Peoria Station

I normally post aviation and railroad topics here, but I must mention the return of an old gas station brand. British Petroleum (BP) purchased Amoco in 1998. The combined companies operated as "BP Amoco" until 2001 when the brand became simply, "BP." Between 2000 and 2005, Amoco gas stations were either closed or changed to "BP." Following the public relations disaster that was the 2010 explosion and oil spill on the offshore platform, Deepwater Horizon , there were reports that BP considered reviving the Amoco brand in the United States. As the spill dissipated into the Gulf of Mexico and other issues captured Americans' attention, BP service stations either re-branded to other oil companies or stayed BP. Seven years passed and then last fall, the Amoco brand was re-introduced in select cities.  In late-August 2018, a former Shell station at the corner of N. Jackson Street and N. Morton Avenue in Morton, Illinois became the first Amoco...

It is a good day when I happen to catch a train on the Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway's Morton Industrial Lead.  Late Saturday morning, August 25, 2018, I learned that a train had arrived in town. I already had plans to be in Morton so I left early, hoping to catch this train.  When I arrived, the train was already departing. TP&W 2070 was pushing a lone empty herbicide tank car near Main Street. I waited at Crandall Junction (northeast of town).  TP&W's Morton Industrial Lead is the sole remnant of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway's Pekin District, which was mostly abandoned in July 1983. Recent years have not been kind. The railroad has been trying to chase off the line's business for years, with Nestle USA/Libby's obliging after 2008 and Morton Buildings by early 2015. That leaves Fort Transfer Company as the sole remaining customer. Lack of business means occasional train movements to and from Morton. So it is a treat to ...

Peoria's economy remained in the dumps in 1984 as Caterpillar continued to shed employees as well as facilities. But airport passenger traffic continued to rise. An April 15 article proclaimed a nine percent increase and that fares were competitive with Chicago and St. Louis. Britt Airways' service remained largely unchanged with FH-227s operating eight roundtrips between Peoria and Chicago-O'Hare with seven nonstops to and eight nonstops from that facility. Bloomington-Normal and Springfield tag-ons gave the Terre Haute, Indiana-based airline a total of eleven weekday departures. A January 5, 1984 newspaper ad touted connections to American Airlines' Chicago-O'Hare hub. Mississippi Valley Airlines provided five weekday flights to O'Hare and six from, while Burlington (Iowa) and Springfield (IL) tag-ons provided a total of eleven weekday departures. The Moline, Illinois-based airline used a mix of Fokker F-27s, Shorts 360s and Shorts 330s. MVA newspaper ads...

Last October, Union Pacific unveiled "The Spirit"... ...and I saw it for the first time Wednesday.  I learned that UP 1943 was leading a Union Pacific Office Car Special (OCS) out of Ridgely (Springfield) early that afternoon and realized I had a good chance to catch it before going to work.  I decided to wait at Amtrak's Uptown Station in Normal. There aren't many good places to shoot video or stills in the city, but I decided upon this spot as it enabled me to get out of town quickly. The train passed my position at 2:04pm. A quiet zone is now in effect, so the lowering grade crossing gates were the only sign of its approach. UP 1943 and UP 7943 led ten passenger cars toward Global 4 (Joliet Intermodal Terminal) and ultimately, the Ogilvie Transportation Center in downtown Chicago. You can read more about this locomotive here .  - David P. Jordan

Bloomington-Normal is losing its nonstop service to Minneapolis/St. Paul. Thanks to a tip from commenter on my Ask PeoriaStation post, I did found that Delta Connection is dropping its nonstop service in that market. Last service will operate Monday, November 26. A 50-seat Canadair Regional Jet has been used for these flights since they started in 2010. There are two possible reasons for this move. First, 50-seat CRJ200s are being phased out and thin markets such as CIRA-MSP can't support the larger jets. Service out of Peoria may benefit.  Another reason may be the re-introduction of service by Frontier Airlines to Denver on September 24. Multiple connection opportunities and low fares will no doubt require Delta to compete (by lowering fares) or suffer lost business. After November 26, Delta Connection will be providing CIRA service to just one hub - Atlanta. UPDATE (Aug. 24):  Service to Detroit ended in July 2016, so the end of Minneapolis/St. Paul service...

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

Events involving PIA continued their rapid pace during 1983.  The year began with the area's largest employer, Caterpillar Tractor Co., on strike. Begun October 1, 1982, it lasted nearly 30 weeks until April 24, 1983. Although the strike had ended, the company continued to suffer declining engine and machine sales. Additional layoffs were announced shortly and people telling each other, "Will the last person leaving Peoria please turn out the lights?" And yet, passenger traffic at the Greater Peoria Airport began to grow again. Perhaps it was more a reflection of the national economy, which began showing signs of life in late 1982. Recovery continued into 1983 as inflation slowed, fuel prices declined and reduced tax rates helped fuel consumer spending and business investment. Some cite the end of fare wars that prompted travelers to drive to Chicago or St. Louis instead of flying out of Peoria.  Because Ozark had significantly reduced service at Peoria in 1981...

Many Peorians still recall the good old days when they could board an Ozark DC-9 and fly to the likes of Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York, Tampa and Washington, DC (later Baltimore) without changing planes. Those good old days ended in 1981-1982. ANALYSIS It is clear that the re-introduction of service here by TWA and reduced service as a consequence of the PATCO strike permanently, but pre-maturely, cut Ozark's schedule. So one might ask: How long would it have lasted otherwise? Ozark's decision to end its last roundtrip between Peoria and Chicago-O'Hare (ORD) on October 25, 1981 was forced upon it due to FAA regulations designed to minimize congestion. Unknown is when this would have occurred if not for the PATCO walkout. Ozark had dropped its last Moline to Chicago-O'Hare roundtrip on July 1, 1981. Weekday Champaign/Urbana to Chicago-O'Hare flights apparently ended with the strike or shortly thereafter. The airline maintained a weekday-only ORD-SPI...