Peoria Station

O'Brien Steel Service Co. seen from Caroline Street June 28, 2023 after transfer of 550 feet of formerly City-owned trackage Information is a little vague at this point but WMBD TV, Channel 31, is reporting on plans by O'Brien Steel Service Co. to expand into Detweiller Marina , which is across the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad from its existing facilities along NE Adams Street. The video link below shows what appears to be a stub-end spur with a south switch on the east side of TZPR that is not there now. If you remember back in 2023, the City of Peoria abandoned the remaining south end of the Kellar Branch and transferred ownership of 550 feet from the junction with TZPR to O'Brien Steel so they could get rail service. Shortly after the transfer (probably June 2023), some digging had been done to clear out the spur switch on company property. By December, however, the dirt had been filled in again. One STB filing indicated O'Brien Steel was eager to get this tran...

I happened upon this train at Wesley, having just departed. Notables in the consist include three TZPR gondolas with unknown loads (possibly steel billets from Liberty Steel & Wire) and two twin-bay covered hoppers, most likely loaded with granulated slag from Harsco's Powerton facility. The three covered hoppers on the rear, likely loaded with dry fertilizer, were the same three I saw on that Tazewell & Peoria RR local Sunday afternoon.  CAPTION: Canadian National Railway train L557 (Local, E. Peoria IL to Decatur IL) rolls by Hilliards (Creve Coeur), Illinois on the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's double track shortly after leaving East Peoria mid-afternoon Tuesday, March 10, 2026. Later, the train enters Pekin, and then home rails at IC Junction. CN 3192 has 19 cars.   - David P. Jordan

Portion of a dormant, almost-complete Viridis plant seen on January 18, 2026 A little update on Viridis Chemical's dormant, almost-complete Peoria ethyl acetate plant. The company on Sunday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the Southern District of Texas.  There are several reasons for the company's failure to start operations. Hopefully, reorganization is a phase prior to finding a new market and starting operations. The Tazewell & Peoria Railroad Co. would serve the plant.    - David P. Jordan  

I learned that an empty BNSF feed pellet train had left Galesburg for Peoria in mid-afternoon so I left earlier than usual on Sunday evening.   Driving I-474 westbound just after crossing the river, I heard some radio chatter on the TZPR road frequency. I did not make out what was being said, but a quickly glance at a TZPR train ready to depart Kickapoo Yard prompted me to turn around and grab video. I was able to get it at Darst Street. Nothing groundbreaking behind the SW-1500 but the three loaded covered hoppers on the rear are likely dry fertilizer loads from Mosaic Crop Nutrition LLC in the Pekin Bottoms.  CAPTION: A Tazewell & Peoria Railroad local enroute from Kickapoo Yard to East Peoria, is shown late-afternoon Sunday, March 8, 2026. IMRR 43 has nine cars.   After the TZPR local went by, I resumed my plan to intercept the empty BNSF feed train, but just missed it at W. Farmington Road and could not turn around in sufficient time to bag it before the bl...

A number of TP&W manifests of late have had short consists when departing East Peoria. Days of operations still seem to vary, but short consists either mean more frequent runs or a lull in business. That lull, if a factor, is probably seasonal.    I learned of the train's departure from East Peoria around midday Saturday. It was a short consist, and eleven of the cars and one locomotive (IORY 3492) were on that transfer I caught Friday afternoon. But I decided to chase starting at Washington. After that, I cured an empty stomach and caught up to the train again at Secor. I usually bid adieu at El Paso, but knew pickups were planned at both Gridley and Meadows. These may be the first times I've seen TP&W pickup eastbound soybean loads at these local elevators that are consigned to Incobrasa Industries in Gilman.    I included video of the Gridley pickup. I stayed at Chenoa to watch a southbound Union Pacific intermodal train and Amtrak's San Antonio-bound ...

By the time I left work on this stormy Friday afternoon, I knew that Union Pacific's MPECL had already left and that Norfolk Southern local D49 had come and gone. So I went into Peoria thinking BNSF's M-GALPEI or M-PEIGAL could be here.    Sure enough, M-GALPEI was actually blocking Sanger Street, waiting for permission to cross the river. So I shot video of the train at Bridge Junction from my car as a heavy thunderstorm approached. My wait was brief. I left for the downtown library, checked for M-PEIGAL and found it still in East Peoria. Darkness fell and left as I had other plans.  CAPTION: BNSF Railway train M-GALPEI (Manifest, Galesburg IL to Peoria IL) rolls enters Bridge Junction on the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad mid-afternoon Friday, March 6, 2026. BNSF 4233 and BNSF 8156 have 35 cars.   After bagging the inbound BNSF "local," I heard the TZPR Jacksonville dispatcher give a TP&W train permission to leave the north end of the East Peoria Yard fo...