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 Chicago and Southern Railroad was incorporated on April 7, 1874, [1] and was opened in 1876 under lease to the Chicago, Danville and Vincennes Railroad, which used it as its access to Chicago. [2] (Prior to 1876 the CD&V had entered Chicago via trackage rights over the Columbus, Chicago and Indiana Central Railway from Dolton, several miles north of Thornton, where the CD&V ended. [3] ) The Chicago and Southern headed northwest from Thornton, crossing the Illinois Central Railroad at Harvey, the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad at Blue Island, and the Chicago and Alton Railroad at Corwith before curving east along 26th Street, crossing the Columbus, Chicago and Indiana Central Railway and ending just west of Western Avenue at a junction with the Lumber District of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. [4] The narrow-gauge Chicago, Millington and Western Railway briefly used the portion on 26th Street.[ citation needed ]
The CD&V was reorganized in 1877 as the Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad, and on July 31, 1878, the Chicago and Southern was sold at foreclosure to representatives of the Grand Trunk Railway,[ citation needed ] which reorganized it as the Chicago and State Line Railway. In the next two years, the Grand Trunk completed a line between Port Huron, Michigan and Chicago, consolidating its components on April 6, 1880, to form new subsidiary Chicago and Grand Trunk Railway. [1] To provide improved access to Chicago, the Grand Trunk Junction Railway was incorporated in 1880 and opened in 1881, branching off the old line at Elsdon and following 49th Street east past the Union Stock Yards to the Chicago and Western Indiana Railroad, [5] a terminal railroad that was later controlled jointly by the Grand Trunk Junction and four other railroads.
The Chicago and St. Louis Railway opened a line between Pekin and Chicago on December 21, 1885, [6] initially using the Chicago and Grand Trunk between Corwith and the end in 26th Street.[ citation needed ] The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, which had acquired the Chicago and St. Louis in December 1886 through subsidiary Chicago, Santa Fe and California Railway, [7] bought the line between Elsdon and 26th Street on July 20, 1887. [1] Santa Fe subsidiary Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad in Chicago completed a more direct entrance to Chicago in 1888, [7] and in 1902 the Illinois Northern Railway, controlled by the International Harvester Company, which owned a plant near 26th Street, leased the entire line except for short sections at the junctions at Corwith and Elsdon. [8] The Santa Fe also retained its Corwith Yard between these junctions.[ citation needed ]
The Santa Fe eventually bought control of the Illinois Northern, and merged it in 1975. [9] Successor Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway leased the line north of Corwith to new shortline Central Illinois Railroad in 2000. [10]
As for the line south of Elsdon, it remains owned and operated by the Grand Trunk Western Railroad as part of its Elsdon Subdivision. [11]
The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the largest Class 1 railroads in the United States.
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.
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.
Corwith Yards is a railroad intermodal freight terminal located at Pershing Road & Kedzie Avenue in the southwest side of Chicago, Illinois, in the neighborhood of Brighton Park. At the time it was built by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway in 1888, it was the world's largest railway yard. With adjacent parking and buildings it covers nearly a square mile of land. In the late 19th century Corwith Yards was the end of the line for trains of livestock loaded at AT&SF stations such as Dodge City, Kansas, and bound for the Union Stock Yards, as well as grain and other cargo from the western United States.
The Kansas City Terminal Railway is a Class III terminal railroad that serves as a joint operation of the trunk railroads that serve the Kansas City metropolitan area, the United States' second largest rail hub after Chicago. It is operated by the Kaw River Railroad.
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 V&S Railway is a shortline railroad that operates two disconnected lines in the U.S. state of Kansas. It is affiliated with A&K Railroad Materials. The company acquired its first line, a former Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway line between Medicine Lodge and a BNSF Railway junction at Attica, from the Central Kansas Railway in 2000. In 2006 it expanded its operations by acquiring from the Hutchinson and Northern Railway a short segment of former interurban in eastern Hutchinson, where it interchanges with the BNSF Railway, Union Pacific Railroad, and Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad. Other railroads under common control with the V&S are the out-of-service Kern Valley Railroad in Colorado, the Gloster Southern Railroad in Louisiana and Mississippi, the Grenada Railway and Natchez Railway in Mississippi, a portion of the former Rock Island from St. Louis to Union, Missouri operated by the Missouri Central and the Southern Manitoba Railway in Manitoba.
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 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 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 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.
The Chicago and Illinois River Railroad was a predecessor of the Alton Railroad that built a line from Joliet southwest through Coal City, Illinois, to the Mazon River. A portion is now a second main track on the BNSF Railway's Southern Transcon.
The Chicago and St. Louis Railway was a predecessor of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway that owned a line between Chicago and Pekin, Illinois. More than half of the line is now part of the BNSF Railway's Southern Transcon.
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 Illinois Northern Railroad was an industrial switching railroad serving Chicago's southwest side. From their yard at 26th St. and Western Ave. the line went southwest to the Santa Fe Railway's Corwith Yard, connecting with most major area railroads and serving on-line customers on the way. They also leased and switched track east of their yard. Incorporated in 1901, it was merged into the Santa Fe Railway in 1975.
The Oklahoma, New Mexico and Pacific Railway, known colloquially as the “Ringling Railroad,” ran from Ardmore, Oklahoma to Ringling, Oklahoma, with a branch to Healdton, Oklahoma. It was started in 1913, and was sold to an Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (AT&SF) affiliate in 1926.