Peoria Station

I took a half-day from work Friday hoping to catch Union Pacific's MPECL. Unfortunately, Adams Street Yard was empty when I drove by around 1140. I turnaround and checked the signal at W. Farmington Road. Yellow indication. I backtracked, thinking maybe the train was stopped at Peoria Junction and had yet to receive track warrants. No sign of it. I did see what I thought at first was BNSF's M-PEIGAL waiting for instructions to go west.    Turns out, MPECL was hiding from me. Or perhaps LPD01 was still at East Peoria, and when it crossed the river and returned to home rails, the train became MPECL as a new crew got onboard and departed around 1330. Unfortunately, I was an hour east. Also, the BNSF train was M-GALPEI that was for some unknown reason holding well short of Darst Street.    I salvaged my day with the knowledge of a westbound TP&W freight. Now that Ruff Brothers also uses the elevator on Gridley's east side, 15 cars total can be spotted for loading...

I've only shot video of one other train on the old Peoria & Eastern Railway "Whiskey Main" in Pekin, and that was in eleven years ago! So today was a treat when I heard some chatter about the Ice House, and headed for Pekin to find TPW 2056 stopped near the S. Front Street crossing.  I don't know if this was an extra sent to Pekin to pull four alcohol loads from Alto ICP, or the regular local lingering here later than usual before heading back to East Peoria.  CAPTION: A Tazewell & Peoria Railroad local runs engine lite down the industrial line along S. Front Street in Pekin, Illinois late-afternoon Thursday, February 5, 2026. The "Whiskey Main" is the last remnant of Peoria & Eastern Railway trackage in the area, and was named for American Distilling Co, the major industry at the end of the line from 1892 to 1980. TPW 2056 pulled four denatured alcohol tank cars from Alto-ICP and then shoved them across S. Front toward the main Pekin switchin...

After work, I went to East Peoria to see if Norfolk Southern's D49 was still in town (don't know if it even came up). I did not see any NS action, but did notice a TP&W train in the TZPR's East Peoria Yard, building a transfer for the run back home. Meanwhile, radio chatter alerted me to a TZPR local running from Iowa Junction to Bridge Junction, where it paused briefly before crossing the river.  CAPTION: A Tazewell & Peoria Railroad local, presumably the regular Industry Job returning from Kickapoo Yard to East Peoria, crosses Sanger Street in Peoria, Illinois late-afternoon Wednesday, February 4, 2026. IMRR 43 has a single loaded gondola. (Obviously, this car doesn't contain coiled wire rod, so it might contain billets.) The TP&W probably pulled the 13 grain empties on the head end from BioUrja South Yard in Peoria, then picked up the other 33 (a mix of IMRR, BNSF - and maybe NS - interchange) from the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's East Peoria...

The Norfolk Southern covered hoppers were empty, and I can only assume these are in corn germ service out of Roquette America's Keokuk, Iowa wet corn mill to ADM in Decatur. Many of the ALAB cars in this service are getting old, and newer 286,000-lb cars are now industry standard. (NS cars may also be used in organic, or non-GMO, grain service out of Burnside, but usually not this many.) CAPTION: The Keokuk Junction Railway's local crosses the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's Illinois River Bridge into Peoria, Illinois late-afternoon Tuesday, February 3, 2026. Shortly, it crosses Darst Street. LTEX 3836, LNW 3806, LNW 3807 and LTEX 6437 have 24 empties.   - David P. Jordan

I went into East Peoria after work this afternoon to find BNSF's M-PEIGAL at the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's East Peoria Yard building a train on the East Lead. It looked like they were putting two cuts together, so I waited on the Peoria side of the river. It did not take long for them to depart. After shooting video at two locations, I went to W. Farmington Road and waited, but soon grew impatient and backtracked to find the train still sitting on the BNSF mainline within yard limits.  CAPTION: BNSF Railway train M-PEIGAL (Manifest, Peoria IL to Galesburg IL) crosses the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's Illinois River Bridge into Peoria, Illinois mid-afternoon Monday, February 2, 2026. Shortly, the train approaches and then enters home rails near Darst Street without pausing. BNSF 3769 and BNSF 7810 have 30 cars (11 loads, 19 empties). Four Komatsu truck chassis loads are on the head end.   - David P. Jordan

The absence of Incobrasa covered hoppers is odd. These days, orange power and green rolling stock seem inseparable.  CAPTION: An eastbound Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway "M-Train" (sometimes called M-EPEF) crawls as it approaches Cruger, Illinois early-afternoon Saturday, January 31, 2026. Later, the train crawls through Secor (after a fast run through Eureka) and then pulls through El Paso. IORY 3492, TPW 5008 and HESR 2107 have 58 cars.   - David P. Jordan