The Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway

The Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway (EJE) is, sadly, soon to be yet another fallen flag as part of the burgeoning Canadian National system. The railroad is currently a Regional railroad based in Joliet, Illinois and has been in operation since the late 19th century. Today the EJ&E serves the area and region surrounding Chicago to the northwest and southwest.

The railroad itself has seen a lot of history happen around it throughout the years. For example, because the railroad is located in the area once served by dozens of granger roads it has seen the passing of famous names (a number of which it had connections with) such as the Milwaukee Road, Chicago & North Western, Chicago Great Western, and Rock Island.

Also because the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway is located in the Chicago area it still has connections with numerous railroads including nearly all of the major Class Is. These include CSX, Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific, BNSF Railway, Canadian National, and Canadian Pacific.

To give a brief history of the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway, the railroad has its official beginning dating to December 4, 1888 although its history actually goes all of the back to 1884 when the Joliet, Aurora & Northern Railway was incorporated to connect Aurora and Joliet with the Mississippi River. Although the railroad only made it as far as connecting both cities (Aurora and Joliet) its segment was picked up by the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway Company of Illinois which connected Valparaiso, Indiana with Joliet, Illinois and then built to Elgin, Illinois to interchange traffic with the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific (The Milwaukee Road). The other half of the EJ&E was the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway Company of Indiana which connected Griffith and Hobart, Indiana with McCool. These two lines were merged on December 4th of 1888 to form the modern-day Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway.

As is typical with railroading of that time, the EJ&E grew and expanded through ownership and takeovers of smaller systems. Some of these systems included the Waukegan & Southwestern Railway; Gardner, Coal City & Northern Railway; Western Indiana Railroad; and the Chicago, Lake Shore & Eastern Railway. In total the railroad's system stretched to reach points such as Waukegan, Dyer, Hammond, Caster, and Chicago, Illinois; and Porter, Indiana.

In all, the EJ&E system map formed a rough "L" shape, bypassing downtown Chicago and connecting points east like Porter, Illinois with Joliet to the west and Elgin/North Chicago to the north.

Due to the railroad’s age it has had an interesting and diverse locomotive fleet over the years. It no longer rosters any steam locomotives although it does still retain a number of classic diesel models such as Alcos and Baldwins.

For more reading on Regionals like the EJ&E consider the book Regional Railroads of the Midwest by Steve Glischinksi. While the book obviously does not feature every Regional in the country it does cover the "Chicago Central Pacific; Dakota, Minnesota Eastern; Escanaba Lake Superior; Iowa Interstate Railroad; Iowa, Chicago Eastern; Indiana Rail Road; Kyle Railroad; Red River Valley Western; Twin Cities Western; Toledo, Peoria Western; Wisconsin Central; and Wisconsin Southern" with plenty of photographs and information about each. If you have an interest in smaller carriers like Regionals, and/or are interested in learning more about their operations, you will almost surely enjoy the book.