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Chicago & Illinois Midland

Transportation Company - Chicago & Illinois Midland - Railroad
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Company NameChicago & Illinois Midland
CategoryRailroad
Year Founded1906
Final Year of Operation1996
TerminationAcquired
Successor/ParentGenesee & Wyoming (Details)
CountryUnited States (Details)
Source of TextBluford Shops
Text Credit URLLink
Transportation Company - Chicago & Illinois Midland - Railroad



Company History: The Chicago & Illinois Midland ran from Peoria south to Springfield (the state capital) and Cimic, then east to Taylorville, Illinois. Total mileage was around 120 (7 miles longer than RF&P by comparison.) For much of its history, the C&IM was owned by utility giant Commonwealth Edison. Most of the traffic was coal. Over the years, coal has moved from mines along the south end of the line to Illinois River docks at Havana and to other carriers at Peoria. As Wyoming coal became more popular, coal moved from connections at Peoria to the docks at Havana.

C&IM was the last Class 1 railroad to order 4-4-0s. A trio of them were built by Baldwin in 1927 and ’28. Later in the steam era, C&IM bought second hand 2-10-2s from Wabash and Atlantic Coast Line as coal traffic increased. We tend to believe that the “Steam to Diesel Transition Era” unfolded over a long period with the first switchers and streamliners arriving in the late 1930s and the last steam road power retiring around 1957 or so. C&IM was unusual in that it remained all-steam through 1954. When they did switch, it was with a suddenness that could strike panic in the hearts of steam fans. The first EMD switchers arrived in early 1955. Then, in the third week of November, the first SD9 arrived on the property. Within FIVE DAYS steam was gone from the C&IM mainline, leaving a few 0-8-0’s in yard service. On December 5th, the 0-8-0’s were gone too.
Successor/Parent History:
Known today as the largest of the shortline holding companies, Genesee & Wyoming began as a shortline by that name in 1899 with a 15 mile line between Retsof and Caledonia, New York, just south of Rochester. In 1982, they extended southward to Greigsville by buying a former Lackawanna line from Conrail. In 1985, another purchase extended their reach north to Rochester and southwest to Silver Springs. This brought the mileage up to about 90. The Wyoming in the name is a reference to the Wyoming Valley.

In 1977, the railroad set up Genesee & Wyoming Inc. as a parent company. In 1985, they began to buy other shortlines and launch new ones as various Class One routes came up for sale or lease. Each of these lines operates under their own names but share the orange, yellow and black GNWR paint scheme, variations of which have been used by GNWR for decades. The logos of these related lines also use the GNWR style but with different wording and the occasional personalized element.

As of this writing, the Genesee & Wyoming family includes 121 shortline and regional railroads spread across North America, Europe and Australia. As of 2019, G&W became a subsidiary of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners. G&W has also bought other shortline groups, notably Rail Link in 1996, Summit View (the Ohio Central System) in 2008, Rail Management in 2005,.CAGY Industries in 2008, and largest of all RailAmerica in 2012.

Ironically, the Genesee & Wyoming Railroad was merged into the Rochester & Southern in 2003. The GNWR exists as a paper railroad but the logos on the diesels patrolling the old GNWR now say Rochester & Southern or the neighboring Buffalo & Pittsburgh.
Brief History:
The U.S. is a country of 50 states covering a vast swath of North America, with Alaska in the northwest and Hawaii extending the nation’s presence into the Pacific Ocean. Major Atlantic Coast cities are New York, a global finance and culture center, and capital Washington, DC. Midwestern metropolis Chicago is known for influential architecture and on the west coast, Los Angeles' Hollywood is famed for filmmaking.

Item Links: We found: 1 different collections associated with Chicago & Illinois Midland - Railroad
Item created by: gdm on 2017-10-12 12:26:04. Last edited by gdm on 2019-03-30 11:41:29

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