The Chicago and Southern Railroad built a rail line in northeastern

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

, extending south from

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

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 Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison, Kansas, Atchison and Top ...

, the Illinois Northern Railway, and most recently the

Central Illinois Railroad The Central Illinois Railroad was a shortline railroad in Illinois. The switching and terminal railroad operated trackage near Peoria, Illinois. The Central Illinois Railroad was established in 2000, operating on track leased from the Burlingt ...

History

The Chicago and Southern Railroad was incorporated on April 7, 1874, and was opened in 1876 under lease to the

Chicago, Danville and Vincennes Railroad 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, Il ...

, which used it as its access to Chicago. (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.) The Chicago and Southern headed northwest from Thornton, crossing the

Illinois Central Railroad The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, was a railroad in the Central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. A line also co ...

Harvey Harvey, Harveys or Harvey's may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Harvey'' (play), a 1944 play by Mary Chase about a man befriended by an invisible anthropomorphic rabbit * Harvey Awards ("Harveys"), one of the most important awards ...

, the

Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (CRI&P RW, sometimes called ''Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway'') was an American Class I railroad. It was also known as the Rock Island Line, or, in its final years, The Rock. At the end ...

Blue Island Blue Island is a city in Cook County, Illinois, located approximately south of Chicago's Loop. Blue Island is adjacent to the city of Chicago and shares its northern boundary with that city's Morgan Park neighborhood. The population was 22,558 ...

, 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 The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Midwestern United States. Commonly referred to as the Burlington Route, the Burlington, or as the Q, it operated extensive trackage in the states of Colorado, Illin ...

. The narrow-gauge Chicago, Millington and Western Railway briefly used the portion on 26th Street. The CD&V was reorganized in 1877 as the

Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad The Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad 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 Worl ...

, and on July 31, 1878, the Chicago and Southern was sold at foreclosure to representatives of the Grand Trunk Railway, 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 Port Huron is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of St. Clair County. The population was 30,184 at the 2010 census. The city is adjacent to Port Huron Township but is administered separately. Located along the St. Clair ...

and Chicago, consolidating its components on April 6, 1880, to form new subsidiary

Chicago and Grand Trunk Railway The Grand Trunk Western Railroad Company is an American subsidiary of the Canadian National Railway operating in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. Since a corporate restructuring in 1971, the railroad has been under CN's subsidiary holdi ...

. 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 The Union Stock Yard & Transit Co., or The Yards, was the meatpacking district in Chicago for more than a century, starting in 1865. The district was operated by a group of railroad companies that acquired marshland and turned it into a central ...

to the Chicago and Western Indiana Railroad, a terminal railroad that was later controlled jointly by the Grand Trunk Junction and four other railroads. The

Chicago and St. Louis Railway 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. History The Ill ...

opened a line between Pekin and Chicago on December 21, 1885, initially using the Chicago and Grand Trunk between Corwith and the end in 26th Street. The

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, and ...

, which had acquired the Chicago and St. Louis in December 1886 through subsidiary Chicago, Santa Fe and California Railway, bought the line between Elsdon and 26th Street on July 20, 1887. Santa Fe subsidiary Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad in Chicago completed a more direct entrance to Chicago in 1888, and in 1902 the Illinois Northern Railway, controlled by the

International Harvester Company The International Harvester Company (often abbreviated by IHC, IH, or simply International ( colloq.)) was an American manufacturer of agricultural and construction equipment, automobiles, commercial trucks, lawn and garden products, household e ...

, which owned a plant near 26th Street, leased the entire line except for short sections at the junctions at Corwith and Elsdon. The Santa Fe also retained its

Corwith Yard Corwith Yards is a railroad intermodal freight terminal located at Pershing Road (39th Street) & 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 ...

between these junctions. The Santa Fe eventually bought control of the Illinois Northern, and merged it in 1975. Successor

Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that ...

leased the line north of Corwith to new shortline

in 2000. As for the line south of Elsdon, it remains owned and operated by the Grand Trunk Western Railroad as part of its

Elsdon Subdivision Elsdon may be a given name, a surname, or a place name. The surname derives originally from a place name (in Northumberland, England) with the meaning in Old English of ''Elli's valley''. Given name * Thomas Elsdon Ashford, British recipient of ...

. Chicago Operating Rules Association, CN employee timetable, 2007

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chicago Southern Railroad Defunct Illinois railroads Predecessors of the Grand Trunk Railway Predecessors of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Railway companies established in 1874 Railway companies disestablished in 1878 1874 establishments in Illinois American companies established in 1874 American companies disestablished in 1878

History

See also

References