Canadian National L557 7-3-25

After work this afternoon, I noticed CN's local power on the Creve Coeur Team Track with no sign of a crew on duty. When I checked again about two hours later, the units were gone. I soon realized the train had departed and was already on home rails in Pekin. I arrived to find they had just pulled an empty centerbeam flat car from Amerhart Ltd. and shoved it into the other 27 cars. The conductor was still on the ground, but it looked they were getting close to moving again. 

 

I decided to wait at 5th Street near South Pekin, but forgot to change my camera setting from auto to 4k. I got video but only 1080p, and that annoying speck that appeared in my lens about a month ago. I've been using the 4k setting, which is zoomed in slightly, eliminating the speck. 

 

So I decided to chase L557 a little further. I did not intend to go all the way to Mount Pulaski, but finding decent locations without shadows was getting difficult. The one I found near Mount Pulaski was good but a utility truck pulled up to the east side of the crossing, so I moved. The alternate location was just as good, I guess. 

 

The two pressure-differential cars on the head end appeared loaded. I think I've seen similar cars often on BNSF's M-GALPEI (loads) and M-PEIGAL (empties), but I suspect the ones on today's L557 came off the Keokuk Junction Railway. Problem is, I can't find any video showing similar cars on that carrier's East Peoria turns.

 

When I worked for then-parent Pioneer Railcorp in the early 2000s, the KJRY had originated corn starch from Roquette America (Keokuk) for Parke Toll Packing & Blending in Decatur, which was routed KJRY-LaHarpe-TPW-Peoria (P&PU)-CNIC. I'm thinking the SF&L debacle ended that movement due to significant price increases. An alternative BNSF-Peoria-CNIC routing was possible for a time, with TP&W acting as haulage agent for BNSF between Galesburg and Peoria. 

 

Parke Toll Packing & Blending is still served by CN, so perhaps those two cars on today's L557 contained corn starch shipped from Roquette America's Keokuk, Iowa wet corn mill. But a completely different origin, destination and commodity is possible as well. 

CAPTION: Canadian National Railway train L557 (Local, E. Peoria IL to Decatur IL) races across 5th Street near South Pekin, Illinois early evening Thursday, July 3, 2025. Later, it crosses 600th Avenue in Emden, and then County Rd. 700 North at Mt. Pulaski. CN 8883 and CN 8917 have 28 cars. The empty centerbeam flat car on the head end was pulled from Amerhart Ltd. at Pekin. The others came from the Tazewell & Peoria RR at East Peoria.

 

- David P. Jordan