Peoria Station

This morning, I caught Norfolk Southern’s D49 train departing East Peoria. NS 6172, NS 5317 and NS 9464 have TP&W 3878 (probably enroute to Metro East Industries in E. St. Louis, IL) and 51 cars. Scenes are at N. Main Street (1:20) and Farmdale (whole train). TP&W 3878 was the last unit in the area painted in RailAmerica’s red, silver and blue “Captain America” scheme. Its departure was bound to happen eventually. While D49 prepared for departure, Norfolk Southern grain train 54E was getting ready as well. It departed East Peoria about 1.5 hours after D49. Here it is at Goodfield with UP 8883, NS 5329, NS 9454 & NS 7212 and 85 cars of corn loaded at Des Moines, Iowa (Iowa Interstate acts as haulage agent from there to Peoria).   After capturing the NS grain train, I spent some time in Bloomington then decided to return home. I'm glad I did because I caught three departing freights in succession. Fi...

Believe it or not, New York trail enthusiasts are far more obnoxious than those in Central Illinois. Fortunately, a plan to remove a portion of the Adirondack Scenic Railroad was squashed by the New York Supreme Court today. Read about it here . - David P. Jordan

Everyone makes mistakes when writing books or magazine articles. Whether from typos, bad sources or confusion, history is recorded and repeated imperfectly. But books published by a well-regarded employee of a newspaper can compound mistakes.  The late-Jerry Klein was well-regarded. I have no reason to believe otherwise. He died August 21 at age 90 after a 49-year career with the Peoria Journal Star which began in 1953. When I began daily reading (er, skimming) the newspaper c. 1986, I well remember his movie critiques and generally concurred with those opinion articles he submitted after retirement.  But I wish he (or others who may have assisted him) had done more research on the Rock Island Railroad's Peoria-Chicago rail passenger service. His book, Peoria! , published in 1985, contains the following about this service on Page 162, Its final sad journey came on May 29, 1978. Actually, the last scheduled Rock Island passenger between Peoria and Chicago ran ...

Tuesday evening, I caught Union Pacific's MPECL (Manifest, Peoria IL to Clinton IA) and glad I did. The ninth through twelfth cars were loaded covered hoppers carrying BNSF reporting marks.  BNSF Railway is Union Pacific's primary competitor but the two interchange quite a bit of traffic. Peoria sees very little. Interchange between the two carriers (which takes place at the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's East Peoria Yard) is limited to an occasional scrap metal movement to or from Sterling, Illinois and New Mexico potash bound for Atherton Grain Co. at Normandy, which is near the north end of Union Pacific's Peoria Subdivision.  The ten cars on Tuesday's train were among a reported 20 cars consigned to TZPR-served Mosaic Crop Nutrition LLC's barge dock and warehouse in the Pekin bottoms. Potash was shipped from Carlsbad, New Mexico. Apparently, these ten on Tuesday's MPECL were re-biilled for another customer, possibly Atherton Grain Co. in N...

Seven years ago today, I saw a most unusual occurrence (to me at least) with  Norfolk Southern Train D49. I'm replying to the original post I made to the  group but with a link to video I shot of the action. My original comments about this from the PeoriaRails Yahoo! Group on September 15, 2010. I set out early Wednesday morning to see if I could catch Norfolk Southern's  departing D49D train. When I arrived at East Peoria about 6:45am, it had  already left the TZPR yard. So I raced east on I-74 to Bloomington-Normal. A  drive by Good Yard revealed I'd beat the train (as with earlier adventures  with the same train). Where was it? As with most of these adventures, I drove Rt. 150 expecting to  see it roll through Carlock, forcing a quick turn around and then a race  back to a good location offering time to set up my tripod/video. But no D49D  as I drove through Carlock. It hadn't been through Congervill...

