Joliet Industrial Railroad

[minernut333]

I was looking on USGS website in Joliet, Illinois. I happened to stumbled upon an unknown industrial railroad. To view the maps go to this website: http://store.usgs.gov/b2c_usgs/usgs/map ... stopo=true. Then search Plainfield, IL. Make sure you are viewing 7.5 and 15 minute and that the search has USGS Map Name in it. Then click on the red icon, scroll down to Plainfield 7.5X7.5 GRID 1954 and hit view. It will ask you to either view it or save it. Which ever one. The line is located in the upper right hand corner. I would appreciate if you could help me out by finding what company ran on that line.

[GreatLakesRailfan]

While I don't know which company it was, between the map you recommended downloading and the 1954 Joliet map I was able to follow the line back toward Joliet. Interestingly, the line is still visible in several places on Google Earth, including a bridge east of Plainfield and an S-curve east (extending south) of Lewis University that leads to the active trackage along the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal and the Des Plaines River. The tie in is evident just northeast of the intersection of IL53 and W 9th Street. In fact, it looks like the line crossed what is now Lewis University's campus.

A little bit of searching on Google turned up a link that refers to the line as the "old Materials Services branch." It looks like an interesting read.

Abandoned Branches

[Bulby]

"a branch off the EJ&E near Joliet that was owned by the Material Service Corp. The EJ&E branch heads north from Joliet along the west bank of the Des Plaines River. Just south of Lewis University in Lockport, a track headed pretty much straight west to serve several quarries near Plainfield. By 1964 these quarries had stopped shipping by rail"

Relevant section copied from another page of the same website linked above.