Peoria Station

Central Illinois Regional Airport's 2018 Annual Report is now available here . I don't recall such a document being being made public before. Perhaps the airport authority is using the occasion to publicize last year's traffic growth? But why they waited until May (when stats were quietly posted on the airport website in February) has me scratching my head.  The eleven-page report confirms that CIRA handled 364,482 passengers in 2018, a 9.1 percent increase over 2017. The addition of Frontier Airlines' service to Denver (seasonal) and Orlando, and strong load factors on the other carriers' flights contributed to the growth. The loss of Delta Connection service to Minneapolis/St. Paul came late in the year (November 26) so the effect on passenger volume was minimal.  The report is a good read. I only wish PIA would do the same.  - 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. For those interested, I am working on the next "PIA - A History" post. It will cover both 1997 and 1998. I returned from a trip to Florida yesterday, so I'm still catching up on things.  - David P. Jordan

Peoria Int'l Airport did it again! In April 2019, it handled 59,321 passengers. This figure was 6.5 percent higher than the previous April record of 55,683 passengers in 2014. You can read more on PIA's press release here . Service upgrades are credited for the airport's growth. In February, American Eagle replaced 50-seat jets with planes of up to 67 seats on its two daily roundtrips to Charlotte. United Express increased Chicago-O'Hare service to five roundtrips in March. The press release also notes that American Eagle and Allegiant Air hold 32 and 33 percent market share, respectively.  Allegiant Air resumes Punta Gorda nonstops May 15, so another passenger record is possible this month.  - David P. Jordan

One week away! Those who bought tickets in time for the Iowa Interstate Railroad's Chillicothe-Henry excursions May 18, will be first to experience a ride behind steam on this line in 57 years. We know this fact because the  Peoria Morning Star  ran a story March 5, 1952 with the headline, All Diesel Power Passenger Trains On R. I. This Month . Delivery of six EMD E-8A passenger diesels enabled the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad to retire steam passenger power which then pulled Nos. 9 and 230, the nightly locals between Peoria and Chicago. The locomotive believed to have pulled the last steam-powered passenger train on the Rock Island's Peoria-Bureau line was 4-6-2 No. 886. In 1956, the Peoria Jaycees asked the Rock Island to donate this locomotive to Peoria for public display. After it was learned that 886 had been scrapped, sister 887 was renumbered "886" and substituted as a gift to the Peoria group. "New 886" moved to Peoria on a fr

A ceremony conducted 150 years ago today - May 10, 1869 - marked the completion of a transcontinental railroad across the United States of America. A continuous route was not yet in place, but would be in a few years.  - David P. Jordan

This was the longest train I had ever seen.  One week ago, Sunday, April 28, 2019, I was standing trackside west of Malta, Illinois along Union Pacific's Geneva Subdivision when this monster freight train passed. Despite the overcast and wind, I think my video turned out pretty well. The block of twin-bay covered hoppers right behind the two locomotives made me first think it was a unit frac sand train, but the Cryo-Trans reefers quickly confirmed that it was a manifest ("mixed freight"). With the help of social media, I can also confirm that it was MPRNP (Manifest, Proviso IL to North Platte NE).  I expected a long train. After 97 cars and a locomotive mid-train set up as Distributed Power Unit (DPU), I knew it would be a long one indeed. The train kept coming and coming and coming, 101 more cars! At 198 cars, this was the longest train I had ever seen. I believe its length was due to the numerous Trinity Reefers sprinkled throughout, including a 25-ca