TheJoliet Junction Railroad was a six-mile long short line freight railroad that operated in theJoliet, Illinois, area from 1994 until 1999.
The line, which ran betweenCrest Hill andRockdale, Illinois, was a former branch line of theElgin, Joliet and Eastern (EJ&E) Railway, which had been out of service since 1991, after a fire severely damaged a wooden trestle.[1]
In 1994,Minooka, Illinois, businessman Donald L. "Don" Bachman, who owned a locomotive-rebuilding company called Relco, founded the Joliet Junction Railroad, acquiring its trackage from the EJ&E, which had sought to abandon it after the fire.[2] Bachman learned that it would cost $90,000 to replace the bridge, plus significantly more for other expenses to bring the line up to code.[2] As a result, he applied for and received a $390,000 loan from theIllinois Department of Transportation to fund additional improvements.[2]
The Joliet Junction Railroad ceased operations in the summer of 1999.[3] Bachman and Relco then sold the trackage for $467,424 to theForest Preserve District of Will County, which created a bike path, called theJoliet Junction bike trail, over the former right-of-way.[3]
The Joliet Junction connected local shippers with the national railroad network at two connection points: with the EJ&E atCrest Hill, Illinois, and withCSX Transportation atRockdale, Illinois.[1]