Illinois and Midland Railroad
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| Reporting mark | IMRR |
|---|---|
| Locale | Central Illinois |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| Headquarters | Springfield, Illinois |
The Illinois and Midland Railroad (reporting mark IMRR) is a railroad in the U.S. state of Illinois, serving Peoria, Springfield and Taylorville. Until 1996, when Genesee & Wyoming Inc. bought it, the company was named the Chicago and Illinois Midland Railway (reporting mark CIM). It was once a Class I railroad, specializing in the hauling of coal. At the end of 1970 it operated 121 route-miles on 214 miles of track; it reported 255 million ton-miles of revenue freight that year.
The history of the Chicago and Illinois Midland Railway traces to 1888 when the villagers of Pawnee built a rail line from their town to the Illinois Central Railroad mainline 15 miles south of Springfield. The railroad was named the Pawnee Railroad and was later extended eastward to Taylorville and a rail connection with what is today the Norfolk Southern Railway (ex-Wabash Railroad).
In 1905 the Chicago Edison Company (the predecessor of Commonwealth Edison Company, the Chicago electric utility, now part of Exelon Corp) purchased the Pawnee Railroad for the purpose of transporting coal out of the central Illinois coal fields for Chicago Edison's coal-fired power plants in Chicago. Samuel Insull, the founder of Commonwealth Edison helped develop the coal fields along with Francis Peabody and his Illinois Midland Coal Company. Thus the railroad's name was changed from the Pawnee Railroad to the Chicago and Illinois Midland Railway Company, drawing its name not from its terminal points (the C&IM never went to Chicago), but from its corporate parents: Chicago Edison and Illinois Midland Coal Company.
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