History [edit]
The Keokuk Junction Railway Company (reporting mark KJRY), is a Class III railroad in the US states of Illinois and Iowa.
KJRY started service as a terminal railroad operating over tracks built in 1857 as part of the Keokuk & Des Moines Valley Railroad (the earliest railroad in Iowa). The K&DMVR was leased and later purchased by the Rock Island Railroad.
In August 1981, KNRECO, Inc., an Iowa corporation doing business as Keokuk Junction Railway (KJRY) purchased a portion of the shares in the Keokuk Union Depot Company, along with surrounding real estate and 4.5 miles (7.2 km) of yard trackage at Keokuk, this was part of the bankruptcy court decisions for the Rock Island railroad in 1980. Service on the KJRY started in September 1981[citation needed].
In December 1986, KJRY purchased 33.5 miles (53.9 km) of TP&W trackage (then managed by Santa Fe railroad) extending from Keokuk and Warsaw to LaHarpe, IL.[1]
In 2007 the KJRY placed two EMD FP9A's (ex Algoma Central Railway) Nos. 1750 and 1752 in revenue freight service Lettered for the Peoria and Western Railway. The plan then was to rename the KJRY as the Peoria and Western to reflect the acquisition of the former TP&W west end, but for operational reasons this never took place[citation needed]. In March 2010 a former Algoma Central EMD F9B No. 1761 (still painted in Algoma Central colors) joined the motive power roster running with the two FP9s in an A-B-A arrangement for revenue freight service running a freight train the crews call the "Canton Cannonball". The FP9As were finally relettered to Keokuk Junction Railway in September 2011 though the b-unit remains in Algoma Cental paint.
Interchange services [edit]
- BNSF Railway (Keokuk, IA and Peoria, IL)
- Union Pacific Railroad (Fort Madison, IA and Peoria, IL)
- Toledo, Peoria and Western Railway (Hollis, IL)
- Tazewell and Peoria Railroad (Peoria, IL)
- Canadian National Railway (Peoria, IL)
- Norfolk Southern Railway (Peoria, IL)
- Iowa Interstate Railroad (Peoria, IL)
- Illinois and Midland Railroad (Peoria, IL)
- Pioneer Industrial Railway (Peoria, IL)
References [edit]
External links [edit]
