BNSF M-PEIGAL, KJRY EP Turn w/F-7As! 2-26-24

When I left work, I learned that the Keokuk Junction Railway local was picking up the two F-7As (BUGX 401 and BUGX 402) before heading to East Peoria.

Those former Gettysburg & Northern F-units have been at Kolbe since October 18, reportedly for mechanical work. They were enroute to the Blackwell Northern Gateway Railroad in Kansas but that carrier was shutdown by the Federal Railroad Administration earlier this month for a number of violations. Whether these units are still enroute or if they have a new destination is unknown at this time. Note that they had been on the KJRY since October but arrived the area (separately) on Norfolk Southern in late-August. 

As I waited for the KJRY to move, I learned that BNSF's M-PEIGAL had permission to depart the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's East Peoria Yard. Given the great afternoon sunlight, I decided to capture the train crossing the river and again at my favorite Darst Street perch. I figured I had time to get it one more time along Kickapoo Creek Road. 



CAPTION: BNSF Railway train M-PEIGAL (Manifest, Peoria IL to Galesburg IL) crosses the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's Illinois River Bridge from East Peoria to Peoria, Illinois late-afternoon Monday, February 26, 2024. Shortly, it rolls by Darst Street just before entering rails for the trip west to Galesburg. The final scene is a few miles west and just south of Harmon Highway. BNSF 5114 and BNSF 6126 have 43 cars. 

I made it back to Peoria's south side just in time to catch the Keokuk Junction Railway local at Sanger Street. Appropriately, this is where I caught it hauling the F-7As out of East Peoria last October 18. The train set out three boxcars for Union Pacific at Collier Yard in Bartonville before proceeding to East Peoria.



CAPTION: The Keokuk Junction Railway's Kolbe-E. Peoria turn rolls along the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad at Sanger Street in Peoria, Illinois shortly before crossing the Illinois River late-afternoon Monday, February 26, 2024. LTEX 6437, PREX 2047, PREX 2018 and LTEX 3010 have F-7As BUGX 402 and BUGX 401 and 36 cars. 

After the KJRY local crossed the river, an empty BNSF Kincaid coal train headed west. I didn't get any video but got a number of stills. 

David P. Jordan

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