Peoria Station

Union Pacific couldn't run MPECL (Manifest, Peoria IL to Clinton IA) Friday, July 17, 2020 because a crew was unavailable. So the train ran Saturday.  I'm glad for two reasons: (1) I could see it and (2) it dropped an electric transformer load at Akron Services.   The crew used UP 5517 and UP 5870 to assemble its 67-car train, but had orders to deliver the latter to the Illinois & Midland Railroad at Crescent (Powerton) near Pekin. So before departure north, actually made the delivery. This consumed at least three hours.  I missed MPECL's departure, but knew I could beat it to a location north of town. The first scene is at Legion Hall Road, east of Dunlap. I made it to Akron in time to record MPECL dropping the transformer load and two buffer cars. Edwards Moving & Rigging of Shelbyville, Kentucky is handling unloading and trucking to final destination. Buffer car markings tell me the transformer came from Canadian National origins.  ...

Early Sunday afternoon, I found a Norfolk Southern freight train in the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's East Peoria Yard readying for departure back to Good Yard in Normal. The Komatsu truck chassis and four Caterpillar tractor loads were a nice treat! Komatsu loads have appear regularly on weekday local (D49) in recent weeks. I saw three on July 2's train, and two on July 9. Notably absent are Caterpillar tractor loads. Norfolk Southern handles these out of East Peoria on occasion, but I rarely catch them. Until Sunday, July 12. Extra local D47 had four loads - three D11s and a D9. This traffic is for export via three ports - Baltimore, MD (Dundalk Marine Terminal), Portsmouth, VA (Portsmouth Marine Terminal) and Savannah, GA (Ocean Terminal - Georgia Ports Authority). As states reopen and economic activity returns, truck rates have risen. So it is logical to assume that Caterpillar has begun to shift some export shipments back to rail. Increased orders are also a likely...