Peoria Station

After work, I headed to Adams Street Yard and found Union Pacific's MPECL on the Low Line main. I didn't see a crew though. The LPD01 job reportedly worked later than usual today, hence MPECL got called at a later time than usual. It finally left a little before 6:00pm. More on that later.  As I parked at a nearby lot to wait for signs of life on MPECL, BNSF's M-PEIGAL rolls by, so I got ahead of it in the old Molitor Junction area and shot this video around 4:00pm.  BNSF 3196 and HLCX 3889 have 51 cars (21 loads, 30 empties). Note four Komatsu truck chassis loads.  I decided to return to Adams Street to see if the Union Pacific train showed signs of leaving soon. It didn't, so I spent a little time at the downtown library.  Enroute to my parent's home (the reason I head out on Tuesday), I caught radio chatter on the UP channel and when I crossed the tracks at West Farmington Road a few minutes before 6:00pm, I found the signal lit green. I only waited a few minutes...

I stepped out of the downtown Peoria library and heard a distant horn. Naturally, I had to investigate... I first got lunch then chased Iowa Interstate manifest PESI to Mossville, Illinois. Today's train was a monster. IAIS 518 and IAIS 506 have 129 cars (14 loads, 115 empties). Alcohol and coil steel make up most of the loads. There appears to be an odd, loaded CRGX (Cargill) marked tank car as well. It seems soybean oil could be shipped back north for some reason? - David P. Jordan

The Keokuk Junction Railway local was reported at Bartonville at 5:00 this afternoon. When I left the downtown library, I decided to check it out, and found it after 6:00 having just finished making a set out at Collier Yard. The crew received permission from TZPR to make the run to East Peoria, noting a restriction on handling empty cars due to a wind advisory in effect until 7:30. Of course, they wouldn't leave East Peoria with the mostly (or all) empty train.  CEFX 2014 and CEFX 2022 have 24 cars. The 5th through 7th cars are loaded ALAB-marked covered hoppers, which I hope contain corn germ consigned to ADM's West Plant in Decatur. I understand that earlier this year, corn germ was being trucked from Keokuk! I had hoped this was a temporary situation due to unknown (to me) issues. Volume is something like 900 or so carloads per year, so that would be a huge blow to KJRY to lose this business.  Also of note, the 9th and 10th cars are probably loaded with organic grain shipp...

On my way home from the downtown library early this evening, I came across a TP&W crew building a train at East Peoria for Collier Yard in Bartonville. TZPR 2133 and HESR 3485 had 55 cars of traffic for Union Pacific, Vistra Energy's Edwards Power Station and Mapleton industries.  Scenes are on the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad at East Peoria (W. Washington Street) and Peoria (crossing the Illinois River and also approaching Krause Avenue and Darst Street).  Union Pacific is getting more of those potash empties being routed back to Bethune, Saskatchewan. Two TP&W-marked cyclindrical covered hoppers on the rear were loaded. An earlier Union Pacific MPECL had them as well, but until tonight, I wasn't sure if they originated dry fertilizer (urea?) from Growmark's Mapleton Terminal or organic grain from Forrest Elevator & Supply Co. at Forrest, Illinois. I now believe they come from the latter. Both represent new traffic on the Union Pacific as well as interchange ...

Adams Street Yard was empty when I drove by, but moments later I heard the crew talking to the dispatcher. Union Pacific train MPECL (Manifest, Peoria IL to Clinton IA) rolls by Milepost 80 just before 4:00pm this afternoon. UP 5632 has just 14 cars. Looks like Union Pacific merchandise traffic on its Peoria Sub has gone from one extreme (longer trains than usual) to the other (shorter than usual). The temporary surge in corn syrup traffic coming off the Keokuk Junction Railway has apparently ended, and it appears there were no dry sorbent empties from the Illinois & Midland.  - David P. Jordan

I learned that Iowa Interstate manifest SIPE arrived East Peoria before sunrise Sunday so I knew there was a chance PESI would depart in late-morning. I was correct. PESI is shown in several locations between Peoria and Mossville. There are three scenes on the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad (West Yard, RI Morton St. Depot, Limit Yard) and Iowa Interstate (Peoria Heights and Mossville). IAIS 504 and IAIS 507 have just 30 cars - three loads (tank cars) and 27 empties. The tank cars were carrying a non-hazardous material. One had CRGX (Cargill) markings, so it is possible that soybean oil is being shipped back north.  I'm also starting to wonder what happened to the ADM grain mash business. For a long time, this traffic out of Cedar Rapids, Iowa moved almost year-round. It seems to have dried up the past week or two.  - David P. Jordan

I learned that Iowa Interstate Railroad manifest SIPE (Silvis IL to Peoria IL) was called for 1100 this morning and correctly calculated that it would be in Peoria by mid-afternoon. I was driving I-74 westbound when I heard the crew release its track warrant from Bureau Junction to the North Limit Yard in Peoria. So with the sun directly lined up with the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad mainline along the downtown rivefront, I decided to capture it at Persimmon Street, where it jogs a bit to enter the West Yard. Video shows it polishes TZPR's rusty rails late this afternoon. IAIS 515 has just 29 cars. - David P. Jordan

