Peoria Station

  I again caught a Canadian National Railway switching Amerhart and Hanna Steel. Thursday, March 25, 2021, I happened to hear radio chatter between the crew of Canadian National Railway's southbound local, L557, and the dispatcher. I only caught part of the conversation but knew the dispatcher had given L557's crew a track warrant to run from IC Junction at Pekin to Mount Pulaski. That meant the train was close to Pekin. I was just across the river. So it was prudent to investigate.  I saw five steel coil loads and three lumber loads left at the siding just north of Derby Street. The northbound local, L556, usually leaves these cars for the next day's L557. But where was L557? Moments later, I found a Tazewell & Peoria Railroad (TZPR) crew assembling a train for East Peoria. Their dispatcher (based at St. Albans, Vermont) gave them permission to run past IC Junction to East Peoria. So either the CN local had just cleared IC Junction or had yet to leave East Peoria. Turn

On Saturday, March 20, 2021, Union Pacific local LSF54 ran from Bloomington to Lincoln, Illinois and return to switch International Paper Co.  The Bloomington, Illinois-based local crew used UP 1405 and UP 1387 to deliver three loaded boxcars and pull two empties. Returning to Bloomington, the LSF54 crew placed the empties on the rear of train MBNAS (Manifest, Bloomington IL to Alton & Southern), which departed in early evening. UP 7499 had 33 cars.  - David P. Jordan

Make no mistake, passenger traffic at Peoria Int'l Airport wasn't affected by "COVID-19." It was cut in half due to media-induced fear and politically-motivated lockdowns, now one year old.  And if anyone wonders why volume hasn't recovered, all you must do is read the "COVID-19 Information" section on the airport website. Why would one willingly fly for a reason but absolute necessity? We are living in what will probably be regarded as both the saddest and silliest period of our nation's history.  So it is frustrating but hardly shocking that passenger volume is way down the first two months of 2021. WEEK TV-25 reports that PIA handled 20,781 and 22,606 passengers, respectively, in January and February.  Worse, PIA never provided (that I can find) exact passenger figures for 2020. It is as if they are suffering from decliningpassengertrafficatentralillinoisregionalairportitis , which I'll define as "fear of reporting the facts to hide emb

Late Wednesday morning, I happened across a Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway "Collier Turn" crawling into the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's East Peoria Yard. HESR 3485 and TPW 5010 have 53 cars. The train left the last 28 for TZPR and went across the river to deliver 25 grain loads to ADM's South Yard. The scene below was shot just off W. Washington Street in East Peoria.  Seeing the TP&W train was nice but my mission was to catch the Iowa Interstate Railroad's manifest PESI (Peoria IL to Silvis IL). This train's counterpart, SIPE (Silvis IL to Peoria IL) normally arrives East Peoria before sunrise. A new crew is called, and the train leaves town before this second-shift worker is awake! But on this day, a source informed me after 9:00 am that the train was doing its air-test prior to departure, so I headed into East Peoria/Creve Coeur to confirm. The train finally left around noon. I had lunch plans; otherwise I would have recorded the train's