Peoria Station

I caught Union Pacific's MPECL (Manifest, Peoria IL to Clinton IA) Tuesday afternoon after it left Adams Street Yard with UP 4084 & UP 4604 and 67 cars. Train included 22 SHQX-marked ethanol tank cars (in blocks of 18 and 4), probably coming out of storage. Video taken at W. Farmington Road on October 31, 2017. - David P. Jordan

Sunday afternoon, I was able to chase an Iowa Interstate coal train PECR (Peoria IL to Cedar Rapids IA) from Bridge Junction in Peoria to Mossville.  The train, loaded at the Shay Mine near Carlinville, Illinois, arrived here on Norfolk Southern, and a trio of NS motors (#'s 2593, 7716 and 9961) led two Iowa Interstate units (#'s 153 and 514) with 93 loads. In Cedar Rapids, the Cedar Rapids & Iowa City Railway will deliver it to Archer Daniels Midland Co's co-generation plant.  Scenes are at the old (1900) Rock Island depot, the new (1967) Rock Island depot, rolling through the Limit Yard (from the on-ramp off N. Adams Street to eastbound US 24) and at Sankoty (whole train).  - David P. Jordan

An area shortline is getting a new customer.  Hitchcock Scrap Yard Inc. (HSY) plans an operation on the south side of the former International Harvester Co. Canton plant. Today's  Fulton Democrat  tells us that The city has a lease agreement with Hitchcock Scrap Yard on some property that runs close to a railroad spur. They plan to scrap steel there, load into rail cars and ship it out, said Mayor Kent McDowell. Rail service will be provided by the Keokuk Junction Railway (KJRY). I shot the above photo April 11, 2009 when Agridyne LLC was transloading steepwater into tank cars spotted on this KJRY, siding, trucking it from the nearby Riverland Biofuels plant. Hitchcock Scrap Yard's new facility will be located just behind the tank cars.  The most likely destination for scrap shipped from Canton is Amsted Rail's Griffin Wheel Corp. foundry in Keokuk, Iowa. BNSF serves this plant, but KJRY has access through a reciprocal switching agreement. Keysto...

Sunday's Peoria Journal Star published a story on Peoria's transportation history,  Peoria’s transportation history second to none , but managed to bungle [at least] four things.  The railroad became a big part of that hustle and bustle. A total track mileage of 70,000 miles for the 15 railroad companies were located here. At one time, there were 128 passenger trains per day that whistled through Peoria.  Um, no...local rail mileage totaled far less than 70,000 miles. Without even consulting the Official Railway Guide, I can tell you that this figure was likely the total mileage for the sum of the 15 railroads. I'd guess this was what the writer intended to convey, but he employed poor wording. A sparkling new Union Station was built in 1882 at the foot of State Street. In 1900, a new type of inter-city rail travel began when the Peoria and Pekin Traction opened electric line service between the cities. In 1928, the line was acquired by the Illinois Terminal Syst...

The Peoria Journal Star posted online a story yesterday touting rising passenger traffic. Unlike most business news, this was prompted by something other than a press release. PASSENGER TRAFFIC DOWN SLIGHTLY THROUGH JULY Unfortunately, the article fails to provide passenger data for recent months. The airport touted record traffic for each of the first three months this year, but not since. I suspected business declined in April, and I was correct, at least according to figures from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics . BTS data excludes charter passengers and the newest figures are three months old for proprietary reasons, but we can use it determine trends. Using BTS figures, I came up with the following for the first seven months of 2017. *January - 47,536 *February - 46,148 *March - 59,836 April - 48,291 May - 51,166 June 57,815 July 55,622 Total - 366,414 So how does this compare to the first seven months of 2016? January - 43,387 Februar...

Myrtle Beach wants Central Illinois residents to visit its resorts, and arrive by air. Peoria (or Bloomington-Normal) is among 19 destinations sought by officials of the South Carolina tourist destination, according to The Sun News . Myrtle Beach International Airport plans to offer financial incentives to carriers which begin nonstop flights. Myrtle Beach is served by Allegiant Air, American Airlines, American Eagle, Delta Air Lines, Delta Connection, Porter Airlines, Spirit Airlines, United Airlines, United Express and WestJet Encore. Much of the service is seasonal.  Allegiant Air is the obvious choice to offer this service out of Central Illinois, probably twice-weekly. I hope it happens.  - David P. Jordan

I took my scanner inside this afternoon hoping to pick up Union Pacific Peoria Sub chatter. I ended up hearing only the talking detector that is near Milepost 67 (and Cedar Hills Drive southeast of Dunlap). So I jumped in my car and had to get ahead of what I knew had to be MPECL. I shot video at a crossing just south of Camp Grove. UP 4084 & UP 4604 have 57 cars. The Iowa Interstate Railroad's PESI (Peoria IL to Silvis IL) was led by NS 4025 with IAIS 151 as second unit of the 101-car train. It should be noted that NS 4025 was second unit on an empty grain Norfolk Southern brought into East Peoria (also for IAIS) in mid-afternoon. Video taken a few miles north of Peoria along Rt. 29.  - David P. Jordan

Since mid-February 2016, when Norfolk Southern shifted a large portion of its Iowa Interstate interchange from Peoria back to Chicago, I hoped it would shift back to Peoria in the near future. I still do and got a taste of my hopes today.  Due to reported Chicago terminal congestion, Norfolk Southern gave empty ethanol train 65Q to the Iowa Interstate at Peoria this afternoon. The NS dropped the train in East Peoria and an Iowa Interstate crew quickly boarded and took it from there.  Scenes are at Detweiller Park and Rome (just south of Chillicothe) on the Peoria Sub. NS 7247 & NS 2697 lead 67 cars (65 ethanol empties, two buffer cars). - David P. Jordan

In the last post in this series, we looked at Ozark Air Lines' growth at Peoria and the prospect for jet service. In December 1965, DeWitt Collins announced his retirement as airport director, a position in which he had served since 1948. His successor, Thomas Schepke, serving as assistant director since 1950, assumed the director's job in March 1966. Ron Burling was hired in May to assist Schepke.  Among Schepke's duties was to prepare for the inauguration of PIA's first turbojet service on Ozark Air Lines' DC-9s and help manage airport expansion. Extension of Runway 4-22 by 1,000 feet to the northeast required closure of Airport Road north of its intersection with Harmon Highway. A 525 foot southwest extension was planned, giving the runway 5,202 feet. Eventually, this was increased to 5,700 feet by adding 600 feet to the northeast extension, and cutting the southwest extension to 500 feet. Initial GPAA approval for the project came in late-December 1966....

Saturday, September 30, 2017, the Iowa Interstate Railroad (IAIS) operated four public passenger excursions from West Liberty, Iowa east to Durant and return. The trips raised funds for local volunteer fire departments.  The IAIS last operated public passenger trains between the two communities five years ago. Back then, trains were hauled behind a Chinese-built 2-10-2 QJ steam locomotive. No. 6988 and sister No. 7081 are owned by IAIS parent, Railroad Development Corporation but both have been in storage since September 2013 so Saturday's trains were pulled by diesels, GP38-2s 707 and 705.  Another change from five years ago is that the old former Montreal (Quebec) commuter coaches have been replaced by cars acquired in 2016 from the Austin & Texas Central Railroad. Five of the seven cars, originally built for the Pennsylvania Railroad in the 1920s, were refurbished and re-lettered for their new owner, though they retain the Texas-themed names.  The...