further penetrated the district, although the EJ&E subsequently acquired both lines. In 1898 the EJ&E merged with four other non-railway companies to form Federal Steel Company. In 1901, United States Steel Corporation was formed from a merger that included Federal Steel, and U.S. Steel thereby acquired the railroad. The railroad's passenger services began with the start of operations in January 1889. The railroad stopped operating passenger trains in 1907, but continued passenger service until 1909. During those two years, passengers would be transported by caboose. The EJ&E underwent dieselization relatively early. In 1937, the railroad acquired its first diesel-electric locomotive, an EMC SW switcher, which was designated EJ&E #200. Over the next 12 years, the entire steam fleet was replaced with first generation diesels. The first road diesel, Baldwin DT-6-6-2000 #100, was delivered to the railroad in May 1946. The final steam movement occurred in late May 1949, led by a Mikado 2-8-2, EJ&E #740. The locomotive was sold to the scrapper that September. Another 2-8-2, #765, which had been sold to the Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway in 1948, is the railway's only surviving steam locomotive. It was donated to Gary, Indiana in 1962 and has been on static display in Lakefront Park, next to I-90 and the South Shore Line's Gary station ever since. The Illinois Railway Museum attempted to purchase the engine in the early 1980s, but Gary refused this offer. In 1988, United States Steel and the Blackstone Group formed Transtar Inc. to serve as a shareholder of the EJ&E and several other affiliated railroads and companies. In March 2001, the Blackstone Group ended their ownership interest in Transtar, resulting in its becoming a fully owned subsidiary of United States Steel. On May 16, 2006, the EJ&E was the recipient of the 2005 Bronze E. H. Harriman Award for employee safety in group C (line-haul railroads with less than 4 million employee hours per year). Canadian National/Gary Railway On September 10, 2007, Crain's Chicago Business reported that the Canadian National Railway was in talks to purchase the EJ&E. In 2004, Canadian National had acquired two railroads, the Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railroad and the Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad, that had also previously been owned by Transtar, but that at the time CN acquired them were owned by Great Lakes Transportation, LLC, a Blackstone Group subsidiary created when USS became the sole owner of