Cincinnati, Indianapolis, St. Louis And Chicago Railway

The Cincinnati, Indianapolis, St. Louis and Chicago Railway (CISL&C) was a railroad in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The CISL&C resulted from the 1880 corporate restructuring of the bankrupt Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Lafayette Railroad (IC&L). The CISL&C operated a railroad line from

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

via

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

Lafayette Lafayette or La Fayette may refer to: People * Lafayette (name), a list of people with the surname Lafayette or La Fayette or the given name Lafayette * House of La Fayette, a French noble family ** Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (1757� ...

, being the result of an 1867 merger of the Indianapolis and Cincinnati Railroad (I&C), the Lafayette and Indianapolis Railroad (L&I), and the Cincinnati and Indiana Railroad (C&I). The three predecessor companies had been founded in 1850, 1846, and 1861, respectively. The CISL&C controlled and operated numerous subsidiary railway companies operating smaller branch lines. These included: * Cincinnati, Lafayette and Chicago Railroad, which ran from

Templeton, Indiana Templeton is an unincorporated community in Bolivar Township, Benton County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. It is part of the Lafayette, Indiana Metropolitan Statistical Area In the United States, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) is a geogr ...

, to Kenkakee, Illinois. Most notably, through service (1872) with 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 ...

via

Kankakee, Illinois Kankakee is a city in and the county seat of Kankakee County, Illinois, United States. As of 2020, the city's population was 24,052. Kankakee is a principal city of the Kankakee-Bourbonnais-Bradley Metropolitan Statistical Area. It serves as an ...

, eventually became the only

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

service that utilized

Central Station Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

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

. (Amtrak moved to

Union Station A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...

in 1972) * Columbus, Hope and Greensburg Railroad from

Columbus, Indiana Columbus is a city in and the county seat of Bartholomew County, Indiana, United States. The population was 50,474 at the 2020 census. The relatively small city has provided a unique place for noted Modern architecture and public art, commissio ...

, to

Greensburg, Indiana Greensburg is a city in and the county seat of Decatur County, Indiana. The population was 11,492 at the time of the 2010 census. History Greensburg was laid out in 1822. The founder, Thomas Hendricks Sr.'s wife being a native of Greensburg, ...

* Harrison Branch Railroad In 1889, the railway merged with the

Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis Railway The Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis Railway (CCC&I) was formed from the merger of the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad (CC&C) with the Bellefontaine Railway in 1868. The Bellefontaine had been formed by a merger of t ...

and the

Indianapolis and St Louis Railway Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of U.S. state and territorial capitals, state capital and List of U.S. states' largest cities by population, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat, seat of ...

to form the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway, also known collectively as the Big Four. {{DEFAULTSORT:Cincinnati Indianapolis Saint Louis Chicago Railway Companies affiliated with the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway Defunct Illinois railroads Defunct Indiana railroads Defunct Ohio railroads Predecessors of the New York Central Railroad Railway companies established in 1880 Railway companies disestablished in 1889 American companies established in 1880 Rail transportation in Cleveland