The Danville, Urbana, Bloomington and Pekin Railroad Company was incorporated in 1866, building its rail line from Danville to Pekin and to the eastem boundary of Illinois. The UB&P subsequently merged with another line in Indiana to become the Peoria and Eastern Railway Company. On February 22, 1890, the P&E entered into a contract in which it surrendered the operation and control of its railroad to the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway Company, a subsidiary of The New York Central Railroad System. The NYC was formed in 1853 by the consolidation of many small New York state railroads; by 1930, haying absorbed other large railroads, the NYC was one of ths leading railroads connecting the Eastern seaboard with Midwestern cities. In 1968, the Penn Central Company was formed by merger of the NYC and the Pennsylvania Railroad. By the early 1970s, the Penn Central was bankrupt, and in 1976 the U. S. Govemment created Conrail from Penn Central and five other failed eastern railroads. CSX and Norfolk Southern Railway acquired Conrail in 1999, and this line was granted to CSX, who abandoned it in 2012.