Peoria Station

Peoria Int'l Airport was visited by not one but two big jets Tuesday, August 27. A Boeing 747-400 stopped here in early evening for what appears to have been a military charter. The plane, operating as Atlas Air Flight# 8083 on a Houston (Bush Intercont'l)-Peoria-Anchorage-Fukuoka, Japan itinerary, arrived at 8:14pm and departed at 11:42pm. The big plane was parked at the Ronald W. Burling Cargo Terminal ramp between flights. Also visiting Tuesday was a United States Air Force KC-10 Extender, a military tanker based on the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 tri-jet. Unfortunately, I could only capture these planes at night, but at least managed to record the historic events. - David P. Jordan

This one is pure speculation... ...but there is reason to believe it will happen.  Allegiant Air added Sarasota/Bradenton, Florida to its map in April 2018. The city's international airport serves a metropolitan area of over 700,000 but also generates a huge number of tourists. This year, the airline has added fifteen points from its newest southwest Florida "Focus City."  In April, seven new routes - to Cleveland, Columbus (OH), Grand Rapids, Harrisburg, Nashville, Richmond and Syracuse - were started from the southwest Florida community. This week, the airline announced eight more to be added in November 2019. Destinations will be Des Moines, Flint, Fort Wayne, Knoxville, Louisville, Rockford, Illinois; St. Louis (Mid-America) and South Bend. Note small cities like Fort Wayne and South Bend, Indiana and Rockford, Illinois are among points to be served later this year. Thus, twice-weekly nonstops are not out of the realm of possibility for Peoria. ...

The Keokuk Junction Railway's F-unit fleet is going into storage this week.  New owner Brookhaven Rail Partners acquired legal control of Pioneer Railcorp a few days ago and is already making changes to one shortline's motive power fleet. Reportedly, the KJRY will run a transfer with PREX 1750 & 1761 (and probably a GP20) from Mapleton to East Peoria and return Monday, and west to LaHarpe on Tuesday. PREX 1752 is already at LaHarpe. The latter will be the final run for these units in freight service. (credit to Steve Smedley) The above video captured an eastbound KJRY transfer on Saturday, February 9, 2019.  - David P. Jordan