- Kankakee, Beaverville and Southern Railroad
Infobox SG rail
railroad_name=Kankakee, Beaverville and Southern Railroad
logo_filename=
logo_size=
old_gauge=
marks=KBSR
locale=East centralIllinois and west centralIndiana
start_year=1977
end_year=present
hq_city=The Kankakee, Beaverville and Southern Railroad Company Reporting mark|KBSR, is a
Class III railroad serving agricultural communities in east-central Illinois and west-central Indiana.History
In December 1977,
Conrail was set to abandon convert|25|mi|km of their ex-New York Central Railroad trackage between Kankakee andSheldon, Illinois , when instead it was purchased by Beaverville businessman Fey Orr to service his lumber and agricultural products industry based there. Eighty miles of thebankrupt Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad 's trackage from just north of Donovan and Danville were purchased in 1981. These two lines cross near Iroquois. TheNorfolk Southern abandoned its ex-Nickel Plate Railway trackage betweenCheneyville, Illinois (north of Danville) andLafayette, Indiana , which KBSR purchased in 1991. Several other abandonments occurred in the area byClass I railroad s which the Kankakee, Beaverville were able to capitalize on. Currently, the KBSR operates about convert|155|mi|km of trackage in a vaguely triangular shape between Kankakee, Danville, and Lafayette, with numerous sidings.On July 16, 1997, company founder Fey Orr died at 85. VP Kevin Stroo took over as President of the KB&S and remains at that post today.
Operations
The Kankakee, Beaverville and Southern is privately owned, and serves the various small communities it passes through and their primarily agricultural industries. In recent years it was considered unusual in that it continued to roster Alco
diesel locomotive s decades after their builder's demise, and became all the more popular amongst railfans for it. However, in December of 2003, the KB&S received a group of six EMD GP38-2M locomotives rebuilt from ex-Chicago and North Western GP40s. The railroad named each of these engines after employees.The KB&S makes numerous connections to other railroads:
*Bee Line Railroad - at Handy, east ofAmbia, Indiana
*Canadian National Railway - at Kankakee
*CSX Transportation - at Danville and Lafayette
*Norfolk Southern - at Danville, Kankakee and Lafayette
*Toledo, Peoria and Western Railway - at Webster and Sheldon
*Union Pacific Railroad - atSt. Anne, Illinois Locomotive maintenance is conducted at the road shops at Iroquois Junction.
External links
* [http://illinirail.com/kbsr/ Kankakee Beaverville and Southern] Unofficial Website
* [http://www.schs.ws Shortlines of Chicago Historical Society KBS history]
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