Chicago and St. Louis Railway

The Chicago and St. Louis Railway was a predecessor of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway that owned a line between Chicago and Pekin, Illinois. More than half of the line is now part of the BNSF Railway's Southern Transcon.

The Illinois General Assembly chartered the Chicago and Plainfield Railroad on February 24, 1859 to build a railroad from Chicago via Lyons, Plainfield, and Lisbon or Newark to Ottawa. In 1867, the General Assembly authorized a branch into Peoria County, and in 1869 it was renamed twice with expanded powers: first on March 29 to Chicago, Plainfield and Pekin Railroad, with the power to build on any route from Chicago via Plainfield to Pekin, and then on April 19 to Chicago, Pekin and Southwestern Railroad (CP&SW), with only Chicago and Pekin named as intermediate points. The road's first construction contract was dated August 21, 1869, and on January 6, 1873 it was opened from Streator to Pekin, except for about 6 miles (9.7 km) of trackage rights on the Toledo, Peoria and Warsaw Railway between Eureka (Streator Junction) and Washington (Pekin Junction). In 1875, the CP&SW bought an unfinished grade between Streator and the Mazon River at Gorman from the Chicago and Illinois River Railroad (C&IR), which it opened for operation on May 21, 1876, along with trackage rights into Joliet on the C&IR. The CP&SW was also known as the "Hinckley road" after president Francis E. Hinckley.

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