The Manufacturers' Junction Railway is a

shortline railroad A shortline railroad is a small or mid-sized railroad company that operates over a relatively short distance relative to larger, national railroad networks. The term is used primarily in the United States and Canada. In the former, railroads are ...

Cicero, Illinois Cicero is a town in Cook County, Illinois, United States, and a suburb of Chicago. As of the 2020 census, the population was 85,268, making it the 11th-most populous municipality in Illinois. The town is named after Marcus Tullius Cicero, a R ...

. Originally a subsidiary of

Western Electric Western Electric Co., Inc. was an American electrical engineering and manufacturing company that operated from 1869 to 1996. A subsidiary of the AT&T Corporation for most of its lifespan, Western Electric was the primary manufacturer, supplier, ...

used to switch their

Hawthorne Works The Hawthorne Works was a large factory complex of the Western Electric Company in Cicero, Illinois. In addition to industrial plants, several on-site community amenities were provided to workers. Named for the original name of what became Cicer ...

, after the plants were phased out it was sold to

OmniTRAX OmniTRAX, Inc. is a transportation and transportation infrastructure holding company based in Denver, Colorado, in the United States. It primarily owns or operates railroads, with a network of 25 regional and shortline railroads in 12 U.S. state ...

, a company offering railroad management and other services.

History

The railroad was founded on 28 January 1903, with the route opening in 1906, to switch

. In 1917 it had a track length of in spite of it being less than long. In 1958 it was operating approximately of track. In May 1986, after the Hawthorne Works were closed in 1983, the railroad was sold to the Chicago West Pullman Transportation Corp., a holding company who also owned a railroad on the south side of Chicago. In 1992, OmniTRAX bought the railroad and a large part of the Hawthorne Works property, intending to make a business center with rail access. In 1998, the railroad was long with miles of track and served seven customers. Changing demands reduced customers, in 2009 the railroad terminated their final employee. In 2017, the railway had not been formally dissolved and was still under US

Surface Transportation Board The Surface Transportation Board (STB) of the United States is an independent federal agency that serves as an adjudicatory board. The board was created in 1996 following the abolition of the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) and absorbed regula ...

jurisdiction but was out of service. In 2022, OmniTrax's site advertises owning and operating of track but only mentions "rail customer candidates".

Trackage

The Manufacturers' Junction's primary interchange when built was with the

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

(now

BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three Transcontinental railroad, transcontine ...

)'s Clyde (Cicero) yard. From the east end, near Cicero Ave. (Ill. 50), an eastbound track diverged to the left (north) and entered a yard with a five-stall roundhouse and servicing area between Cicero Ave. and the Chicago and Western Indiana (

Belt Railway of Chicago The Belt Railway Company of Chicago , headquartered in Bedford Park, Illinois, is the largest switching terminal railroad in the United States. It is co-owned by the six Class I railroads of the United States — BNSF, Canadian National, ...

) north-south line. The main line curved north from there and ran next to the Belt Railway to switch Western Electric's telephone apparatus building, merchandising building, foundry, and smaller plants between 24th St. and Cermak Rd. (22nd. St. in 1905). At Cermak Rd. the line continued north over a single-track bridge to switch customers on 46th Ct. between 16th and 19th St. From the servicing area a line continued east under the Belt Railway (the Chicago city limits) and curved north to switch storage areas and the Western Electric cable plant on Cermak Rd. From the main line near Cermak Rd. a branch reversed and went south on bridges and elevated track over Ogden Ave. (US 34), the BNSF Line, a connection between the BNSF and Belt Railway, and 26th. St. to switch the south lumber yard and connect with the Chicago and Illinois Western Railroad (now CN). In 2022, the line is advertised as having six miles of track, from a connection with

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 ...

north of 16th St. south to a connection with the Belt railway north of Cermak Rd., a connection with the BNSF at 26th St., and on to a connection with the CN Railway) at 33rd St., with all connections made through the Belt Railway. Most former Western Electric property in Cicero is now retail development but north of Cermak Rd. there is still a light manufacturing district. The Western Electric property in Chicago, east of the Belt Railway, is zoned or pending as light industry with potential rail service.

Equipment

In 1917, the Manufacturers' Junction owned three steam locomotives, twenty-one boxcars, ten flatcars, and one caboose. In 1947, the railroad replaced four steam locomotives with two EMD SW1 locomotives: #6 (renumbered to 23), and #7 (renumbered to 33). #7 was originally EMD SW1 demonstrator #700. In 1996 both locomotives and 72 boxcars were in service. Approximately in 1998 and 1999, photos were taken of the locomotives #23, #33, and crane #91 inside the MJRY roundhouse and outside rails. All three railway equipment were repainted in Chicago Bulls colors to commemorate the third year in a row basketball championships. Each equipment numbering represented three basketball players: Michael Jordan #23, Scottie Pippen #33, and Dennis Rodman #91. After the railroad suspended operations the locomotives were heavily vandalized. As of 2016, the MJ roundhouse had been torn down and the engines had been scrapped.

References

{{reflist Railroads in the Chicago metropolitan area Illinois railroads Switching and terminal railroads OmniTRAX