati, Ohio, to New Orleans, Louisiana, via Louisville, Nashville, Birmingham, Montgomery and Mobile and later via a connection at Bowling Green, Kentucky, to Memphis, Tennessee. A connection to Chicago was provided by the Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad.
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 Whippoorwill was a short-lived passenger train operated by the Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad (C&EI) between Chicago, Illinois and Evansville, Indiana.
The Dixie Flagler was a streamlined passenger train operated by the Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) between Chicago, Illinois and Miami, Florida. It began in 1939 as the Henry M. Flagler, a regional service between Miami and Jacksonville, Florida; the FEC renamed it and extended it to Chicago a year later. It was one of the few Chicago to Florida trains that passed through Atlanta. As an overnight streamliner it was part of the every-third-day pool shared by the City of Miami and South Wind. It was renamed Dixieland in 1954 and discontinued altogether in 1957.
The Meadowlark was a streamlined passenger train operated by the Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad between Chicago, Illinois and Cypress, Illinois. It operated from 1946 to 1962. The Meadowlark was the C&EI's last train to Southern Illinois.
The Dixie Flyer was a premier named passenger train that operated from 1892 to 1965 via the "Dixie Route" from Chicago and St. Louis via Evansville, Nashville, and Atlanta to Florida. However, the train continued until 1969 as an Atlanta to Florida operation, run solely by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad and its successor, the Seaboard Coast Line. The Flyer's route varied in early years, but by about 1920 was set as follows:
Louisville and Nashville Railroad Station, also known as L & N Station, was a historic train station located in downtown Evansville, Indiana. It was built in 1902 for the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, and was a Richardsonian Romanesque style rock-faced limestone building. It consisted of a three-story central block with two-story flanking wings, and a one-story baggage wing. It had projecting gabled pavilions and a slate hipped roof.
The Georgian was a long-distance passenger train operated by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad in conjunction with the Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad. It operated between St. Louis Union Station and Atlanta's Union Station with a section operated by the C&EI from Evansville to Chicago's Dearborn Station. From Nashville to Atlanta it operated over the tracks of the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway. The introduction of this train made the C&EI's Chicago-Evansville Whippoorwill train superfluous.
Terre Haute Union Station was a passenger train station located at Ninth Street and Spruce Street, Terre Haute, Indiana, serving riders for nearly 67 years. It was completed on August 15, 1893, at the cost of $273,000.