Keokuk Junction Railway WB Local, BNSF M-PEIGAL 10-19-23

With a chance that a pair of F-7As could move west on the Keokuk Junction Railway Thursday, I left work at 9:00 and headed for Mapleton. Before I arrived, I already had a pretty good idea that the F-units pulled from East Peoria wouldn't be moving any further than the old Carter Lumber spur at Mapleton. Both units were left there last night, possibly for long-term storage.

Speculation is that BNSF doesn't want to handle BUGX 401 and BUGX 402 to their intended destination, the Blackwell Northern Gateway Railroad in Kansas, and that the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad, on whose Creve Coeur Team Track for nearly two months, wanted them gone. Storing them on the Keokuk Junction Railway must been determined to be the only solution until another scenario for transportation can be agreed upon. 

Although the local didn't take the F-units west, I'm glad I did the chase on Thursday. 


CAPTION: Chasing the Keokuk Junction Railway's weekly local from Mapleton, Illinois to a point just west of Bushnell on Thursday, October 19, 2023. LTEX 6437, PREX 2018 and LTEX 3848 began its day with 23 cars. Four cars (one load, three empties) were set out for Hitchcock Scrap Yard at Canton and nine cars were left at UE Siding just east of Cuba. At Bushnell, the crew splits its power to set out a loaded covered hopper consigned to Archer Daniels Midland Co's Bushnell plant (the plant will be switched by the eastbound local). Departing Bushnell, the train had just nine cars. ***See video for location captions***. 

After chasing the westbound KJRY local from Mapleton to Bushnell, I decided to return home via Galesburg for a chance to catch BNSF's M-GALPEI. When I drove the 4th Street Bridge, I concluded that it had already departed so I followed the Peoria Sub east. When I arrived the Peoria's south edge, M-PEIGAL had just crossed the river...


CAPTION: BNSF Railway train M-PEIGAL (Manifest, Peoria IL to Galesburg IL) uses the through truss bridge spanning Kickapoo Creek shortly after leaving Peoria, Illinois early-evening Thursday, October 19, 2023. BNSF 7622 and BNSF 6744 have 24 cars. 

David P. Jordan

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