Peoria Station

With D49 pulling 41 cars from East Peoria early Saturday morning, I figured there was a good chance for D36 to be made up at Good Yard in Normal. Sure enough, I drove I-74 to Bloomington-Normal and saw the train strung out under the I-55/I-74 along White Oak Road getting built and air-tested prior to departure.  CAPTION: Norfolk Southern Railway ran Train D36 (Normal IL to Decatur IL) Saturday afternoon, November 7, 2026. Locations are Bloomington (W. Market Street), Arrowsmith (N. 3200 East Road) and Gibson City, Illinois (N. 300E Road). NS 6968, NS 6401 and NS 7011 have 106 cars. Consist includes 41 cars from East Peoria off an early-morning D49, 22 autoracks (presumably all, or some, loaded with Rivian vehicles), a loaded boxcar from Midwest Fiber, and 42 other cars that were for/from The Anderson's at Mansfield and for the Bloomer Line and Bunge at Gibson City. (The Conrail gondola in this block might be in M-O-W service.   - David P. Jordan

Just when you think you have it all figured out, this happens. We learned on Friday that Norfolk Southern called D47 for 1300 hours. Cool...they'll probably make an East Peoria turn later in the afternoon. No one reported seeing the train, and I had plans by evening, so I did not see anything.  Then, on my way home on eastbound I-74, a little after 2300 hours, I noticed a headlight at Farmdale Switch. I quickly exited onto E. Washington Street to investigate. When I got close enough to investigate, I noticed the conductor walking toward the switch. Three Norfolk Southern locomotives were easily identifiable, even in darkness.   I heard no radio chatter, so the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad dispatcher had already given the train permission to run from Farmdale to P&PU Junction. I waited at W. Washington Street for the best lighting. The train paused briefly short of the crossing, asked for a signal, and got it within seconds. After the train cleared into the yard by 2340...

I took a half day off work with the intent to catch Union Pacific's MPECL, but came across this one first. Looks like corn syrup empties from PMP Fermentation Products and alcohol loads and buffer cars from BioUrja Renewables LLC.  CAPTION: The Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's "Industry 1" pulls toward Bridge Junction in Peoria, Illinois midday Friday, November 6, 2026. TPW 2107 has 15 cars for the East Peoria Yard. Just after BNSF's M-GALPEI entered Tazewell & Peoria Railroad property and crossed the river, I realized that Union Pacific's MPECL had already left Adams Street Yard, so I hightailed it up I-474 and Route 6, just missing my chance to capture it at the crest of Pioneer Hill. So I got it at Oertly Road near Edelstein (with only moments to spare).  CAPTION: Union Pacific train MPECL (Manifest, Peoria IL to Clinton IA) races by Oertly Road near Edelstein, Illinois early-afternoon Friday, November 6, 2026. UP 6213 and UP 7327 have 35 cars. Radio ...

Union Pacific's MPECL left Adams Street Yard around midday today as usual, but rainfall, slick rails and a single unit hauling 64 cars always risks stalling on Pioneer Hill.    And it did stall. Which enabled me to catch up with it. I knew of the train's status before I left work (and voted), and took the risk of driving miles to catch it. I got to it at the County Road 100 N crossing. The train was to make a set out here, so I arrived just in time.  CAPTION: Union Pacific train MPECL (Manifest, Peoria IL to Clinton IA) rolls along Storage Siding near Bradford, Illinois late-afternoon Tuesday, November 3, 2026. Train left Adams Street Yard around the usual time midday, but stalled on Pioneer Hill, had to cut its train into two sections and re-assemble it before proceeding north. UP 6213 has 64 cars. (A car set out here.)   - David P. Jordan

These are the tank cars TP&W tried to deliver on July 12 with TPW 5009, but could not due to some issue with Norfolk Southern track at Crandall. They were finally delivered in September.  CAPTION: Sunday, November 1, 2026, brought a rare visit to Morton, Illinois by the Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway. TPW 2105 arrived engine lite to pull three empty herbicide tank cars from Fort Transfer Company. Scenes are at W. Jefferson Street and N. Nebraska Avenue. The crew ran their locomotive around the tank cars in between for the shove out of town toward Norfolk Southern's Bloomington District at Crandall. - David P. Jordan

Bloomington-Normal, Illinois' Central Illinois Regional Airport passenger volume is up in 2026. According to the airport authority's regular meeting minutes for September 2026 , enplanements are up 12.5 percent January to August over the same period in 2025. August 2026 traffic is up 8.3 percent over August 2025.  Enplanements (boarding) are only half the story, but deplanements are similar. We know that CIRA handled about 325,000 passengers in 2025, so if we assume the 12.5 percent increase holds through December (depending on the month), then 2026 traffic will be about 365,000.  This figure is still well short of the 421,519 passengers handled in 2019 and far below the facility's all-time record of 579,265 in 2011. But the increase through August shows a healthy recovery from COVID-era cutbacks.  Delta Connection's addition of a third daily Atlanta nonstop is cited for the increase, though Allegiant Air's seasonal Phoenix-Mesa nonstops, set to return November 20, ...