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The Illinois and Midland Railroad, Successor To The Historic Chicago and Illinois Midland Railway

The Illinois and Midland Railroad, today a Genesee & Wyoming property, is the succeeding operation to the historic Chicago and Illinois Midland Railway. Still predominantly based in coal traffic the railroad today sees over 100,000 carloads annually and continues to operate over much of the original C&IM system. Along with a base in coal the I&M also moves agricultural products, building materials, minerals and municipal and industrial waste.

To give a brief history of the Chicago and Illinois Midland Railway, it was historically a Class I system but in later years after the American Association of Railroads (AAR) reclassified the railroad industry it became one of the many shortline systems found across the country. The C&IM was never a large railroad stretching a little over 100 miles in length at its largest.

However, it did move vast amounts of coal in central Illinois to power plants located to the north. Interestingly, the C&IM did not gain its name from the fact that it reached Chicago but rather from the companies which owned the railroad. In 1996 the C&IM became part of the Genesee & Wyoming family of shortlines and its name was changed to the Illinois & Midland Railroad and today the I&M is a very successful operation.

The Chicago and Illinois Midland Railway has its roots dating back to the Pawnee Railroad of 1888 which connected Pawnee, Illinois with the Illinois Central, some 15 miles to the west. In 1905 the Pawnee was purchased by coal-related interests (for the express purpose of moving coal from central Illinois coalfields to their coal-fired power plants located near Chicago), the Chicago Edison Company and Illinois Midland Coal Company and renamed as the Chicago and Illinois Midland Railway to reflect its ownership by these two companies. It was also at this time that the ownership of the C&IM by Chicago Edison and Illinois Midland Coal forever shaped the future of the railroad as they oversaw its direction until the 1980s when it was eventually sold.

While the railroad did relatively well from the 1960s through the 1980s, interestingly it was the deregulation of the railroad industry that brought about the railroad’s eventual sale by Commonwealth Edison. Now that railroads could set their own rates for the movement of freight traffic the C&IM’s parent found it cheaper to simply contract out coal movements with other nearby railroads rather than move the black diamonds itself using its own railroad.

So, in late 1987 the railroad was sold to private investors and then in 1996 the C&IM was acquired by the Genesee & Wyoming, which added it to its portfolio of railroads through the purchase.

For more reading on shortlines like the Illinois and Midland Railroad consider the book American Shortline Railway Guide from author Ed Lewis. The book has gone through several updated editions to keep up with the ever-changing world of the shortline industry. Today, the publication highlights almost 600 shortlines across the country with general background information about each (such as roster information, rail line history, radio frequencies, etc.). If you have any interest in shortlines you will very likely enjoy this book. If you're interested in perhaps purchasing this book please visit the link below which will take you to ordering information through Amazon.com, the trusted online shopping network.

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