Cairo & St. Louis

Company History: The C&StL was chartered in the waning months of the Civil War by influential citizens of Cairo, Illinois at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers at the southern end of the state. The start of construction was delayed until Dutch financiers stepped in to fund the project in 1871. By that time, there was much excitement in the industry about 3’ gauge railroads and the C&StL chose to take that path. After two years of work, the C&StL connected East St. Louis, Illinois (they got into the city by laying a third rail in the standard gauge East St. Louis Cahokia & Falling Springs) with the coal mining town of Murphysboro, 90 miles to the south. Construction included a large bridge over the Big Muddy River and a tunnel ( doubly rare for being in Illinois and on a narrow gauge line.) Following a financial stumble, construction resumed and the C&StL reached Cairo in 1875. For a brief time, the C&StL was the longest narrow gauge railroad in the country at 150 miles. The effort to obtain terminal space in Cairo was plagued with difficulties which were compounded by an engineer strike. The company fell into receivership in 1877. By 1881, the problems were hammered out and C&StL was sold and reorganized as the St. Louis & Cairo Railroad and after that, standard gauged. This route later became part of the Gulf Mobile & Ohio.