It is time for Q & A! Feel free to post your questions in the comments section on any transportation topic. If I don't have an answer, I'll find one. - David P. Jordan

Allegiant Air's nonstops to both Destin/Ft. Walton Beach and Orlando-Sanford are on hiatus, according to the Peoria Journal Star . The last "turnaround" to Destin/Ft. Walton Beach operated Saturday, September 2 while the last to Orlando-Sanford operated August 12. According to the linked article, service to the former will resume in the spring. The latter will resume November 15. Makes you wonder if not for Hurricane Irma's affect on our service (Allegiant Air suspended its Punta Gorda flight Friday), our local newspaper would have bothered to report the hiatus on Destin/Ft. Walton and Orlando-Sanford flights. - David P. Jordan

Peoria area railroads once boasted six Illinois River Bridges between Chillicothe and Pekin. Now there are three. And Peoria itself is left with just one.  The Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's lift bridge hosts trains of six railroads: BNSF Railway, Iowa Interstate Railroad Ltd., Keokuk Junction Railway, Tazewell & Peoria Railroad, Toledo Peoria & Western Railway and Union Pacific.  I've compiled video showing one train of each railroad using the bridge, and included a ride across the bridge as well as steam action (!).  - David P. Jordan

Another departure from Peoria-centric material. Delta Air Lines announced Wednesday that it will begin nonstop service between the Indiana capital and Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris, France on May 24, 2018. Equipment will be 225-seat Boeing 767-300ERs (example shown on final approach to Detroit Metropolitan Airport on September 6, 2015). Connections beyond Paris will be available through Delta's Skyteam alliance partner, Air France.  Why is this significant? Because Indianapolis is getting its first scheduled intercontinental passenger flights. This may seem strange given that Indy is America's 15th largest city (864,164 residents in 2016) and that its metropolitan statistical area has reached 2 million. But proximity to much larger Chicago, which has long offered direct or nonstop service to Europe, and lack of hub status to offer sufficient connecting traffic are among factors relegating the city's passenger flights to North America. Until now.  Wor...

On Monday, September 4, 2017, I managed to capture BNSF switching Seneca Foods Corp's Princeville, Illinois plant. Earlier, I noticed a boxcar spotted at the cannery rail dock but figured the eastbound local had already passed and that there would be no service on a holiday.  I'm glad I stuck around to learn how wrong I was... I was parked along BNSF's Chillicothe Subdivision at N. Rice Road east of town when I heard the distinctive sound of a locomotive horn in the distance. Mainline signals were dark so I knew the horn blast signaled that the local was in town. Back in Princeville I found a pair of B40-8Ws and three plastic loads shoving into the industry track to fetch the loaded boxcar.  After returning to the mainline and shoving into the rest of the eastbound local (L-CHI101) sitting on Main 2, the crew radioed the dispatcher for permission to depart. Prepared to capture the train's departure, I was interrupted by a westbound intermodal train. So ...

The last post in this series dealt with the loss of both Trunk Airlines and the adequacy of the remaining carrier, Ozark Air Lines, to provide quality service for local air travelers. In terms of service, capacity and rising passenger traffic, it appears Ozark succeeded.  In early 1964, Airport Director DeWitt Collins told the Greater Peoria Airport Authority that flights to New York and Washington, DC were possible, and consideration was being made for a new 6000' crosswind runway that was needed for jet service (Runway 12-30 already had 7000', plus 1000' overrun, but if closed for construction or weather, another jet-capable runway was needed to avoid having jet flights suspended). TWA AND PEORIA Jet service was possible at an earlier date had Trans World Airlines resumed service here. The carrier's service suspension eff. April 24, 1960 was for two years, and the carrier failed to file for an extension or a permanent suspension in 1962. In March 1964, the ...

It took me until the first day of the nine month  this year  to chase the Keokuk Junction Railway's F-unit led local freights!  Better late than never, I guess.  Video starts with PREX 2003 pulling freshly-painted PREX 1500 off the shop track this morning. PREX 2003 ran to the west end of the Hollis Pass, leaving this day's East Peoria run in the hands of the class F-units 1752-1761-1750.  The train departed Kolbe with 29 cars, added 17 more at Hollis and set out two covered hoppers (diatomaceous earth empties?) at Collier Yard for Union Pacific. Forty-four cars were delivered to the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad at East Peoria. Train departed with just seven cars. Some more highlights from Friday... While waiting for the KJRY train to leave, I caught the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's Industry 3 Job at Sanger Street (Peoria) enroute from Kickapoo Yard to East Peoria. IMRR 43 had 12 cars, including ten coiled wire rod loads shipped f...