This abandoned railway ran from St. Louis to Frankfort, Indiana. The orginal portion of the line, from St. Louis into Edwardsville, Illinois was built as a narrow gauge line in 1882, then later, rebuilt as a standard gauge line in 1889 and built the rest of the way to Frankfort, Indiana. Beginning in 1922, the line was run by the Nickel Plate Railroad until the entire NKP company was absorbed by the Norfolk & Western in 1964. The NW abandoned the section of the line between Frankfort, Indiana and Metcalf, Illinois in the 1960s. The Norfolk & Western merged with the Southern Railway in 1982 to form the railroad Norfolk Southern, which chose to abandon the majority of the rest of the line in early 2001; the sections abandoned in 2001 were between Neoga, Illinois to Coffeen, Illinois, and also between Sorento, Illinois and St. Louis, Missouri. The only sections of the line still open today include the section connecting to BNSF railway at Sorento serving a mine in Coffeen, and is still operated by NS. Another section of the line from Neoga to Metcalf, Illinois is owned by the Eastern Illinois Railroad Company (EIRC).
See also Part 1 of the Cloverleaf Division.