Peoria Station

  Late this morning, Canadian National Railway local L557 left Wesley with 58 cars. Besides the unusually long train, lone IC 1034 was on the point! More than 20 years after CN absorbed the Illinois Central Railroad (October 1, 2000), that carrier's units remain operational in their original paint! Video shows it crawling along the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad double track as it approaches Pekin, Illinois and snakes through the downtown area. The train then races across 5th Street near South Pekin (where it picked up 25 grain empties). The final scene showns the now 83-car train is at Worner Road near Green Valley. The block of 26 empty plastics covered hoppers was a little unusual. A sprinkling of eight empty gondolas tells me CN is still handling scrap metal to TZPR for delivery to Liberty Steel & Wire Co. - David P. Jordan

  Allegiant Air is adding two new destinations from Peoria! Nonstops to Sarasota/Bradenton, Florida begins May 27, and will be offered Thursdays and Sundays through at least August. Denver nonstops will begin May 28, and will be offered Mondays and Fridays through at least August. (Flights for both are only bookable through August 2021, but service may last longer based on demand.) Schedules can be found at allegiantair.com  Interestingly, I posted this article in August 2019 speculating that Sarasota flights for Peoria were a possibility.  - David P. Jordan

  I tried something different this morning.  Norfolk Southern Railway local D49 is shown leaving the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's East Peoria Yard, passing both BNSF's M-GALPEI (which had just arrived from Galesburg) and a TZPR 1521, working a yard job. Later, it is shown climbing the hill at N. Main Street outside Morton. I shot it here specifically for the "Winter Wonderland" scenery. NS 9814-9554 have just nine cars. Train lengths do vary quite a bit from day to day. This train operates Monday through Friday. It goes on duty at 0600 hours at Good Yard, classifies the inbound local from Decatur (D32), switches local customers and makes the run to East Peoria and return. On weekends, usually on Sunday afternoon, an extra local (D47) makes the East Peoria run.  - David P. Jordan