Peoria Station

  Early Friday evening, I happened upon a Tazewell & Peoria Railroad switch engine (TZPR 1352) pulling eight tank cars along Wesley Road on the double track Pekin mainline. The tank cars displayed no haz-mat placards. Some had Cargill (CRGX) reporting marks. I quickly realized a yard crew was about to deliver them to Gavilon Fertilizer's nearby facility.  The video above shows most switching moves. In summary, the crew first pulled a tank car already on spot and set it over to another tracks (NOTE: there are three parallel tracks on the plant's south side, and one on the east side). Then, they spotted the eight tank cars, four on each of two tracks. The crew then returned to the East Peoria Yard.  Note at the 9:18 mark, 1352 struggles to gain speed up the steep incline. They first tried to move four tank cars, then three. After the conductor made a cut for the first two, 1352 could pull.  The tank cars contained soybean oil, which moves to Peoria periodically on the Iowa In

  Allegiant Air will offer nonstop service to Fort Lauderdale, Florida beginning December 15. Technically, service is a resumption of a route suspended 13 years ago. Allegiant Air previously offered such service from December 13, 2007 until late-May 2008.  The revived flights will be on Wednesdays and Saturdays to start. A look at the airline's website shows that this shifts to Thursdays and Sundays starting January 6 and 9, respectively until February 10 and 13. Wednesday and Saturday flights resume February 16 and 19, continuing through May 11 and 14.  Discounting the brief Rapid City flights offered this month (which could return annually), Fort Lauderdale gives Peoria a tenth nonstop destination on Allegiant Air. As several of these are seasonal, not all ten will be offered at once, though this could change as demand increases.  I should also note that with new route announcements by Allegiant Air include nonstop service between Springfield and Phoenix (Mesa) beginning November

The politicians are jumping on the passenger rail bandwagon again . PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — Peoria representatives are once again trying to bring the downtown train to Peoria. State leaders said, for too long, the city has been left behind when it comes to passenger rail. (I'm scratching my head on the term "downtown train." Never heard of one.) What stood out for me in this article was how much Ray LaHood has changed his tune since his days in the U. S. Congress.  When you look at a map of Illinois there’s no reason why Peoria does not have rail service,” Ray LaHood, former Illinois congressman and U.S. Transportation Secretary said. “It’s the second-largest metropolitan area in Illinois. Remember back in 2007 how LaHood suggested to WCBU radio that Amtrak would never come here again and that bus connections to passenger services at Galesburg and Normal were satisfactory? His history is fuzzy as well... LaHood said it’s probably been about 50 years since the last time pas