Gritty Industrial Railroading - Allied Iron & Steel Co. in Peoria, Illinois


Mid-afternoon Friday, January 5, 2018, I caught the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad (TZPR) switching Allied Iron & Steel Co. in Peoria. 

Owned by A. Miller & Co., 1612 SW Adams Street, Allied Iron & Steel Co. purchases junked autos, scrap metal and tin. Its auto shredder produces steel scrap ready for processing at steel mills and foundries.

Allied Iron & Steel opened at the Foot of W. Clarke Street in 1965. Back then, it was served by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad (CB&Q) with a spur off of its mainline (now BNSF's Peoria Subdivision, it is seen in the background). Also served by the CB&Q, A. Miller & Co. regularly shipped junk by rail from its uptown facility down to Allied for further processing. 

Successor Burlington Northern abolished its last Peoria-based switch engine in 1983 and handed over the Allied Iron & Steel business to the Peoria & Pekin Union Railway (P&PU), which built the spur track in place today.

P&PU successor Tazewell & Peoria Railroad switches Allied on a fairly regular basis. Most output seems to stay local as Keystone Steel & Wire Co. has a huge appetite for shredded scrap steel. 

- David P. Jordan

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