Peoria Station

On a whim, I decided to head to Bloomington-Normal to catch Norfolk Southern's D36 train, which typically leaves Good Yard by late-afternoon or early evening. The EOT on the rear car was flashing when I arrived, so I knew it would depart shortly. I had time to check on Union Pacific's MBNAS. Normally, it would have left by now, but turns out it had just left the yard but was paused just to the south. I crossed the Springfield Sub at 6 Points Road and then heard the horn. I immediately turned around. With no time to park and set up, I just shot the train through my windshield. Better than nothing (or chasing it, and missing the NS train!) CAPTION: Union Pacific MBNAS (Manifest, Bloomington IL to Alton & Southern) rolls across 6 Points Road on Bloomington, Illinois' southwest side early evening Thursday, May 21, 2026. UP 2184 and UP 2205 have 37 cars. D36 forwards D49 traffic out of East Peoria to Bement (setout for an eastbound manifest) and Decatur (for classification)...

I had a heads up that Canadian National's L557 local was about to, or already had. left East Peoria, and decided to take Rt. 98 and then a left on Rt. 29. This was a good decision because the train had entered Pekin just ahead of me.  CAPTION: Canadian National Railway train L557 (Local, E. Peoria IL to Decatur IL) rolls enters home rails at IC Junction in downtown Pekin, Illinois late-afternoon Thursday, April 16, 2026. Steel coil and lumber loads, for Hanna Steel and Amerhart, respectively were "turned" at the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's East Peoria Yard rather than being set out at Pekin (perhaps L556's crew was short on time?). CN 3192 has 37 cars.   I normally don't post UP Joliet/Springfield Sub action here, but something stood out with a possible local connection.    There were nine RISX covered hoppers on today's MBNAS (in groups of six and three). All empties. Those markings are familiar to me because similar RISX-marked cars are assig...

I went to Bloomington this afternoon to catch the A&S twins (2205 and 2204) on Union Pacific's MBNAS. It took the crew awhile to build its rather lengthy (81 cars) train. As soon as it cleared B-N Target, the signal indication changed to green for Norfolk Southern Train D36. I hsd not bothered to capture any video or stills of MBNAS prior to D36's passage, so I drove down I-55 to Atlanta. The train raced by me just minutes later.    Train make up included three [probably loaded] potash covered hoppers and three empty denatured alcohol tank cars for the Bloomer Line at Gibson City, ten autoracks loaded with Rivian vehicles, 27 cars from the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad (eleven corn germ/grain product, nine corn syrup/sorbitol and one scrap metal load) and ten empty gondolas moving to/from storage.  CAPTION: Norfolk Southern Train D36 (Local, Normal IL to Decatur IL) crosses W. Washington Street in Bloomington, Illinois' west side early evening Thursday, Septembe...

Almost ten years ago to the week that Iowa Interstate and Norfolk Southern began exchanging unit ethanol trains (and some manifest traffic) via Peoria, the two carriers re-routed one here today owing to weather-related congestion at Chicago!  Back to the present - I wasn't sure I could see 64K, but when I saw on the Peoria, Illinois Railroads Trains & Shortlines Facebook Group that it was only getting a warrant at 1342, I figured I had a chance if I left work immediately and headed east on I-74. When I arrived, the train was paused by Good Yard before getting permission to cross the UP. This gave me time to get to downtown Bloomington... CAPTION: A Norfolk Southern unit ethanol train rolls through downtown Bloomington, Illinois late-afternoon Wednesday, January 17, 2024. NS 7704 and NS 4180 lead 82 cars (80 ethanol and two buffers) with NS 1158 and NS 4759 as DPUs. Train was loaded at Archer Daniels Midland Co's Cedar Rapids, Iowa facilities and symboled SABI (S. Amana IA ...

