KBSR Pike Creek Bridge

In 1872, the Kankakee & Indiana Railroad (K&I) would complete 11 miles of new railroad, extending from Kankakee, Illinois to St. Anne, Illinois.  In 1873, the Cincinnati, Lafayette & Chicago Railroad (CL&C) acquired the K&I, and completed 46 miles of new railroad from St. Anne, Indiana to Templeton, Indiana.  At Templeton, the railroad line connected to an existing line owned by the Lake Erie & Western Railroad.  Between Templeton and Lafayette, the two railroads shared a right-of-way, which would later be double tracked.  The CL&C was affiliated with the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway, known as the Big Four.   This route provided the Big Four with a branch line to reach agricultural industries in east central Illinois. The Big Four came under the control of the New York Central Railroad (NYC) in 1906.  The NYC was controlled by railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, and operated an extensive network of railroad lines in the eastern United States.  The Big Four was operated as a separate entity from the NYC until approximately 1930, when the railroad was absorbed into the NYC.  In 1968, NYC merged with rival Pennsylvania Railroad to form Penn Central Railroad.  The Penn Central Railroad was short lived, as it was plagued by operations issues stemming from the merger of the two systems.  The railroad filed for bankruptcy in 1974, and many of the lines were reorganized into Conrail.  Conrail was formed by the Federal Government to take over profitable lines of multiple bankrupt railroad companies in the eastern United States.  The Sheldon, Illinois to Kankakee section of the line was proposed for abandonment in 1977, leading to the creation of the Kankakee, Beavervile & Southern Railroad (KBSR).  The KBSR acquired and currently operates the entire route from Lafayette, Indiana to Kankakee, Illinois.