[2][3][4] The present-day shortline currently operates a total of 13.5 miles (21.7 km) of track across the industrial centers of Williamson County in two separate railroad districts with a fleet of two diesel switcher engines.

Most of the CO&E Railroad's revenue freight products primarily consist of coal, lumber, petroleum, grain, steel, paper, chemicals, manufactured goods, and railcar repair service.

[5] On July 2, 1971 (1971-07-02), the Crab Orchard & Egyptian railroad was first founded and incorporated under the name of American Rail Heritage Ltd. and the new company started off by creating a vintage tourist line operation alongside Illinois Central Gulf owned trackage.

Their tourist runs would go west towards the old Crab Orchard Refuge railroad junction near Ordill where the train would do a brief turn-around and eventually make a return trip back to the passenger depot.

The locomotive was in storage in the Central Vermont Railway roundhouse in New London, Connecticut and was moved to Marion in early 1975 to further complement the CO&E Railroad's historic roster.

Despite a promising bright future, a tragic turnaround occurred on June 13, 1977 (1977-06-13), when the CO&E's first major incident took place as a fire suddenly broke out inside the old Illinois Central depot.

[3] All was not necessarily lost after this incident when only four months later, the Illinois Central Gulf sold the CO&E Railroad its trackage and property altogether after they discontinued freight service along the entire route.

Not long afterward, the first test run of the 2-8-0 steamer finally occurred on May 10, 1979 (1979-05-10) after an extensive four-year overhaul and quickly became the primary power of choice by July.

[6] By the mid-decade in April 1985 (1985-04), the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway in Jackson, Missouri made a deal to purchase the CO&E's 2-4-2T #5 steamer for use on their scenic tourist trains and the locomotive was eventually retired from revenue service soon afterward to be sent to its new owner.

On the afternoon of September 8, 1986 (1986-09-08), the #17 was out switching coal hoppers when the dry-pipe inside the boiler suddenly collapsed and indefinitely put the engine out of service unless another major overhaul could be performed on it.

The CO&E Railroad's fame of pulling common carrier freight trains, including intermodal piggyback cars, with a steam locomotive, finally came to an abrupt end due to this incident.

It was later donated to the American Fluorite Museum[8] in the engine's namesake town of Rosiclare, Illinois the same year where it currently resides in full CO&E paint and lettering for display purposes.

[10] Inside the railroad's Herrin District, there is the CO&E's largest customer, Whirlpool-Maytag's appliance factory, Stone Container (a cardboard box plant), DJM Oil (fuels and lubricants), and East Side Wholesale.