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Story Name

Railroad

Current Railroad

Valuation Section(s)

Subdivision(s)

State

South/West Terminal

North/East Terminal

Description

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<p>In 1881, the Cincinnati, Indianapolis, St. Louis and Chicago Railway Company (CI&amp;StL) and The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway Company (Rock Island) jointly created the Kankakee &amp; Seneca Railroad to construct 49 miles of railroad, extending from Kankakee, Illinois to Seneca, Illinois.&nbsp; Work on the railroad was started that year, and complete by 1882.&nbsp; The railroad was constructed primary to serve as a bypass of Chicago, and a connection to the CI&amp;StL; which had constructed a mainline from Kankakee to Indianapolis.&nbsp; The CI&amp;StL would become part of the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago &amp; St. Louis Railway (Big Four) in 1889.&nbsp; The Big Four came under the 
control of the New York Central Railroad (NYC) in 1906.&nbsp; The NYC was 
controlled by railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, and operated an 
extensive network of railroad lines in the eastern United States.&nbsp; In the early 20th Century, the importance of the connection diminished, and much of the route would be abandoned in 1933.&nbsp; The remaining portion of the line would be operated by Rock Island to reach industries south of the Illinois River.&nbsp; After World War II, the Rock Island struggled 
to survive, proposing 
mergers and deferring maintenance on their routes.&nbsp;&nbsp;The Rock Island 
struggled to compete with a stronger and better constructed Union
 Pacific system.&nbsp; By 1964, the Rock Island began attempts to merge with
 Union Pacific, and
 restructure railroads west of the Mississippi River.&nbsp; This merger was 
eventually denied, and Rock Island turned its last profit in 1965.&nbsp; In 
the mid-1970s, the railroad was in serious decline.&nbsp; The railroad 
received loans to attempt to fix slow orders, received new equipment and
 turn a profit.&nbsp; By 1978, the railroad came close to profit, but 
creditors were lobbying for a complete shutdown of the Rock Island.&nbsp; 
During the fall of 1979, a strike crippled the railroad, and by January 
of 1980, the entire system was ordered to be shut down and liquidated.&nbsp; The line between Chicago and Ottawa; as well as the branch at Seneca were acquired by CSX Transportation, the current operator of the remaining portion of this route.<br></p>

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