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 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 ...

's Southern Transcon.

History

The

Illinois General Assembly The Illinois General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois. It has two chambers, the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Senate. The General Assembly was created by the first state constitution adopted in 181 ...

chartered the Chicago and Plainfield Railroad on February 24, 1859 to build a railroad from Chicago via

Lyons Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of th ...

, Plainfield, and

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

Newark Newark most commonly refers to: * Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States * Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area Newark may also refer to: Places Canada * Niagara-on-the ...

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

. In 1867, the General Assembly authorized a branch into Peoria County, and in 1869 it was renamed twice with expanded powers: first on March 29 to Chicago, Plainfield and Pekin Railroad, with the power to build on any route from Chicago via Plainfield to Pekin, and then on April 19 to Chicago, Pekin and Southwestern Railroad (CP&SW), with only Chicago and Pekin named as intermediate points. The road's first construction contract was dated August 21, 1869, and on January 6, 1873 it was opened from

Streator Streator is a city in LaSalle County, Illinois, LaSalle and Livingston County, Illinois, Livingston counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. The city is situated on the Vermilion River (Illinois River tributary), Vermilion River approximately so ...

to Pekin, except for about of trackage rights on the Toledo, Peoria and Warsaw Railway between Eureka (Streator Junction) and Washington (Pekin Junction). Henry V. Poor, Manual of the Railroads of the United States, 1880, pp
754-755
/ref> In 1875, the CP&SW bought an unfinished grade between Streator and the

Mazon River The Mazon River or Mazon Creek (), is a tributary of the Illinois River in the United States. The confluence is near Morris, Illinois. The Mazon River is associated with the Mazon Creek fossils of the Francis Creek Shale, which are also exposed i ...

at Gorman from the Chicago and Illinois River Railroad (C&IR), which it opened for operation on May 21, 1876, along with trackage rights into Joliet on the C&IR. The CP&SW was also known as the "Hinckley road" after president Francis E. Hinckley.Glenn Danford Bradley, The Story of the Santa Fe, 1920, pp
259-262
/ref> The CP&SW was sold at foreclosure on May 31, 1881 to Hinckley and reorganized on May 15, 1882 as the Chicago, St. Louis and Western Railroad. Another reorganization in March 1885 produced the Chicago and St. Louis Railway, which on December 21, 1885 opened an extension beyond the Mazon River, paralleling the old C&IR to Joliet and continuing on to Corwith in Chicago, from where it had trackage rights over the

Chicago and Southern Railroad 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 a ...

. Finally, in December 1886, new Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway subsidiary Chicago, Santa Fe and California Railway, bought the line as part of a project to extend the Santa Fe from

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...

to Chicago, which, including the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad in Chicago from Corwith to near downtown Chicago, was completed on July 1, 1888. The new main line left the old Chicago and St. Louis at Ancona, making the Ancona-Pekin segment a branch line, the Santa Fe's only one in Illinois outside Chicago. The Santa Fe and

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

(PRR) jointly acquired control of the Toledo, Peoria and Western Railroad (TP&W), successor to the Toledo, Peoria and Warsaw Railway, in 1960, and in January 1981 the Santa Fe bought the PRR's 50% share from successor

Penn Central Corporation The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania, New York Central and th ...

, merging it on December 3, 1983. The TP&W branched off the Santa Fe's Chicago line at Lomax, Illinois and headed east through Peoria (just north of Pekin) to Logansport, Indiana, and so this acquisition allowed the Santa Fe to abandon most of its Pekin Branch. However, the Santa Fe soon had second thoughts about the TP&W merger, and in February 1989 a new independent Toledo, Peoria and Western Railway acquired the old TP&W, as well a short remnant of the Pekin Branch between

Crandall Crandall is an English surname. It is likely a geographic feature name deriving from the Anglo-Saxon, "crundel," meaning hollow, ravine, or water-course. Notable people with the surname *Bradley Crandall (1927–1991), radio personality, US * B ...

and Morton. The rest of the old line, between Corwith and Ancona, is now part of successor

Chillicothe Subdivision The Chillicothe Subdivision or "Chillicothe Sub" (slang "Chilli Sub") is a railway line running about from Chicago, Illinois to Fort Madison, Iowa in the United States of America. It is operated by BNSF Railway as part of their Southern Transco ...

, Chicago Division Timetable No. 6, in effect July 20, 2007

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chicago Saint Louis Railway Defunct Illinois railroads Predecessors of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Railway companies established in 1885 Railway companies disestablished in 1886 1869 establishments in Illinois

History

See also

References