The Logo of the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway.
The Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway or EJ&E was a Class I railroad, operating between Waukegan, Illinois and Gary, Indiana.
The Elgin, Joliet and Eastern was created when several local railroads in Illinois and Indiana merged throughout the end of the 19th century. The systems that would make up the EJ&E included the Joliet, Aurora & Northern Railway (which dates back to 1884) and Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway Company of Illinois.
The railroad served as a link between Class I railroads traveling to and from Chicago, although it operated almost entirely within the city's suburbs, and only entered Chicago where it served the U.S. Steel South Works on the shores of Lake Michigan.
The EJ&E moved to serve industries in the Hammond-East Chicago-Whiting industrial district by acquiring trackage rights in 1894. However, construction of the present line to Gary, Whiting and South Chicago was initiated in 1899 by the Griffith and Northern Railway. Connections with the Chicago, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway and the Western Indiana Railway further penetrated the district, although the EJ&E subsequently acquired both lines. In 1901, United States Steel Corporation purchased the railroad.
At the end of 1970, the EJ&E operated 164 miles of track and carrying 848 million ton-miles of revenue freight in that year alone.
In 1988, United States Steel and the Blackstone Group formed Transtar Inc. to serve as a shareholder of the EJ&E and several other affiliated railroads and companies. In March 2001, the Blackstone Group ended their ownership interest in Transtar, resulting in its becoming a fully owned subsidiary of United States Steel.
On May 16, 2006, the EJ&E was the recipient of the 2005 Bronze E. H. Harriman Award for employee safety in group C (line-haul railroads with less than 4 million employee hours per year).
On December 31, 2012, Canadian National announced that the merger of the EJ&E into Wisconsin Central Ltd. (Another railroad subsidiary of CN) had been completed, and would take effect the following day. On January 1, 2013, the EJ&E effectively ceased to exist, 124 years to the day it was founded.
Trivia[]
- The railroad owns a couple diesel engines, and steam engines.
- Nicknames for the railroad included "The J" and "The Chicago Outer Belt Line".
- The final steam movement occurred in late May 1949, led by a Mikado 2-8-2, EJ&E #740. The locomotive was sold to the scrapper that September.
- The only steam locomotive for the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway that still exists is No. 765.
- When the diesels operate for this railroad some of them are painted orange, with "The J" logos.
- The first road diesel, Baldwin DT-6-6-2000 #100, was delivered to the railroad in May 1946.
- The EJ&E underwent dieselization relatively early. In 1937, the railroad acquired its first diesel-electric locomotive, an EMC SW switcher, which was designated EJ&E #200.
- The Elgin, Joliet & Eastern was a very early proponent of the diesel locomotive, acquiring its first diesels from Electro-Motive in 1936.
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