Today's Norfolk Southern local D36 out of Bloomington/Normal had mostly D49 traffic. Seven soybean meal empties on the head end will be set out for DuPont at Gibson City. The CRDX car was an organic corn load pulled from The Andersons facility at Mansfield. Notable traffic from Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's East Peoria Yard includes corn syrup. gluten meal and scrap metal from the Keokuk Junction Railway, plastic pellets and granulated slag from the Illinois & Midland Railroad, a Komatsu truck chassis, alcohol from BioUrja and/or Alto Pekin LLC or Alto ICP, and carbon dioxide refrigerated liquid from Messer's Pekin facility. Nine loaded autoracks on the rear contained Rivian vehicles assembled at the Normal plant. Such shipments appear to be frequent these days, thanks to significantly higher production levels this year. Present volume isn't what Mitsubishi generated but Rivian expects expects to build 50,000 vehicles in 2023 (double 2022 levels). In 2024 it inte...

Despite the soggy and overcast weather this afternoon, I decided to check on Union Pacific's MPECL as I usually do every Tuesday (I'm usually out that day so why not?). A cut of cars was left behind, likely due to weight-per-axle issues due to having only one locomotive.  CAPTION: Union Pacific train MPECL (Manifest, Peoria IL to Clinton IA) rolls across W. Farmington Road shortly after leaving Peoria, Illinois late-afternoon Tuesday, March 21, 2023. UP 7662 has 48 cars. I decided to capture another of Union Pacific's Central Illinois region manifests - MBNAS. Tuesday is the only day of the week that both MPECL and MBNAS operate. The recent time change enabled me to see the latter, which typically departs south out of Bloomington around 6:00pm after northbound Amtrak No. 318 clears. So I decided to give it a shot. Due to the rainy weather and lack of good places to shoot video in Bloomington, I opted for a crossing near Shirley, several miles southwest of town off Intersta...

I've been spending some quality research time at the Bloomington Public Library. I was there Monday and Wednesday evening, as well as this evening. Inevitably, I would see a moving train, but arrived too late for Union Pacific's MBNAS but did manage to see Norfolk Southern local D36 depart Good Yard for Decatur.  Video above shows it rolling across W. Market Street on Bloomington's west side. NS 3375 and NS 3228 have 22 cars.  The first eight cars were local cars, either pulled or to be spotted, but "turned" at Good Yard after arriving on D32. The last 14 arrived earlier this afternoon from the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's East Peoria Yard on D49.  Centerbeam flat cars aren't too common on the Bloomington District, so I'm unsure if this one was emptied at the TP&W's East Peoria Yard for Morton Buildings, or if it was here for another reason (misroute?).  - David P. Jordan

Work obligations prevent me from seeing Norfolk Southern Railway local D49 unless I take a day off (like last Friday) or if it leaves East Peoria late. Otherwise, I can see this traffic on Train D36, which runs from Normal to Decatur. If it and counterpart D32 (Decatur to Normal) run later in the day, and I know about it, I often drive some distance to see it. Today was one of those days. I learned that  D36 was going to run Monday afternoon, so I drove to Good Yard, and found D49 parked, having arrived a little while before I did.   This time, I opted for a new location. My video shows D36 rolling by E. Oakland Ave. in downtown Bloomington, Illinois early evening. NS 6975 and NS 3362 have 59 cars. The first 16 are empties for DuPont's Gibson City plant. These were brought up by Sunday's D32 and "turned" at Good Yard so they could be dropped by D36 The other 43 were brought to Good Yard from East Peoria earlier by D49. Note five Caterpillar track-type tractor loads (t...

 I took a "floating holiday" Friday and went to Bloomington in hopes of catching Union Pacific's LSF54 local there switch the Cargill soybean processing plant in town. I saw that and more. Had I not arrived when I did, I wouldn't have known what was happening with Norfolk Southern local D49. I stayed until late morning, and waited for it to drag D32 into town. Norfolk Southern Railway local D49 was busy on Friday, April 8, 2022. The crew took NS 5174 engine lite to Gibson City to fetch NS 3882 and 43 cars of Train D32 (Decatur IL to Normal IL), classified it and then went to East Peoria with 34 cars. Scenes are at Bloomington, Normal, Goodfield and at N. Morton Ave. near Crandall. Final scene shows D49 at East Peoria on its return leg to Normal with NS 3882-5174 and 20 cars. Later this afternoon, I decided to check on Union Pacific's MPECL. I heard the crew radio the dispatcher, so I knew it was moving along the Low Line out to Peoria Junction. That's when I n...

