Sunday, January 20, 2019

EJ&E: Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Overview

RootsOfMyRoots

BRHS posted
Map of the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway, and its connections - 1966.
Mike McKeon I like the map,but I am apparently misinterpreting it. The J and BOCT interchanged at East Chicago.
Alfred Fickensher This is really not a map, just a diagram. Not intended for other than advertising. Besides, note the comment thst the colored dot indicates “interchange points with connecting _line haul_ railroads”.
Mike McKeon Alfred Fickensher Ok thanks. I worked for the BOCT in 1971 at E Chicago. I just remember we interchanged a boat load cars with the J.
Michael Riha Operations were pretty much run out of hubs at Gary (Kirk Yard) and East Joliet. Traffic was thinnest (although this varied at times) on the north end and the Porter (IN) branch.

Bill Molony posted
Andrew Stiffler: Did the J ever run passenger service?
Bill Molony: The EJ&E operated scheduled passenger train service between Joliet, Plainfield and Aurora up until 1907, when it was discontinued.

EJ&E was a belt railway so they used the timecard directions of east/west independent of the compass direction of the train. Of note is that westbound trains through Rondout were headed northeastish. When CN purchased EJ&E, things changed because CN is a primarily north/south railroad. They do use east/west timetable directions between the Joliet Yard and Kirk Yard. But they switch to north/south directions near Woodruff Road. [Nick Hart comment on a post]
Bill Molony posted
The Joliet, Aurora & Northern Railway Company, the predecessor of the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway Company, completed its line between East Joliet and Aurora in 1886.
The first train operated between Aurora and Joliet on August 15, 1886.
The Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway Company of Illinois was incorporated on March 18, 1887, and in October of 1888 acquired the assets of the JA&N

The J started with the Joliet, Aurora & Northern Railway. Bill Molony commented on a posting:
The EJ&E's predecessor, the Joliet, Aurora & Northern Railway, began scheduled passenger train service between Joliet and Aurora via Coynes, Plainfield, Walker, Normantown and Wolfs on August 15, 1886. The JA&N connected with the CB&Q in Aurora and with the C&A, the AT&SF, the MC and the CRI&P in Joliet. When the JA&N was absorbed by the EJ&E in October of 1888, the "J" continued the passenger service up until 1907.
Bill Molony posted
This map of the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway is from the June 1922 Official Guide.

BRHS posted
This is a map of the EJ&E from 1922, back when the line down to South Wilmington was still in service.
Note that a short branch off of the main line between Mazonia and Coster went a few miles east to Torino.

Bill Molony also posted the map from the 1923 Official Guide, but it looks the same as above.

Jake James Jones posted
Comments on Jake's post

But passenger service continued for a while using the caboose on freight trains. [Jerry Hund comment on a posting]

The Aurora, Plainfield & Joliet Interurban paralleled the Joliet, Aurora & Northern segment between 1904 and 1924.

DeBruler
Even though it was charted to go to the Mississippi River, it stopped in Aurora.

Ray Tylicki posted a question: "What was the Walker Branch and how was this part of the J?" I've seen that branch referred to as the River Line.
Ray Tylicki Was the EJE acquired later or built separately...OK I am talking about the branch from Joilet south.
Bill Molony The EJ&E was incorporated on December 4, 1888 under the general laws of the states of Illinois and Indiana. The branch running south from Walker was completed in 1889. It was built as the Gardner, Coal City & Northern and merged into the EJ&E. It's still there, but the portion of it south of Goose Lake was abandoned in the 1930's. [The incorporation absorbed the Joliet, Aurora & Northern Railway]

I can't find Walker on Google Map, but this is where that branch heads south.

Michael Bachmann commented on Ray's posting
Larry D Thorson That stock certificate. Beyond rare. A true ghost railroad...like the Kankakee & Seneca Railway. (IMO)
Michael Bachmann There is not many to my knowledge. The paper that it is on is fragile not like other railroad stocks that are on a heavier paper.

Fank DeVries posted, cropped
The J's Pieces parts....
Gabe Argenta Chicago Lake Shore & Eastern,
which would become the the Lakefront line from USS South Chicago to Gary.
Frank DeVries Rockdale Joliet & Lockport Terminal
Gabe Argenta Joliet Aurora & Northern Railway (1884)
Gabe Argenta Waukegan & Southwestern Railway
Gabe Argenta Gardner Coal City & Northern Railway
Gabe Argenta Griffith & Northern Railway (1899)
Gabe Argenta Western Indiana Railway... which I can only assume became the Whiting branch.
Gabe Argenta I can't tell what the leased lines were.
Dennis DeBruler None of the three EJ&E maps that I have looked at have the Bug Line or Romeoville Branch.
https://towns-and-nature.blogspot.com/.../ej-bug-line-and...

Ken Schmidt posted
On a gloomy day in 1989, this former SP switcher, now working for the IHB, pulls across the bridge at J tower in East Chicago, IN. Well worth having the radio with me in my travels in NW Indiana.
Dennis DeBruler So the IHB had trackage rights over the EJ&E here. I wonder how much of the J could be used by IHB.
Bob Lalich Besides this segment between Whiting and just north of Michigan Ave, IHB had trackage rights on the EJ&E Lakefront Line between South Works and Indiana Harbor.

Kevin Frye posted, cropped
Here’s a map of the J I purchased a while back. Original print from 1899.
6-1986 Copywrite:
Penny McSweeney posted


CN's plan to double-track former EJ&E faces hurdle, growing opposition Why can't the NIMBYer understand that the purpose of the second track is to decrease idling trains? CN also doesn't like idling trains because that reduces their velocity. As they state, getting the trains out of the area rather than parking them while waiting for oncoming trains is why they want the second track.

Sam Carlson posted:
Peter Baker is here today fixing our streets - replacing them, not just patching them. Peter Baker is a high quality road builder, and we're glad the village selected them. They used to get 12-16 hopper cars a day full of aggregate from the EJ&E to use in road building. This went on for more than 50 years,. But then CN took over the EJ&E and screwed most of EJ&E's former customers, including Peter Baker. Now the aggregate comes by truck, and it means 50 to 60 more loaded trucks a day - and the 50 or 60 corresponding empties. On a tight 2 lane highway. I hate CN, and so does everybody else. What a scumbag railroad!
Steven Suhs Peter Baker was a real pain in the ass to switch. While the work was simple the track conditions on their property were truly horrendous. You were limited to 2-3 mph. There were time you went on the ground, rerailed yourself and never knew it. Plus this was during night time so you would get so sleepy doing this work and the area was completely dark. Good business yes, but the track conditions were very very poor.
Sam Carlson Yes, they sure were. They had a portable unloader that dumped more rock on the ground than it dumped into the conveyor. Also, you had to split the power apart and go into Peter Baker with only one unit. Something about self centering drawbars. They weren't switched just at night. Seems like the J was often there around noon, and the work seemed to take a long time. Sitting on the sled hill, I got royally sunburned a few times waiting for the J to get done with their switching.


Comments on this post provide some info on the Chicago, Lake Shore & Eastern, a predecessor of the EJ&E.

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