The Kankakee, Beaverville and Southern Railroad Company is a

Class III railroad Railroad classes are the system by which freight railroads are designated in the United States. Railroads are assigned to Class I, II or III according to annual revenue criteria originally set by the Surface Transportation Board in 1992. With a ...

serving agricultural communities in east-central Illinois and west-central Indiana.

History

In December 1977,

Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busine ...

was set to abandon of their ex-

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected New York metropolitan area, gr ...

trackage between Kankakee and Sheldon, Illinois, when instead it was purchased by Beaverville businessman Fey Orr to service his lumber and agricultural products industry based there. Eighty miles of the

bankrupt Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the de ...

Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad's trackage from just north of

Donovan Donovan Phillips Leitch (born 10 May 1946), known mononymously as Donovan, is a Scottish musician, songwriter and record producer. He emerged from the British folk scene in early 1965 and subsequently scored multiple international hit singles ...

and Danville were purchased in 1981. These two lines cross near

Iroquois The Iroquois ( ), also known as the Five Nations, and later as the Six Nations from 1722 onwards; alternatively referred to by the Endonym and exonym, endonym Haudenosaunee ( ; ) are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Ind ...

. The

Norfolk Southern The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States. Headquartered in Atlanta, the company was formed in 1982 with the merger of the Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. The comp ...

abandoned its ex- New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad trackage between

Cheneyville, Illinois Cheneyville is an unincorporated community in Grant Township, Vermilion County, Illinois. History Cheneyville was founded in 1871 and platted in 1880. It was named for J. H. Cheney, the vice-president of the Lake Erie and Western Railroad. A ...

(north of Danville) Boswell, Indiana and

Lafayette, Indiana Lafayette ( ) is a city in and is the county seat of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, located northwest of Indianapolis and southeast of Chicago. According to the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of Lafayette ...

, which KBSR purchased in 1991. Several other abandonments occurred in the area by

Class I railroad Railroad classes are the system by which Rail freight transport, freight railroads are designated in the United States. Railroads are assigned to Class I, II or III according to annual revenue criteria originally set by the Surface Transportatio ...

s which the Kankakee, Beaverville were able to capitalize on. Currently, the KBSR operates about of trackage in a vaguely triangular shape between Kankakee, Danville, and Lafayette, with numerous sidings. On July 16, 1997, company founder Fey Orr died at 85. Vice President Kevin Stroo then took over as President of the KB&S until his death in 2009. Current President is Tyler Stroo. Vice-President is Neil Stroo.

Operations

The Kankakee, Beaverville and Southern is privately owned, and serves the various small communities it passes through and their primarily agricultural industries. In recent years it was considered unusual in that it continued to roster

Alco The American Locomotive Company (often shortened to ALCO, ALCo or Alco) was an American manufacturer that operated from 1901 to 1969, initially specializing in the production of locomotives but later diversifying and fabricating at various time ...

diesel locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover (locomotive), power source is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is con ...

s decades after their builder's demise, and became all the more popular amongst railfans for it. However, in December 2003, the KB&S received a group of six EMD GP38-2M locomotives rebuilt from ex-

GP40s. The railroad named each of these engines after employees. The KB&S makes numerous connections to other railroads: * Bee Line Railroad - at Handy, east of Ambia, Indiana *

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue a ...

- at Kankakee *

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of track, it is the lead ...

- at Danville and Lafayette *

- at Danville, Kankakee and Lafayette * Toledo, Peoria and Western Railway - at Webster and Sheldon *

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...

- at St. Anne, Illinois Locomotive maintenance is conducted at the road shops at Iroquois Junction.

External links

Kankakee, Beaverville & Southern Railroad

Kankakee Beaverville and Southern
Unofficial Website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kankakee Beaverville Southern Railroad Illinois railroads Indiana railroads Transportation in Iroquois County, Illinois Transportation in Kankakee County, Illinois Transportation in Vermilion County, Illinois Transportation in Benton County, Indiana Transportation in Newton County, Indiana Transportation in Tippecanoe County, Indiana Spin-offs of Conrail