Union Pacific MPECL, TZPR Industry 4, CN L557, TP&W Kolbe Local - 7-18-23

As usual on Tuesday after work, I try to catch Union Pacific's MPECL leaving. I succeeded with this one fairly quickly. When I drove by Adams Street Yard, I noticed a crew van by the locomotive. It wasn't long before I heard the crew call the dispatcher for instructions. 


CAPTION: Union Pacific train MPECL (Manifest, Peoria IL to Clinton IA) rolls by W. Farmington Road mid-afternoon Tuesday, July 18, 2023. UP 5366 has 30 cars. 

Shortly, I learned that TZPR 1351 ran engine lite as "Industry 4" from P&PU Junction to the TP&W yard to pull a transfer. I waited for it at W. Washington Street. The crew had to stop twice to line switches. Someone (ADM@Hilliards, Iowa Interstate, etc.) is getting a bunch of Incobrasa Industries covered hoppers for soybean loading!


CAPTION: Tazewell & Peoria Railroad "Industry 4" arrives home with a transfer from the Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway's East Peoria Yard late-afternoon Tuesday, July 18, 2023. TZPR 1351 has 77 cars. 

By waiting for the TZPR's Industry 4, I realized I was missing the departure of Canadian National local L557 which was hauling out those two CEFX GP20s that the Keokuk Junction Railway had been using on its Kolbe-based locals since October 2021. I caught up to it in time to catch it switching Amerhart Ltd.'s Pekin warehouse. I had plans, so I didn't stay to watch them switch Hanna Steel and depart south. 


CAPTION: Canadian National Railway local L557 (E. Peoria IL to Decatur IL) switches Amerhart Ltd. at Pekin, Illinois with CEFX 2014 and CEFX 2022 in consist early evening Tuesday, July 18, 2023. CN 8930 and IC 1031 were on the point.

I'm glad I left L557 where it was. While driving US 24, I happened to pass TP&W's Kolbe Local on its return leg to Mapleton. I had a few extra minutes so I turned around and got ahead of it at CILCO Lane. The train's 14th and 15th cars were twin-bay covered hoppers loaded with sand for the Caterpillar foundry! This is new business. Both cars carry reporting marks for Progress Metal Reclamation Company, a subsidiary of Caterpillar-owned Progress Rail Services. 


CAPTION: The Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway's Kolbe Local is shown early evening Tuesday, July 18, 2023 on its return leg to Kolbe/Mapleton, IL. TPW 2105 have 35 cars. The train's 14th and 15th cars - PMRX 219154 and PMRX 219142 - are sand loads consigned to Caterpillar's Mapleton foundry. 

David P. Jordan

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