The Chicago Junction Railways (CJ) was the parent of the Union Stock and Transit Company of Chicago, which was organized in 1865 to consolidate all the trackage into the Union Stock Yards. On December 15, 1897, the USY&T leased its railroad property to the Chicago and Indiana State Line. In August 1897, USY&T parent Chicago Junction Railways and Union Stock Yards Company bought control of the Chicago, Hammond and Western Railroad, which was building an outer belt line around Chicago, with trackage rights over the Terminal Railroad from Argo to the stock yards. The Chicago and Indiana State Line and Chicago, Hammond and Western merged on April 26, 1898 to form the Chicago Junction Railway, now operating two belt lines. However, on October 31, 1907, the outer belt line was sold to the Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad, and the Chicago Junction was back to its original trackage in and around the stock yards. On May 19, 1922, the New York Central Railroad bought control of the Chicago River and Indiana Railroad (CR&I) and simultaneously leased the Chicago Junction to the CR&I for 99 years at an annual rental of $2,000,000. On August 26, 1958, the CR&I acquired the property of the Chicago Junction and lessor USY&T, and in 1976 Conrail acquired the CR&I's lines, now (March 16, 2011) operated by the Norfolk Southern.