The Ides of March proved a good one as far as the local railscene. Due to its predictability, I usually catch Union Pacific train MPECL (Manifest, Peoria IL to Clinton IA) on regular run Tuesdays and Fridays. Video shows it rolling by Milepost 80 shortly after departing Adams Street Yard. UP 7625 has 31 cars. It appears that more "normal" consists have returned. At least they won't stall on Pioneer Hill... I knew TP&W's Kolbe Local had already made a run to Collier Yard at Bartonville to swap interchange with KJRY and Union Pacific and an East Peoria-Collier Turn. I found TPW 2105 at Collier making up a train for the return run back to Mapleton. I captured it leaving with 29 cars. A second scene is just south of Bartonville.  Before the TP&W could depart, the Keokuk Junction Railway's East Peoria-bound local moves had to clear. When I caught it at the Illinois Street crossing on Bartonville's south edge, CEFX 2014 and CEFX 2022 havd 27 cars. After sett...

The additional hour of evening light has already provided a quality encounter! As I left the downtown library before 6:00 Monday evening, I caught some chatter, making out only "Darst Street." I knew the Union Pacific local crew was fnished for the day, so a BNSF train seemed likely. I wondered if M-GALPEI had arrived, but when I drove across the SW Adams Street Viaduct, I saw that M-PEIGAL was sitting on the Peoria Sub main ready to go west! I didn't have to wait long for the train to begin rolling west. Even better, I was able to capture video of it in two locations. The first was just south of the Harmon Highway (Rt. 116) bridge along Kickapoo Creek Road. Next, the train stopped short of W. Farmington Road so the conductor could walk the train across it, likely due to a reported gate and/or signal malfunction. BNSF 7995 and BNSF 729 (still in Santa Fe Warbonnet colors) had 69 cars. Two Caterpillar D10T track-type tractor loads were up front. The white KFTX tank cars co...

This is a case of being in the right place at the right minute... A Tazewell & Peoria Railroad Industry Job pulled a string of gondolas from Liberty Steel & Wire Co's Bartonville steel mill late this morning just minutes after I drove by. TZPR 1521 had 20 cars (four loads, 16 empties). - David P. Jordan

Another Union Pacific train MPECL (Manifest, Peoria IL to Clinton IA) and more drama. The video above shows it rolling by the old Molitor Junction area (MP 80) around 4:22pm today (Friday). UP 8878 has 51 cars. The crew informed the dispatcher that they needed a warrant to work between Pottstown and MP 70 so they could double Pioneer Hill and re-assemble the train.  Unlike Tuesday's 76-car train of mostly empties, Friday's had 33 corn syrup loads, some of which were probably left behind by Tuesday's train. The solo unit, an SD70ACe, wasn't enough for all traffic, so some more cars were left behind, as is done most days due to TPA (Tonnage-Per-Axle) limits. But a larger number of loads means the train has insufficient power to conquer Pioneer Huill, so they must cut the train in two (probably just south of the start of double track at Pottstown) and re-assemble it. This drama is time-consuming, and also means that some traffic sits for four more days. A second unit could...

Norfolk Southern local D49 left East Peoria today with 15 cars. The consist, including lone SD40-2 3362, plus one autorack, left Good Yard in Normal as D36. At Gibson City, D36 added 27 cars. I left work with the knowledge that D49 had long since arrived back at Good Yard, but that the power and consist would continue east/south as D36 a short time later. Social media is great for updates, and learning that an autorack had been added to the consist, I decided to chance driving down I-74 to Mansfield, hoping to catch it with sufficient daylight. Normally, D36 has work at Gibson City, and Wedneday's run was no exception. The crew added 27 cars here. Gibson City work consumed quite a bit of time, so I ended up seeing Decatur-bound D36 at sunset near Foosland, which is on the ex-Wabash portion of the Bloomington District. NS 3362 has 43 cars. Twelve soybean meal loads on the head end were pulled from DuPont's Gibson City soybean processing plant. Three Caterpillar D11 loads, six co...

Union Pacific train MPECL (Manifest, Peoria IL to Clinton IA) left a little early this afternoon.  I heard the crew talking to the dispatcher about 3:45 or but I was on Wesley Road near the TZPR yard. I crossed the river on the Cedar Street Bridge and found some cars left in Adams Street Yard, but not train. I used Interstate 474/Rt. 6 to get to the top of Pioneer Hill ahead of MPECL. I went by around 4:30.  Today's train had 31 empty CBFX twin-bay covered hoppers, probably coming out of storage though which connecting carrier I can't say. More interesting perhaps were the two TP&W cyclindrical covered hoppers and ten potash empties on the rear.  TPW 604790 and TPW 605750 were loaded. Either Growmark is sending dry fertiilzer (urea?) from its Mapleton Terminal to UP destinations or perhaps organic grain shipped from Forrest is moving to a UP destination.  I matched the numbers on the potash empties and they are the same ones on that eastbound TP&W M-train whi...

