TP&W. Morton, Illinois. A Good Day!


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 catch them!

- David P. Jordan

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