Peoria Station

While most media outlets from coast to coast report their local airports' passenger figures by mid- to-late January, The Pantagraph waited until March 27  to report CIRA's figures, which was 333,932.  Last year's tally represented the lowest figure since 1997 when 281,942 passengers used Central Illinois Regional Airport's terminal facilities. Traffic was down 12 percent from 2016's tally of 381,109 passengers.  A 12 percent decline may be embarrassing, but such figures need to be reported without delay. News is news, good or bad. The reasons given are predictable, and one is simply bogus. A combination of airline mergers and a slowdown in local business travel continue to drive passengers away from the Central Illinois Regional Airport in Bloomington as officials look for ways to reverse the disappointing trend. Airline mergers? Southwest Airlines acquired AirTran Airways in May 2011 and withdrew from Central Illinois Regional Airport (CIRA) in ...

I finally caught the TP&W hauling wind turbine tower sections... ...for the western Logan County project. I've previously shot video and pics of wind turbine components being hauled on the Toledo, Peoria & Western, but back in 2008-2009 when my video was of lesser quality.   Thursday, I received a heads up that this train was at Gilman, Illinois. So I drove east on US 24 and found it stopped at Weston for a crew change. It wasn't long before the relief crew took the train westward. There were 64 wind turbine tower loads, which came from the Union Pacific at Watseka. These were added to 42 cars of manifest traffic left at Gilman by the Indiana Local Tuesday afternoon. In the above video, TP&W locomotives 5010 & 3442 lead the 106-car train at Weston (whole train), Chenoa, west of Meadows, Gridley, El Paso (whole train), Eureka and Washington. The towers are bound for sister Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's East Peoria Yard.  - David P. Jo...

Airport safety and security was the issue as 1973 dawned.  The Greater Peoria Airport began screening passengers on January 5. Use of a metal detector began in February. Understandably, Ozark Air Lines objected to a new security tax proposed by the Nixon Administration, which the airline claimed would penalize short-haul air travel. In Spring 1973, Airport Surveillance Radar  (ASR) was placed into service just west of the airfield, enhancing safety. Its continuous scan radius encompassed 40 miles and up to 10,000 feet.  The Greater Peoria Airport had every reason for optimism. The facility handled 300,000 passengers for the first time in 1972 and traffic was expected to rise rapidly through the decade. Then the disadvantages of being serviced by only one airline reared its ugly head. THE OZARK STRIKE Members of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Assocation (AMFA) struck Ozark Air Lines on April 19, forcing the carrier to suspend all scheduled operations. Among ...

Now this was cool! Early Friday evening, I managed to capture a meet at Green River Siding on Union Pacific's Peoria Subdivision. After work, I followed a northbound freight - MPECL (Manifest, Peoria IL to Clinton IA) - there knowing that a unit ethanol train (uncommon for this line) was waiting on the main track. As soon as MPECL was in the clear, the ethanol train, departed. Green River Siding was cut in during the summer of 2013. It was built at a time when the Union Pacific had great plans for its Peoria Subdivision, including another connection with BNSF Railway's Chillicothe Subdivision near Edelstein. The existing connection, placed into service in the northwest quadrant in 2007, would be complimented with one in the northeast quadrant.  Plans to run intermodal trains between the Joliet Intermodal Terminal (Global 4) and points such as Oakland, Portland and Seattle via BNSF's Chillicothe Sub between the connection to that line southwest of Joliet and ...

It is about time.  America's airports are run by government agencies and are in part funded by taxpayers. Information such as monthy, quarterly, annual passenger tallies should be public as soon as possible, good or bad. I understand the desire to promote rising passenger numbers, but conceal them when they're dropping. Such numbers determine public perception. Bloomington-Normal's Central Illinois Regional Airport (CIRA) suffered a 12 percent decline in passenger traffic in 2017. While most airports report year-end tallies to the press in January (or February), CIRA dragged its feet longer than usual. A February 6 AdaptBN editorial revealed CIRA's 2017 passenger traffic for the first time, scooping  The Pantagraph . And yet, the airport failed to offer an online press release with the same information. Diane Benjamin's BLNNews noted March 7 that CIRA's website still gave 2016 figures . I checked just this evening (March 15) and noticed that CIRA...

As it turns out, I had sufficient material for far more than I expected. This will be the second of a three-part documentary, which covers more of the Central Illinois Railroad Co's Peoria Division than Pioneer. You've already seen the video, but most of the stills you haven't. Looking for feedback. Part 3 will be posted when I have time to create it. - David P. Jordan

Saturday was a good day. That morning, I noticed three UP units moving toward Peoria. I quickly concluded I couldn't catch them before the Brauer Road crossing, but did notice this empty grain train waiting to depart. I turned around and found a good sunny location. I'm assuming that this train was bound for Rock River Lumber & Grain at Sterling. At W. Alta Road, UP motors 5472 and 6268 led 75 cars with 5834 as DPU. My intent Saturday morning was to reach Springfield and wait for the passage of a second Union Pacific blade train that was passing through St. Louis after sunrise. I parked near Springfield's Amtrak depot and waited. Almost immediately, Amtrak 301, the Lincoln Service train from Chicago to St. Louis, coasted to its scheduled stop. Amtrak's new SC-44 "Charger" locomotives are being assigned to these trains this month. No. 4604 has an all- Horizon Fleet consist.  Minutes after 301's departure, Amtrak 22, the San Anto...

After work Friday, March 9, 2018, I caught BNSF and Union Pacific train movements. First, BNSF's M-PEIGAL (Manifest, Peoria IL to Galesburg IL) departed the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's East Peoria Yard with engines 2889 and 585 and 17 cars. Note Caterpillar D11 tractor and Komatsu truck chassis loads. Ahead of the local was an empty coal train, which was sitting on the main track waiting for dispatcher instructions. It was led by BNSF 5632 and 9793 with BNSF 6169 as Distributed Power Unit (DPU). When the empty coal train cleared Yates City (about half way to Galesburg), the dispatcher gave M-PEIGAL a "roll up track warrant" to Yates City.  Union Pacific's MPECL (Manifest, Peoria IL to Clinton IA) was preparing for departure. I shot it at W. Farmington Road between the empty coal train and last scene of M-PEIGAL seen in the BNSF video. Union Pacific locomotives 4963 and 8350 pull 48 cars. - David P. Jordan

Time for more Transportation 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

I finally caught a Union Pacific wind turbine components train! In 2009, that carrier delivered multiple such trains to the Toledo Peoria & Western Railway at Sommer (just south of Bartonville near E. D. Edwards Station). Although I saw UP power coupled to one end of a train, I only witness movement on the TP&W. Saturday, March 3, 2018 offered a chance to see it. Although a local move (Adams Street Yard in Peoria to the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's East Peoria Yard), and a slow one at that (the video lasts 11 minutes, 14 seconds), waiting about four hours was worth it.  The train, led by UP 6158 and UP 5725, had 36 blades on 72 specially-equipped 86' flat cars (two flat cars needed per blade). I'm unsure of its origin, but the manufacturer of those towers which arrived on the TP&W last week (Vestas) also manufactures blades at a Union Pacific-served plant in Brighton, Colorado. The train came via St. Louis, so a Colorado origin makes sense...