The Jakeville & Keirton Railroad Company was incorporated in the
summer of 1986 when the newly merged Seaboard System & Chessie System opted to drop service on the less-than-profitable Durham spur, leaving the local cement & brick companies without a means of getting their respective products to clients down the line. Local businessmen were furious about the abrupt way the pull-out was handled and approached their local governments with the idea of forming a publicly owned shortline, the Jakeville & Keirton Railroad company. The idea was initially met with much enthusiasm, but voters balked at the idea of pouring money into an "outdated mode of transportation" and soundly defeated a referendum presented in the election of 1986. Undaunted, several local businessmen and rail fans, led by M. L. Schwartzhunder, put together enough cash through bake sales & raffles to put a down payment on the rights for the abandoned rails, and begged & borrowed enough equipment to begin twice weekly service from Carpenter, NC, to Durham, hauling bricks from Triangle Brick Co. to the warehouse of NEER CO., a construction firm, in the summer of 1987. Original equipment included, ironically,  a 44-ton switcher originally owned by the Durham & Southern, the route's ancestor and creator of the tracks it now traveled. The 44-tonner had been sold to the Atlantic & Western in Sanford, NC in 1967 and was about to be scrapped when the J&K inquired about its availability. The locomotive became the property of the J&K in return  for trackage rights & a small bit of cash, and it came home early in the spring of 1987. Repairs were made, and service began in June of that year. The trackage rights given to the ATW allowed them to carry clay loads north to Dunn, where the old D&S once had its shops, and west past Apex to Keirton via CSX, where the J&K picked them up for delivery to Triangle Brick just to the west of Jakeville. From Apex, the ATW turned south and traveled the NS route back to Sanford. Interchange with NS & CSX took place in Keirton & Jakeville, where both Class 1's had mainline traffic. Eventually, the J&K became a very important bridge route for both Big Boys.

• SW7, #831 was purchased from the Santa Fe in September 1987 when the 44 tonner proved to be not enough horsepower for the rapidly increasing size of trains and was scrapped  -  now #831  generally stays in the yard in Jakeville sorting out cars for local delivery & those to be exported on to the interchange yard.
• SW1500 #603, purchased in 1990 from the RF&P  - Mr. Schwartzhunder insisted that it be kept in the same paint scheme with only the colors changed (to J&K purple & gold). It usually works the daily route with the other J&K motive power, a
• GP38-2 #1128 - originally on loan from CR in 1995, it was obtained to help the two switchers, both of which were overworked, and was repainted in purple &  gold when finally purchased in 1997 to help SW1500 #603 pull more & more cement hoppers to & from Keirton.
• The shortline roster now includes a PA1, #995,  purchased from a restoring company in Brazil, in early 1999, as well as an observation, dome & RPO car rescued from scrap in Bonsal, NC, to provide daily (M - F) commuter runs from Durham, through RTP to Raleigh and back, completing two round trips per day.  Every other Saturday the engine & cars are washed & waxed at the shops in Jakeville.