The Modern IC at EJ&E Depot No. 4.
With a fresh blanket of snow on the ground, Canadian National job L509 with a pair of IC SD70’s, 1022 and 1020 head south towards East Morris after hopping off the Leithton mainline and onto the beginning of the River Line at River Junction in Plainfield. The River Line is a branch line that only sees one train a day, and once in each direction. L509 utilizes the branch to service many industrial complex’s in East Morris, with one southbound trip down the branch in the mornings, and a nighttime trip back north up the branch.
This sunny clear sky morning run of L509 is in view passing an old EJ&E era distant signal guarding the connection onto the Leithton Subdivision, and most importantly to this story, the historic 139 year old EJ&E Depot No. 4 in Downtown Plainfield. The depot has now been converted into a museum and preserved by the Plainfield Historical Society. This depot holds a lot of the towns railroad history. Depot No. 4 was originally built between 1884 and 1886, and the Joliet, Aurora & Northern Railway had only paid $1 in 1800’s money for the original Center Street location. In January of 1886, the Joliet, Aurora & Northern purchased the depot from a well known man named Dennison Green, a famous to Plainfield abolitionist who aided fugitive slaves on the Underground Railroad using the blacksmith shop behind his house, which still graces Plainfield today. That summer after the depot was purchased from Dennison, the first train ran through Plainfield in August of 1886. The Joliet, Aurora & Northern Railway had quickly been acquired by the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern just a short year later in 1887. By 1907, EJ&E had discontinued passenger trains, however not passenger service. Also at that time, the crossing at Center Street was constructed, providing easier access between Lockport and Main Street. Active operation of the Plainfield Depot ceased in 1978, and then it was left abandoned.
Before the Canadian National had acquired the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern in 2009; just a short 10 years prior, the Plainfield Historical Society saved the old depot and relocated it to its current location 1.25 miles away from it’s original location at Center Street on the old EJ&E mainline. Efforts began to restore it in 1996, and since 1999, it has been preserved and relocated along the old EJ&E Illinois River Line at Route 126 across the street from the City Hall and Settlers Park. 10 years after the depots relocation, during Canadian National’s takeover of the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern in 2009, a 69 year old EJ&E caboose, a 46 year old EJ&E Boxcar, and a 72 year old Fairmont Motor Car was added onto to the site of the depot for display. In 2025 it now serves as a museum along a still active branch line, and is filled with railroad antiques inside. It serves a huge role in the village’s railroad history!
