In 1861, The Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company acquired the road of The Jacksonville and Savanna
Railroad Company from Yates City to St. David and the Peoria and Hannibal Railroad Company to Lewistown,
Illinois. It also acquired in 1856 an undivided one-fourth interest in the St. Charles Air Line which gave it
access to the Illinois Central Station in Chicago, on the lake front, which it occupied from 1856 to 1881,
when it began to use the Union Station and on the west side, at Canal and Adams streets.
Meantime, several branch line railroad companies were organized in Illinois and acquired by the
Chicago Burlington & Quincy; their names and length and date of acquisition were as follows:
The Ottawa Oswego and Fox River Valley Railroad Company
Streator to Geneva - 64.83 miles on October 20, 1870
The Illinois Grand Trunk Railroad
Mendota to Fulton - 64.38 miles on October 07, 1870
The American Central Railroad Company
Galva to New Boston - 50.59 miles on October 12, 1868
The Dixon and Quincy Railroad Company
Keithsburg to Arpie - 5.6 miles on November 01, 1870
The Dixon Peoria and Hannibal Railroad Company
Buda to Elmwood - 44.6 miles on July 01, 1869
The Carthage and Burlington Railroad Company
30.4 miles on May 01, 1869
The Quincy and Warsaw Railroad Company
Quincy to Carthage - 40.6 miles on December 01, 1870
The Quincy Alton and St. Louis Railroad Company
Quincy to East Hannibal - 47.71 miles on February 01, 1876
The Chicago and Iowa Railroad Company
Aurora to Arlington and Rockford - 101.94 miles on July 01, 1875
The Chicago and Rock River Railroad Company
Shabbona to Rock Falls - 46.95 miles on October 09, 1872
The Illinois Valley and Northern Railroad Company
Streator to Walnut - 59.9 miles on January 02, 1888
The Joliet Rockford and Northern Railroad Company
Sheridan to Paw Paw - 19.54 miles on May 01, 1882
The Galesburg and Rio Railroad Company
12 miles on October 01, 1886
The Fulton County Narrow Gauge Railway Company
59.3 miles on February 01, 1906
The St. Louis Rock Island and Chicago Railroad Company
281.3 miles on May 18, 1876
The Jacksonville and Saint Louis Railway Company
121.86 miles on July 02, 1904
The Northern and Southern Illinois Railroad Company was organized in 1904 and the Herrin and Southern
Railroad Company in 1909. They were extensions of The Jacksonville and Saint Louis Railway Company south
from Centralia to Metropolis, 105.82 miles, where the road connects with the road of the Paducah and Illinois
Railroad Company, which company was organized and built from Metropolis to Paducah, Kentucky, in the joint
interest of the C. B. & Q. and the Nashville Chattanooga and St. Louis Railroad. The Paducah & Illinois line is
13.93 miles long. The bridge across the Ohio River, known as the "Metropolis Bridge" was completed in
December of 1917. The Paducah & Illinois forms a connecting link between the Chicago Burlington & Quincy and
the Louisville and Nashville System.
In 1883 the companies were organized which afterwards were united as the
Chicago Burlington and Northern Railroad Company which built from Oregon and Fulton, Illinois to St. Paul,
Minnesota, the road being completed to St. Paul on August 23, 1886. Of date June 01, 1899, this road was
conveyed to the Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company by deed.
The length of the Burlington road in Illinois is 1866 miles; in Wisconsin 228 miles; and in Minnesota 22 miles.
The bridge across the Mississippi River at Burlington was built in 1868 and rebuilt in 1890. The bridge at
Quincy was built in 1868 and rebuilt in 1897.
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