Manufacturers' Junction Railway
The Manufacturers' Junction Railway is a shortline railroad operating six miles of track near Cicero, Illinois. The railway is owned and managed by OmniTRAX, a company offering railroad management and other related and unrelated services. MJ connects with the BNSF Railway, CSX Transportation, Canadian National Railway, and the Belt Railway of Chicago.
The railroad was founded on 28 January 1903, with the route opening in 1906, to switch Western Electric's Hawthorne Works In May 1986, the company was sold to the Chicago West Pullman Transportation Corporation from its original owner, AT&T Technologies.
The railroad operated two EMD SW1 locomotives: #23, and #33. #33 was originally EMD SW1 demonstrator #700. However, the railroad suspended operations in 2009 and the locomotives were heavily vandalized. As of 2016, the MJ roundhouse has been torn down and the engines have been scrapped. Current operations, if any, are provided by power from CSX; however, it doesn't appear that a train has run since 2009.
