History of railroads in Tolono

The first railroad line through Tolono was the Illinois Central Railroad, which completed its Centralia-Chicago "Chicago Branch" through Tolono in 1856.

The Illinois Central track reached Tolono a bit earlier, but there was no through north-south service to the community until the "Chicago Branch" was finished on Sept. 26, 1856.

The Illinois Central was an extraordinarily profitable railroad, expanded hugely through the 19th century and never went into receivership. Between 1972 and 1988, it was the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad, then returned as Illinois Central Railroad.

The Canadian National Railway purchased the Illinois Central in 1998 and hugely expanded freight service on the line (largely NAFTA trade).

The east-west railroad through Tolono was originally called the Great Western of Illinois. Note that the street paralleling the railroad on the north side of downtown Tolono is named "Great Western". The line was completed through Tolono sometime around 1856-57.

It became the Toledo & Wabash Railway in 1858 and was merged into the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway in 1879 by Wall Street financier Jay Gould.

In 1884, the line fell into bankruptcy and was reorganized as the Wabash Railroad in 1889. The railroad re-entered bankruptcy in 1911 and was reorganized in 1915 as the Wabash Railway.

The Norfolk & Western Railway acquired the Wabash in 1964. The Norfolk and Western merged with the Southern Railway to form Norfolk Southern in 1982, its current owner.

Both of these railroad lines have become more strategic to their parent companies since the 1990s. They have an extremely secure future (especially the Illinois Central line), and will probably see more freight traffic in future years.

Except for grain, very little of this traffic "originates" in Illinois --- most of it is long-distance freight: autos, auto parts, and intermodal running east-west on the Norfolk Sothern, and paper, wood products, grain running north-south on Canadian National.