Peoria Station

Sunday afternoon, I noticed a PESI-type train made up and sitting on TZPR's West Lead in East Peoria, a sure sign that an SIPE was planned soon. Sure enough, SIPE came in this morning and a relief crew was driven to East Peoria to get PESI. Although I shot video just as a cloud bank blocked the sunshine, I think it was a decent encounter.  CAPTION: Iowa Interstate Railroad manifest PESI (Peoria IL to Silvis IL) rolls along the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad by the old (1900) Rock Island depot in downtown Peoria, Illinois late-afternoon Monday, July 31, 2023. IAIS 516 and IAIS 705 have 82 cars of mostly grain mash empties, but also two coil steel loads and quite a few loaded alcohol tank cars. Normally, I would have followed PESI out of town to get it at mainline speed, probably at San Koty. But I knew BNSF's M-PEIGAL was at East Peoria get ready to depart. So I returned to Bridge Junction in time to hear them get permission to depart. Today's train was unusually short, pro...

Despite the heat, I went after MPECL this afternoon.  Nothing unusual, but perhaps the plastic empty on the head end a TP&W covered hopper, probably loaded with organic grain at Forrest, Illinois.  CAPTION: Union Pacific train MPECL (Manifest, Peoria IL to Clinton IA) rolls across W. Farmington Road shortly after departing Adams Street Yard in Peoria, Illinois late-afternoon Friday, July 28, 2023. UP 5358 has 59 cars.   - David P. Jordan

I caught the Union Pacific freight as I usually do on Tuesday after work. Usual traffic, but at least a decent-sized train of 60 cars from IMRR (via TZPR), KJRY, TP&W and TZPR itself.  CAPTION: Union Pacific train MPECL (Manifest, Peoria IL to Clinton IA) rolls across W. Farmington Road shortly after departing Adams Street in Peoria, Illinois late-afternoon Tuesday, July 25, 2023. UP 7432 has 60 cars.   I knew the CN local was reported at Hilliards around the time I saw the UP freight, so I headed that way, and down Rt. 29 where I passed the local. I set up by the old C&IM depot at Pekin for video. The train came by a short time later. The two RISX-marked covered hoppers are curious, but I were empty so I doubt they had anything to do to with Waelz Sustainable Products plant at Clymers, Indiana. Cars displaying these markings are among those regularly routed TPW-Peoria-UP from that plant.  I should also note that this train had an empty sodium hydroxide solution ...

I intended to do this on a Saturday earlier this month, but I either got to bed too late Friday or the forecast called for morning rain. I got to bed too late Friday, but did this anyway...   Since our local "newspaper of record" doesn't cover local commercial aviation anymore, someone needs to do so. (Apologies for my camera's motor noises...I'm looking for a replacement soon.) United Parcel Service has been having a Boeing 767-300 freighter stop at Peoria early Saturday morning enroute from Louisville to Rockford. It is likely they only stop here to drop off empty cargo containers for Caterpillar's Morton distribution center, explaining the short takeoff shown in the video. It is good to see a "widebody" like a 767 used here on a regular basis. UPS uses another "widebody"-type (an Airbus A-300) on on its weeknight and pre-dawn flights, but those are hard to catch in daylight unless in mid- to late-June or the planes are late. Occasionally...

A full week after delivering to the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad, Norfolk Southern local D49 pulled the 49-car grai shuttle from East Peoria to Good Yard in Normal earlier this afternoon. The NS dropped the train on Main 2 at Wesley sometime on Thursday and then set NS 2717 and NS 9922 on the Creve Coeur Team Track. On Friday, the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad spotted these cars and ADM Grain Co. loaded them over the weekend.  Better late than never, but NS has gone way downhill from the "Pegasus Project," which when first implemented in 1994 improved turnaround time for grain loading at Central Illinois elevators when shipping to ADM and A. E. Staley processing plants in Decatur.  CAPTION: Norfolk Southern Railway train D49 bangs the TP&W diamond at Crandall, just outside Morton, Illinois mid-afternoon Thursday, July 20, 2023 on its trip to Good Yard in Normal. NS 7717 and NS 9922 have 49 cars. Train was loaded at ADM Grain Co's Hilliards (Creve Ceour) elevator. ...

As usual on Tuesday after work, I try to catch Union Pacific's MPECL leaving. I succeeded with this one fairly quickly. When I drove by Adams Street Yard, I noticed a crew van by the locomotive. It wasn't long before I heard the crew call the dispatcher for instructions.  CAPTION: Union Pacific train MPECL (Manifest, Peoria IL to Clinton IA) rolls by W. Farmington Road mid-afternoon Tuesday, July 18, 2023. UP 5366 has 30 cars.   Shortly, I learned that TZPR 1351 ran engine lite as "Industry 4" from P&PU Junction to the TP&W yard to pull a transfer. I waited for it at W. Washington Street. The crew had to stop twice to line switches. Someone (ADM@Hilliards, Iowa Interstate, etc.) is getting a bunch of Incobrasa Industries covered hoppers for soybean loading! CAPTION: Tazewell & Peoria Railroad "Industry 4" arrives home with a transfer from the Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway's East Peoria Yard late-afternoon Tuesday, July 18, 2023. TZPR...

I missed the Keokuk Junction Railway's local coming into the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's East Peoria Yard. I probably couldn't have caught it anyway, but they did something unusual.  The two GP20Ds - CEFX 2022 and CEFX 2014 - were delivered here for eventual interchange (reportedly CN) as their time with KJRY is done. LTEX 6437 cut off and left them on the Creve Coeur Team Track and then returned to the other two units. The train left with only three cars.  CAPTION: The Keokuk Junction Railway's East Peoria Turn runs its return leg to Kolbe (Mapleton), Illinois late-afternoon and early-evening Monday, July 17, 2023. LTEX 3848, PREX 2018 and LTEX 6437 left the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad with just three cars. After waiting for a TP&W local to switch out Union Pacific interchange for them at Collier Yard, seven more cars were added. The train is shown crossing the Illinois River and at Darst Street in Peoria, and at Sanitation Road in Bartonville, and again s...