Final Trains of 2018

The weather on this final day of 2018 should have kept me indoors, but I found some local train action instead.

First, I caught Norfolk Southern's local D49 arriving the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's East Peoria (IL) Yard early this afternoon. NS 3375 & NS 3221 have 49 cars (my second encounter in two months that the train's car count and symbol were coincidentally the same). The nine coil steel loads are mostly likely to be interchanged to Iowa Interstate.

The Tazewell & Peoria Railroad ran a transfer to the TP&W's East Peoria Yard shortly after the NS pulled in. TZPR 1520 delivered 23 cars to the TP&W then returned engine lite. This unit is an ex-Apalachicola & Northern SW-1500.

Next, I had a dilemma. Canadian National's Peoria Local was in town, and had been given permission to depart so I waited briefly at Wesley Road. The train stopped, and moments later, I heard the dispatcher give D49 permission to depart. I chose the latter because I knew I could catch up to the CN local.

NS 3221 & NS 3375 lead 48 cars on its trip back to Good Yard in Normal. The first 15 cars were pulled from Track A-37 then shoved onto the other 33 on A-27. Those pulled from A-37 were recently delivered by the Keokuk Junction Railway. The last four of these were likely pulled from Hitchcock Scrap Yard's leased Canton property.

I caught up to CN's Peoria Local through Grove, easily got ahead of it and waited at the old C&IM depot in Pekin. CN 5772 & CN 5400 have 27 cars. The plan was to switch Hanna Steel before leaving Pekin, but I decided it wasn't worth waiting for in darkness and rain.

- David P. Jordan