On my way home from church early this afternoon, I came across some Tazewell & Peoria Railroad activity. First, a local crossed the river with cars for BioUrja's alcohol tracks. TZPR 1521 has eleven empty tank cars (some used as buffers). I'm thinking the former ADM loadout has space for eight cars (four on each of two tracks), so three of these cars might be buffers. When I worked for two non-consecutive weeks in August and September 1995 through a temp service at Act Distilling Co's bottling operation, I passed this loadout daily, and I remember an eight-car capacity. However, an all-weather enclosure was built in 2009, and it appears from Google satellite views that the enclosure built in 2009 extends far enough that each track could have been extended to accommodate at least one more car apiece.  A BNSF coal train went next. Right behind it was a Tazewell & Peoria RR Local out of Kickapoo Job. IMRR 1550 has 14 cars, including an empty covered hopper (buffer car?...

Gritty, industrial railroad on the Union Pacific begins with action begins at the Bloomington, Illinois yard, and moves to Lincoln where the local switches the Internatonal Paper Co. box plant. The crew of MASBN (Manifest, Alton & Southern to Bloomington IL) arrived well before sunrise, but their duties weren't yet complete.  After dropping the train in the yard, they took UP 7012, UP 1066 and WRIX 1229 and turned them at Prairie Central Cooperative's Cayuga elevator loop, which is located just north of Pontiac. All three units faced north, so they needed to be turned: UP 7012 because it would lead counterpart MBNAS south that evening; UP 1066 because the other local power, UP 1148, was facing north; and WRIX 1229, because its new home, AgRail LLC, wanted it to face south. When this was accomplished, UP 7012 was moved to the other side of the yard and tied up, and the crew went off duty. Shortly, the crew of LSF54 boarded UP 1066 and delivered WRIX 1229, an SD18M which once...

  Got a surprise today... I went to Peoria's southside to check on Union Pacific MPECL, which for a reason I would learn later, had its departure delayed by an earlier northbound stalled on Pioneer Hill. While waiting, I received a call from a friend that a CN power move, which I believe to be the L556 Decatur to Pekin turn, was reported moving north from Mount Pulaski. I decided to investigate, driving south on US 24, crossing the river on Rt. 9 and encountering this move just as it entered Tazewell & Peoria Railroad trackage at IC Junction! I managed to find a spot off S. 3rd Street and shot this video showing KLWX 8520, ex-Norfolk Southern DC to AC conversion AC44C6CF, and UP 9060, an SD70AH. There was only one reason for this power move: to fetch an empty gluten feed pellet train delivered by BNSF.  I knew the CN train wouldn't move south until after dark, so I returned to Peoria to find Union Pacific train MPECL (Manifest, Peoria IL to Clinton IA) departing Adams Stre...

I knew CN's Peoria Local, L556, had been using a pair of IC black units this week - IC 6250 (SD40-3) and IC 1000 (SD70), so after work, I drove to Creve Coeur hoping to see them lead L557 south. I wasn't disappointed, as the train was leaving TZPR's East Peoria Yard as I crossed the double track on Wesley Road. I shot a few stills at Wesley and then waited at Hilliards to shoot video. The train, running Main 1, slowed to a crawl and stopped short of the Grove crossover to wait for an empty BNSF coal train to go by. When it resmed its run, it crossed to Main 2. I got some power runbys at North 2nd Street in Pekin and again at Koch Street after the train picked up a lumber load and eight coil steel loads for Amerhart and Hanna Steel, respectively. IC 6250, IC 1000 and CN 2639 have 64 cars. The first 38 cars were ADM empties, probably last contained feed. The other 26 were "normal traffic" including alcohol, distillers' grain mash and carbon dioxide gas. An empty...

I believe the first two cars had been set out as bad orders at Chillicothe. I assume these were empties? (If not, then make it eight loads, 62 empties.) Iowa Interstate Railroad manifest PESI (Peoria IL to Silvis IL) rolls north of Chillicothe, Illinois late afternoon Wednesday, March 2, 2022. IAIS 513 has 70 cars (six loads, 64 empties). A second scene is just south of Henry in last sunlight. Loads were denatured alcohol and scrap metal, three each.  - David P. Jordan

Monday after work, I went to Bloomington-Normal hoping to repeat last week's encounter with Norfolk Southern Railway local D36. Working first shift prevents me from seeing all but a late D49 on its return trip from East Peoria to Normal, but a late running D36 on weekdays or Saturday mornings occasionally will satisfy my desire for an encounter. I was unsuccessful Monday. D36 had already left in the morning, but D49 had a neat, 39-car car pull from the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's East Peoria Yard which included Caterpillar D9 and D11 loads, and two Komatsu truck chassis loads. Fortunately, was called Tuesday afternoon and included Monday and Tuesday's D49 traffic! I drove by Good Yard to find D36 already moving. Although slow motorists made me worry I couldn't reach the W. Market location I usually favor for afternoon video, D36 had to stop and wait for Amtrak's Texas Eagle to clear BN Target before getting the signal. NS 3298 and NS 6084 have 60 cars - four o...