Peoria Station

Peoria International Airport handled 326,861 passengers in 2020.  The year 2021 is almost over, but I only noticed this moments ago  in the statistics area on the Peoria International Airport's website . I have no idea when it was posted. Normally, the most recent annual passenger (and cargo) traffic stats are released by mid-January of the following year. I don't recall this information appearing in a press release or local media.  Suffice if to say, COVID-19 restrictions devastated local airline traffic and service. The local airport handled 689,416 passengers in 2019. So 2020 figures represent a 52.6 percent decline. It may take a long time to recover, if that is possible.  It must be possible, as that is the only hope we have. Delta Connection ended its Atlanta nonstops last year, emphasizing service out of Bloomington-Normal instead. But in May, PIA officials met with the carrier asking for service restoration . If and when the covid scare concludes, and busines...

Peoria International Airport may land a foreign carrier in the not-too-distant future.  It would be the result of a proposed Commercial Alliance Agreement between  Allegiant Air and Viva Aerobus announced on December 1.  Allegiant (NASDAQ: ALGT) and Viva Aerobus today announced plans for a fully-integrated Commercial Alliance Agreement, designed to dramatically expand options for nonstop leisure air travel between the United States and Mexico, while lowering fares to make travel more accessible and affordable for residents of both nations. The alliance is not only the first such venture for Las Vegas-based Allegiant and Viva Aerobus, but is also first-of-its-kind in the airline industry between two ultra low cost carriers (ULCCs). The two carriers' regulatory filing includes maps of proposed routes. On page 68 of the Joint Application for Approval of and Antitrust Immunity for Commercial Alliance Agreement, maps for 2026 and 2031 show nonstop service from Peoria to...

Just before leaving work at 3:00 Friday afternoon, I learned that the TP&W was going to make a run to Morton. It is always exciting to catch a train where you live (I'm a few blocks from the tracks), but this occasion was even more exciting because it was the first time since July 7 that the TP&W came into town to deliver loads or pull empties at Fort Transfer Company's bulk liquids facility west of Jefferson Street. (I live here, and check every day, and had not seen any tank cars there until today.) I went home, grabbed my camera and headed to Norfolk Southern's Bloomington District, waiting at the N. Main Street crossing. Minutes after my arrival, at 3:18, I heard the NS dispatcher give TPW 5009 permission to run from Farmdale (where TP&W and NS connect) to Crandall Siding. The four-car train showed up 17 minutes later. Next, the TP&W crew pulled across the Tennessee Avenue crossing and shoved into Crandall Siding far enough to clear the connection switch...

Changes are coming... Houston, Texas-based BioUrja Group has agreed to purchase Archer Daniels Midland Co's Peoria dry corn mill. Approximately 150 employees are affected.  ADM's plant began life as a Hiram Walker & Sons, Inc. distillery, which opened in 1934. It was sold to ADM in 1980 as Hiram Walker transitioned to a smaller blending facility at Fort Smith, Arkansas. ADM began ethanol production at its Peoria plant in 1981. ADM's plant complex is served by the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad (both Alcohol Tracks and Riverside Track) and by the Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway and Union Pacific Railroad, which access the South Yard on the Riverside Track. The latter carrier has rarely done this in recent years, however.  - David P. Jordan

I overlooked this one, which was announced September 28 .  Frontier Airlines is offering nonstop service to Tampa International Airport in Florida beginning December 17. Flights will be operating Mondays and Fridays.  Interestingly, this new service appears to be offered year-round. Flights shift to a thrice-weekly Sunday/Tuesday/Thursday pattern beginning Thursday, April 28, 2022. Tampa flights are shown through November 15.  I can't tell whether service will be offered by Airbus A-319 or A-320 aircraft, but it will one or the other (or both).  - David P. Jordan

Time for more Q&A.  If I don't have an answer, I'll find one.  (Bear with me on answers...I no longer receive email notifications. I'll try to look for questions as often as I can so I can respond in a timely manner.) - David P. Jordan

  Early Friday evening, I happened upon a Tazewell & Peoria Railroad switch engine (TZPR 1352) pulling eight tank cars along Wesley Road on the double track Pekin mainline. The tank cars displayed no haz-mat placards. Some had Cargill (CRGX) reporting marks. I quickly realized a yard crew was about to deliver them to Gavilon Fertilizer's nearby facility.  The video above shows most switching moves. In summary, the crew first pulled a tank car already on spot and set it over to another tracks (NOTE: there are three parallel tracks on the plant's south side, and one on the east side). Then, they spotted the eight tank cars, four on each of two tracks. The crew then returned to the East Peoria Yard.  Note at the 9:18 mark, 1352 struggles to gain speed up the steep incline. They first tried to move four tank cars, then three. After the conductor made a cut for the first two, 1352 could pull.  The tank cars contained soybean oil, which moves to Peoria periodically on ...