Peoria Station

This morning, I caught Norfolk Southern’s D49 train departing East Peoria. NS 6172, NS 5317 and NS 9464 have TP&W 3878 (probably enroute to Metro East Industries in E. St. Louis, IL) and 51 cars. Scenes are at N. Main Street (1:20) and Farmdale (whole train). TP&W 3878 was the last unit in the area painted in RailAmerica’s red, silver and blue “Captain America” scheme. Its departure was bound to happen eventually. While D49 prepared for departure, Norfolk Southern grain train 54E was getting ready as well. It departed East Peoria about 1.5 hours after D49. Here it is at Goodfield with UP 8883, NS 5329, NS 9454 & NS 7212 and 85 cars of corn loaded at Des Moines, Iowa (Iowa Interstate acts as haulage agent from there to Peoria).   After capturing the NS grain train, I spent some time in Bloomington then decided to return home. I'm glad I did because I caught three departing freights in succession. Fi...

Believe it or not, New York trail enthusiasts are far more obnoxious than those in Central Illinois. Fortunately, a plan to remove a portion of the Adirondack Scenic Railroad was squashed by the New York Supreme Court today. Read about it here . - David P. Jordan

Everyone makes mistakes when writing books or magazine articles. Whether from typos, bad sources or confusion, history is recorded and repeated imperfectly. But books published by a well-regarded employee of a newspaper can compound mistakes.  The late-Jerry Klein was well-regarded. I have no reason to believe otherwise. He died August 21 at age 90 after a 49-year career with the Peoria Journal Star which began in 1953. When I began daily reading (er, skimming) the newspaper c. 1986, I well remember his movie critiques and generally concurred with those opinion articles he submitted after retirement.  But I wish he (or others who may have assisted him) had done more research on the Rock Island Railroad's Peoria-Chicago rail passenger service. His book, Peoria! , published in 1985, contains the following about this service on Page 162, Its final sad journey came on May 29, 1978. Actually, the last scheduled Rock Island passenger between Peoria and Chicago ran ...

Tuesday evening, I caught Union Pacific's MPECL (Manifest, Peoria IL to Clinton IA) and glad I did. The ninth through twelfth cars were loaded covered hoppers carrying BNSF reporting marks.  BNSF Railway is Union Pacific's primary competitor but the two interchange quite a bit of traffic. Peoria sees very little. Interchange between the two carriers (which takes place at the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's East Peoria Yard) is limited to an occasional scrap metal movement to or from Sterling, Illinois and New Mexico potash bound for Atherton Grain Co. at Normandy, which is near the north end of Union Pacific's Peoria Subdivision.  The ten cars on Tuesday's train were among a reported 20 cars consigned to TZPR-served Mosaic Crop Nutrition LLC's barge dock and warehouse in the Pekin bottoms. Potash was shipped from Carlsbad, New Mexico. Apparently, these ten on Tuesday's MPECL were re-biilled for another customer, possibly Atherton Grain Co. in N...

Seven years ago today, I saw a most unusual occurrence (to me at least) with  Norfolk Southern Train D49. I'm replying to the original post I made to the  group but with a link to video I shot of the action. My original comments about this from the PeoriaRails Yahoo! Group on September 15, 2010. I set out early Wednesday morning to see if I could catch Norfolk Southern's  departing D49D train. When I arrived at East Peoria about 6:45am, it had  already left the TZPR yard. So I raced east on I-74 to Bloomington-Normal. A  drive by Good Yard revealed I'd beat the train (as with earlier adventures  with the same train). Where was it? As with most of these adventures, I drove Rt. 150 expecting to  see it roll through Carlock, forcing a quick turn around and then a race  back to a good location offering time to set up my tripod/video. But no D49D  as I drove through Carlock. It hadn't been through Congervill...

It is time for Q & A! Feel free to post your questions in the comments section on any transportation topic. If I don't have an answer, I'll find one. - David P. Jordan

Allegiant Air's nonstops to both Destin/Ft. Walton Beach and Orlando-Sanford are on hiatus, according to the Peoria Journal Star . The last "turnaround" to Destin/Ft. Walton Beach operated Saturday, September 2 while the last to Orlando-Sanford operated August 12. According to the linked article, service to the former will resume in the spring. The latter will resume November 15. Makes you wonder if not for Hurricane Irma's affect on our service (Allegiant Air suspended its Punta Gorda flight Friday), our local newspaper would have bothered to report the hiatus on Destin/Ft. Walton and Orlando-Sanford flights. - David P. Jordan