Peoria Station

Late this morning, I found BNSF's M-GALPEI sitting on the mainline short of Darst Street. I believe it had just arrived, but it did not appear to have a crew aboard. I could be wrong though. It is possible that the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's East Peoria Yard had no room, and M-GALPEI was waiting for Iowa Interstate's PESI to depart.   I did not stick around to find out, opting instead to chase PESI to a location with decent lighting, but ended up getting it several times between downtown Peoria and Chillicothe.    Today's PESI had a decent variety.    - 12 ADM mash empties - 1 industrial empty alcohol (UN 1170)* - 6 BRIX (Incobrasa Industries) soybean empties - 1 PTEX potash empty - 2 gondolas (CIGX/GBRX) that were likely iron oxide loads - 2 ADMX covered hoppers (probably corn germ or gluten meal empties) - 14 BRIX (Incobrasa Industries) soybean empties - 5 industrial alcohol loads (UN 1170) - 15 (various marks) dry fertilizer loads - 18 AD...

Saturday, I decided to drive along the TP&W as far as Effner, checking on recent infrastructure expansion.  Along the way, I noticed a CSX grain train on the Prairie Central Co-Op loop at Greenfield (just west of Chenoa) and found the three-track rail loop on Incobrasa Industries property extended on the south side, and possibly complete.  Lingering in Gilman, I noticed a westbound moving along the TP&W in the distant north. A closer looked confirmed that it was a run-through train of grain empties from CSX. I wasn't sure if a Hoosierlift crew was going to drop it between Gilman and La Hogue, but when I waited at the latter, it came by me at mainline speed. Good show!  After checking new siding construction on the TP&W at Effner, I returned west and encountered the Chenoa train just past Forrest, turned around and shot video in town.  CAPTION: On Saturday, August 30, 2025, the Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway ran both a westbound empty CSX grain tr...

I was forced to work two hours over this afternoon, but this being a Thursday, I decided to hcheck on Union Pacific's MBNAS at Bloomington. The train had apparently departed just before I arrived. Amtrak 318, which MBNAS usually waits to pass before departure was running over an hour late, and had only just left Springfield. I figured the dispatcher instructed MBNAS to leave a little early and take a siding at McLean, Athol (Lincoln) or further south.    Green signal indications, however, told me that a southbound was already lined through Normal and Bloomington, so I headed south of I-55 and exited at McLean where the signal was still dark. That's when I learned of the CN local's activities in Pekin. So to ensure at least some of my time and gas wasn't wasted, I headed west on Rt. 136, and then followed the CN's Peoria Sub as best I could hoping for an encounter.    I ended up going all the way back to Pekin. I stopped at Hanna Drive and thought I saw a headlig...

Peoria Int'l Airport posted record last month! Passenger tally for July 2025 was 80,836, a 26 percent increase over July 2024. It was also the first time PIA handled more than 80,000 passengers in one month. Several local media sites are covering this story, albeit with nearly identical content. A WEEK-TV 25 story came to my attention first. It was no surprise that PIA posted a record in July. But traffic will be down in August due to seasonal cutbacks. It could be the best August ever, but it won't break any records.  That said, I have a challenge to the Metropolitan Airport Aurthority of Peoria: Release the data anyway. You don't have to break a record before providing monthly passenger traffic to the public.  - David P. Jordan 

I checked East Peoria this afternoon and found Norfolk Southern train D49 still in the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad yard building a train. Per radio chatter, the crew grabbed a cut on A-9 and doubled it to A-7 and then built air tested the train on A-27. It finally departed at 1652 hours, which required them to book it before hours of service expired at 1800. It is possible they did not quite make it.    Norfolk Southern's D49 train seems to make an East Peoria turn at least twice a week, though days may vary. Today's train had the usual Caterpillar tractors, wire rod, alcohol, CO2 refrigerated liquid, corn germ and plastic pellets. Not only TZPR, but IMRR, KJRY and likely IAIS (ADM corn germ) traffic is represented.  CAPTION: Norfolk Southern Railway train D49 (Normal IL to E. Peoria Turn) departs the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad in East Peoria, Illinois late-afternoon Tuesday, August 26, 2025 on its return leg to Good Yard in Normal. A short time later, the train i...

I shot these scenes from shortly after 4:00pm to shortly after 5:00pm on Sunday afternoon. This is probably the busiest period of the day for the Peoria International Airport. United Express added a fifth daily Peoria to Chicago-O'Hare roundtrip on August 20 and re-arranged its schedule. Allegiant Air has reduced weekly departures from 28 to 18 this month due to seasonal demand, but should ramp up schedules late this year.  CAPTION: Six airliner operations at the Peoria Int'l Airport late-afternoon Sunday, August 24, 2025. All arrivals and departures used Runway 31. American Eagle Flight 5397 from Charlotte (CRJ900) United Express Flight 4411 to Chicago-O'Hare (CRJ550) United Express Flight 5874 from Chicago-O'Hare (CRJ200) Allegiant Air Flight 1097 to St. Petersburg FL (Airbus A-319) American Eagle Flight 5494 to Dallas/Ft. Worth (CRJ900) American Eagle Flight 5187 to Charlotte (CRJ900) - David P. Jordan 

I checked the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's East Peoria Yard enroute to the downtown library this afternoon, and came across this train already talking to the dispatcher for instructions.    I never made it to the library.   A section of Wesley Road is closed on either side of the crossing at Wesley East, so the first spot for video was Hilliards. Although a short train with nothing spectacular for power or consist (the usual gluten feed/meal/DDGS/alcohol from Alto Pekin plants), I decided to shoot another scene in downtown Pekin and then check if any local switching needed to be done at Amerhart Ltd. or Hanna Steel Corp.    Turns out, L557 stopped across Hanna Drive to pull three coil steel empties from Hanna Steel. I waited at 5th Street near South Pekin for a third scene.  CAPTION: Canadian National Railway train L557 (Local, E. Peoria IL to Decatur IL) is shown  at Hilliards (Creve Coeur), Illinois  rolling along the Tazewell &...