Peoria Station

The coronavirus scare has caused predictable congestion at Chicago-O'Hare International Airport. This article  explains the issues, and how nearby Rockford is benefitting.  Limited capacity in commercial airliners has shifted more business to dedicated air cargo firms. This has taxed capacity at O'Hare's outdated freight facilities. Congestion on the ground is expensive in terms of fuel, and delays for customers intolerable. That is why two freight forwarders -  D. B. Schenker and Senator International - have relocated some air cargo flights to Chicago-Rockford International Airport.  I've always wondered why Peoria was never able to attract international air cargo service. Caterpillar is a big user of air freight for emergency parts shipments out of its Morton, Illinois facility with shipments bound for distribution centers in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, China, Japan, etc. There are other local firms that use international air cargo for time-sensitive shipments....

This afternoon, I was close to Peoria International Airport, so I decided to check the arrival lineup.  Turns out, Mesa Airlines dba American Eagle Flt# 5972, oprerated by a 76-seat Canadair CRJ900 twinjet, was enroute from Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas. I turned on my scanner to check airport information, quickly learning that only Runway 22 was being used for arrivals and departures on this warm Easter Sunday. That made the decision to wait for Mesa 5972 a lot easier. It arrived Peoria Int'l Airport at 1517 hours Sunday, April 4, 2021. I hope to resume planespotting this year. A trip to Chicago-O'Hare is in order.  - David P. Jordan

  I again caught a Canadian National Railway switching Amerhart and Hanna Steel. Thursday, March 25, 2021, I happened to hear radio chatter between the crew of Canadian National Railway's southbound local, L557, and the dispatcher. I only caught part of the conversation but knew the dispatcher had given L557's crew a track warrant to run from IC Junction at Pekin to Mount Pulaski. That meant the train was close to Pekin. I was just across the river. So it was prudent to investigate.  I saw five steel coil loads and three lumber loads left at the siding just north of Derby Street. The northbound local, L556, usually leaves these cars for the next day's L557. But where was L557? Moments later, I found a Tazewell & Peoria Railroad (TZPR) crew assembling a train for East Peoria. Their dispatcher (based at St. Albans, Vermont) gave them permission to run past IC Junction to East Peoria. So either the CN local had just cleared IC Junction or had yet to leave East Peoria. Turn...

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

Make no mistake, passenger traffic at Peoria Int'l Airport wasn't affected by "COVID-19." It was cut in half due to media-induced fear and politically-motivated lockdowns, now one year old.  And if anyone wonders why volume hasn't recovered, all you must do is read the "COVID-19 Information" section on the airport website. Why would one willingly fly for a reason but absolute necessity? We are living in what will probably be regarded as both the saddest and silliest period of our nation's history.  So it is frustrating but hardly shocking that passenger volume is way down the first two months of 2021. WEEK TV-25 reports that PIA handled 20,781 and 22,606 passengers, respectively, in January and February.  Worse, PIA never provided (that I can find) exact passenger figures for 2020. It is as if they are suffering from decliningpassengertrafficatcentralillinoisregionalairportitis , which I'll define as "fear of reporting the facts to hide em...

Late Wednesday morning, I happened across a Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway "Collier Turn" crawling into the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's East Peoria Yard. HESR 3485 and TPW 5010 have 53 cars. The train left the last 28 for TZPR and went across the river to deliver 25 grain loads to ADM's South Yard. The scene below was shot just off W. Washington Street in East Peoria.  Seeing the TP&W train was nice but my mission was to catch the Iowa Interstate Railroad's manifest PESI (Peoria IL to Silvis IL). This train's counterpart, SIPE (Silvis IL to Peoria IL) normally arrives East Peoria before sunrise. A new crew is called, and the train leaves town before this second-shift worker is awake! But on this day, a source informed me after 9:00 am that the train was doing its air-test prior to departure, so I headed into East Peoria/Creve Coeur to confirm. The train finally left around noon. I had lunch plans; otherwise I would have recorded the train's ...

The Keokuk Junction Railway local ran eastbound Tuesday, and probably made an East Peoria run Wednesday, so I figured it would go west Thursday morning. I nearly missed my chance.  When I arrived Kolbe after 0930, the train was missing, but there were cars parked nearby. So I went to Glasford. As I approached the crossing, the flashers activated and the train rolled in front of me. I turned around and set up just off Devil's Washboard Road. Video also shows it creeping through Canton. No work at Hitchcock on this day. PREX 2032-2040-2018 have 36 cars. When I arrived back in Peoria, I saw BNSF Railway train M-GALPEI sitting at S. Darst Street, so I pulled off and parked on Krause Ave. Moments later, the train entered Tazewell & Peoria Railroad territory. BNSF 5660-8752 have 29 cars. Lack of nitrogen tank cars from Wever, Iowa makes for a short train.  - David P. Jordan