I've seen them do it twice before, in 2002 and 2007, but I've never shot video of Union Pacific switching the Cargill soybean processing plant on Bloomington, Illinois' west side.  That is until Friday morning, April 8, 2022. The train is called "LSF54." A Bloomington-based local, it works Monday through Saturday. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, it runs north to service customers at Wilmington (DuPont, Prairie Creek Grain) and Coal City (G&D Trucking/Hoffman Transportation). It may also do work at the Joliet Intermodal Terminal, also known as "Global 4."  On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, it classifies train MASBN (Manifest, Alton & Southern to Bloomington IL), builds MBNAS (Manifest, Bloomington IL to Alton & Southern and runs a "Lincoln turn" to service International Paper. On occasion, Lincoln Transload & Processing, located at the old glass plant in town, and also Evergreen FS's fertilizer facility at McLean, ar...

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...

Although out of our immediate area, I'm sharing this encounter because it is a good news story. I went to Bloomington-Normal after work this afternoon hoping to intercept Norfolk Southern's eastbound local, D49, before it arrived Good Yard. But I did catch Union Pacific's southbound Joliet Subdivision local, LSF54, rolling by Uptown Station in Normal as daylight was fading rapidly.  UP 1066, an ex-Southern Pacific GP60, and UP 1498, an ex-Cotton Belt (St. Louis-Southwestern) GP40-2 resplendent in Armour Yellow, have 26 cars from three local industries up north.  All were empty. The first three cars last contained grain products (gluten feed pellets, soybean meal, gluten meal, etc.) and were pulled from Prairie Creek Grain Co 's Elwood elevator, which receives these products, transfers contents from railcars to ocean containers then drays them to are intermodal terminals (such as Union Pacific-served Joliet Intermodal Terminal) for export.  The next two were tank cars pu...

On Saturday, March 20, 2021, Union Pacific local LSF54 ran from Bloomington to Lincoln, Illinois and return to switch International Paper Co.  The Bloomington, Illinois-based local crew used UP 1405 and UP 1387 to deliver three loaded boxcars and pull two empties. Returning to Bloomington, the LSF54 crew placed the empties on the rear of train MBNAS (Manifest, Bloomington IL to Alton & Southern), which departed in early evening. UP 7499 had 33 cars.  - David P. Jordan

It is about time.  America's airports are run by government agencies and are in part funded by taxpayers. Information such as monthy, quarterly, annual passenger tallies should be public as soon as possible, good or bad. I understand the desire to promote rising passenger numbers, but conceal them when they're dropping. Such numbers determine public perception. Bloomington-Normal's Central Illinois Regional Airport (CIRA) suffered a 12 percent decline in passenger traffic in 2017. While most airports report year-end tallies to the press in January (or February), CIRA dragged its feet longer than usual. A February 6 AdaptBN editorial revealed CIRA's 2017 passenger traffic for the first time, scooping  The Pantagraph . And yet, the airport failed to offer an online press release with the same information. Diane Benjamin's BLNNews noted March 7 that CIRA's website still gave 2016 figures . I checked just this evening (March 15) and noticed that CIRA...

I spent Friday afternoon and early evening shooting video of airliner arrivals and departures at Central Illinois Regional Airport. The airport serving Bloomington-Normal has far less activity than Peoria's facility but is easier to spot at and around. Despite some clumsy camera work capturing distant aircraft movements, I think the results were pretty good. An American Eagle turnaround from Chicago-O'Hare flown on a CRJ200 (painted in SkyWest "house" colors) used Runway 29 for both arrival and departure. All others used Runway 2. These were turnarounds from Minneapolis/St. Paul (Delta Connection CRJ200), Dallas/Ft. Worth (American Eagle CRJ900), Atlanta (Delta Connection CRJ900) and St. Petersburg/Clearwater (Allegiant Air A320). Due to its late arrival, I left before the Allegiant Air A-320 departure. Not this aircraft is painted for the "Make-A-Wish" foundation. - David P. Jordan