Peoria Station

I missed SIPE coming in this morning, but captured PESI's departure in the afternoon.    SIPE arrived with three locomotives, but 153 was left on the Creve Coeur Team Track for the next ZENOW, which Canadian National brought up this morning. I also noticed that the North Limit Yard was full, so this morning's SIPE may have set out most or all of its cars there and ran engine light to East Peoria.    As noted in the caption below, today's PESI had a good variety of traffic/rolling stock. The coiled wire rod loads are from Liberty Steel & Wire Co's Bartonville mill. These movements seem to be occasional, but only started after Liberty reopened after idling the plant in 2024-2025. I believe they go east from Chicago on CSX.    The coil steel load was received from Norfolk Southern and is enroute to a transload at Altoona, Iowa.   The five Incobrasa covered hoppers are empty. Usually, TP&W hands off 20 to 25 at a time for loading in central...

I came across this Tazewell & Peoria Railroad local waiting by BioUrja Renewables LLC's plant for the bridge to come down, which happened shortly. Train had four corn syrup empties (probably from PMP Fermentation Products, though those usually have ADMX markings), two other empty tank cars (possibly buffer cars), a beverage alcohol load, two denatured alcohol placarded tank cars which appear empty (second one has a home shop decal), a corn syrup tank car that appears to be loaded, and two truck chassis loads from Komatsu.   CAPTION: The Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's "Industry 1" job diverges toward Bridge Junction in Peoria, Illinois early afternoon Friday, July 31, 2026. IMRR 43 has 12 cars, including two Komatsu truck chassis loads for the East Peoria Yard. A good substitute for missing Union Pacific's MPECL Friday afternoon. I have been working a lot of overtime lately, so I have less time for these encounters. I assume BNSF is still trying to run its G...

Today marked my first encounter with an Illinois & Midland Railroad local on its "Springfield Main" since April 19, 2020, also a Sunday. I've seen them on East Peoria turns and I've seen wind turbine tower and blade trains on the Springfield Main. The locals are pretty random, and catching them is a treat.    I first noticed the two locomotives in the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's Pekin Yard adjacent Alto Pekin LLC's wet corn mill in mid-afternoon. I had an appointment for an oil change so after that was done, I returned to Pekin to hear the dispatcher give permission to depart Powerton south. I finally found the train near County Road 11000 North with just one covered hopper (CVHX 896100, plastic load).    I stepped out of my air conditioned car and the camera lens fogged up. I kept wiping it, only to have it fog up again, so that is the explanation for the first scene.    CAPTION: A southbound Illinois & Midland Railroad local out of Pow...

On July 11, the Federal Aviation Administration extended its Chicago-O'Hare flight cap for another year. Central Illinois media took nearly two weeks to report the effects on United Express service to Bloomington-Normal and Champaign-Urbana.  As expected, United Express must delay service to both cities by at least another year. Before the flight cap extension, four daily roundtrips were slated to begin on October 24.  Bloomington-Normal's WGLT 89.1 FM radio reported the story here . Champaign-Urbana's WCIA Channel 3 reported the story for its viewers here .  It seems that the FAA's flight cap will prevent service from starting to either city, and there is no longer a start date. The previous delays were frustrating to CIRA, as signage, staffing and ticketing were ready for the start of service when originally set to start on May 7.  - David P. Jordan 

I had to work until 5:00pm today, but managed to catch a westbound TP&W road freight between Secor and Eureka. My first attempt failed as a cloud hid the sun for most of the train's passage. I got it again at the crossing adjacent the Evergreen FS plant. I again attempted a runby at Cruger, but the train paused here for a crew change. I had other plans, so I went home.  CAPTION: A westbound Toledo, Peoria Western Railway "M-Train" passes the Evergreen FS fertilizer facility east of Eureka, Illinois late-afternoon Wednesday, July 22, 2026. A short time later, the train pulls up to Cruger for a crew change. IORY 3492, TPW 3443, IORY 3472 and TZPR 2133 have 95 cars . As usual, I checked an earlier video and can match eleven cars to a Hoosierlift-Luthy (siding east of Monticello) turn I caught Sunday on its westbound return run. (Information is not 100% certain, but very likely).  CCLX 819 (sorbitol empty from NS at Logansport, to Mapleton) AEX 8193 (DDGS from The Ander...

For those wanting to see it, the locomotive and train is viewable from the east side of Union Pacific's Bloomington Yard. It will depart at 8:15 Saturday morning for Springfield, Girard and St. Louis.  CAPTION: Union Pacific's 1.2 million pound 4-8-8-4 "Big Boy" steam locomotive pulls through Uptown Station at Normal, Illinois mid-afternoon Friday, July 17, 2026. Shortly, the train shoved into the Bloomington Yard where it will remain until Saturday morning. A bonus was AgRail LLC's rare SD18M, WIRX 1229, switching the elevator on the yard's west side. Behind UP 4014 were two extra tenders (UPP 809 and UPP 814), diesels UP 1616 and UP 1776, and a dozen cars. - David P. Jordan