Chicago Springfield & St. Louis

Company History: The CS&StL was established in 1926 to acquire an 87 mile segment of the dismembered Chicago Peoria & St. Louis between Springfield and Lock Haven, Illinois (just outside of Alton.) Three steam locomotives and a pair of Brill motor cars were more than enough to handle the traffic. Trackage rights were negotiated with the Burlington Route to reach SC&StL’s sister road the Jacksonville & Havana with the idea of merging the two. But before the merger happened, both companies fell into receivership in 1930. The CS&StL closed for good in 1941. Two short segments were saved by other shortlines with the last abandoned in 1967.

Brief History: The U.S. is a country of 50 states covering a vast swath of North America, with Alaska in the northwest and Hawaii extending the nation’s presence into the Pacific Ocean. Major Atlantic Coast cities are New York, a global finance and culture center, and capital Washington, DC. Midwestern metropolis Chicago is known for influential architecture and on the west coast, Los Angeles' Hollywood is famed for filmmaking.