I left for church early today so I could check out if Iowa Interstate train PESI was getting close to departure. I missed SIPE's arrive with three Norfolk Southern geeps, but found IAIS power with the PESI crew aboard running through the TZPR's East Peoria Yard.
They planned to pulled those three NS geeps across W. Washington Street then shove them along the Nickel Plate and leave them on the Creve Coeur Team Track. But they were instructed to wait for a TP&W local enroute back to East Peoria.
I got gas up in Creve Coeur and came back to find the TP&W train running on the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's Nickel Plate Division, and two IAIS and three NS geeps waiting at W. Washington Street. I parked with just a few minutes to spare before TPW 3440, HESR 3485 and TPW 5010 rolled by with 33 grain empties from ADM South Yard.
Moments after the TP&W local cleared, Iowa Interstate PESI's crew with IAIS 711 and 703 and three Norfolk Southern geeps (5317-5077-5174) moved across the street, waited for the signal then took the Nickel Plate to the other end of the yard, and ultimately the team track.You ask, "what's with those Norfolk Southern geeps on an Iowa Interstate train?"
Well, Norfolk Southern abandoned its own route into Des Moines in 1992 in favor of a haulage agreement with Burlington Northern between St. Louis/Hannibal and Des Moines. A decade or so ago, BNSF made service to Des Moines much less of a priority. So for some traffic, NS has employed the Iowa Interstate as haulage agent between Des Moines and Peoria. This includes locomotives assigned to work NS customers and interchanges in the Iowa capital.
By early afternoon, PESI (Peoria IL to Silvis IL) is shown rolling by the old San Koty Station area a few miles out of Peoria. IAIS 711 and IAIS 703 have 59 cars. I hard the crew say "55 empties" so I figure four loads were scattered throughout the train. The NS coil steel load is the obvious one.
To understand events of 1980, we must begin in late-1979. The completion of the Interstate 474 bypass (and Airport Road interchange) on December 20 that year expanded PIA's catchment area, but unfortunately failed to compensate for an increasingly difficult period in local aviation history. The UAW Local 974 struck area Caterpillar Tractor Company plant on October 1, 1979, forcing a reduction in manufacturing and logistics operations. The walkout ended in mid-December but reduced corporate (and probably leisure) travel, impacting passenger traffic at the Greater Peoria Airport. On October 6, 1979 the Federal Reserve changed its monetary policy as a means to slay inflation, resulting in much higher interest rates. Already suffering from rising unemployment, the national economy plunged into recession from January to July 1980. From May 5 through June 1, Ozark Air Lines was shut down due to a mechanic's strike. As a consequence of each event noted above, PIA passenger...
In the previous installment, we covered Peoria’s first airmail flights and the fact that they were flown by the soon-to-be famous Charles A. Lindbergh. Now we shift to Peoria’s next airfield, Big Hollow Airport, which was located along then-Illinois Route 30 (north of US 150 and west of Rt. 91 today). There appears to be some disagreement over when this facility opened. Bill Adams wrote in his November 26, 1990 Yesterdays column that Big Hollow opened in the late summer of 1926 and Kellar Field was closed. Actually, that is when construction began, but it opened on December 20. Newspaper articles alternatively call it the "Municipal Airport," "Peoria Airport" or "Airport of Peoria." The map below appeared in the Peoria Evening Star on April 24, 1927. Shoppes at Grand Prairie occupies the present location. AN AIR SHOW AND SCHEDULE AIRLINE SERVICE The Peoria Aero Club organized an air show here on June 10, 1928. It featured stu...
Viridis Chemical's ethyl acetate plant is viewed January 18, 2026 from the Cedar Street Bridge Local media outlets aren't reporting this, but in December, Viridis Chemical Co. halted work on the nearly-finished Peoria ethyl acetate plant relocated from Columbus, Nebraska. The decision by investor EIV Capital was blamed on a deteriorating market for "biobased chemicals" and tariffs, which caused the project to go over budget. The former seems to be the bigger problem as the distillation column subject to a 50 percent import tariff was purchased and installed. The suspension explains why a rail siding was not built, and construction activity was put on hold before Christmas. This article does offer hope for the plant - [market development lead Steve] Friedewald expects the facility will start up eventually, but it may be a couple of years before the Viridis team recruits new investors or secures funding to finish final build-out and com...
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