Peoria Station

After a family reunion in Indiana Sunday afternoon, I caught a TP&W local moving from Effner to near Gilman. The consist of 88 cars could have been entirely for Incobrasa Industries' Gilman plant complex (which opened a second soybean crushing facility last week, and was dedicated on June 22). This includes three methanol loads (UN 1230) near the end, but it is the TP&W, so I'll include it here.  CAPTION: A Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway local journeys westward from Effner to Gilman, Illinois late-afternoon and early-evening Sunday, June 28, 2026. The crew had earlier worked from Gilman to Effner with the first two units, adding TPW 5008 and flipping back with what appears to be a solid train for Incobrasa Industries. Scenes are at Sheldon, 2500 East Road, Watseka and Crescent City. MQT 3407, IORY 3492 and TPW 5008 have 88 cars. Monday morning's "M-Train" had 32 Incobrasa covered hoppers on the head end. It is possible that some are soybean meal l...

I went to the Decatur Train Fair today. Shortly after my arrival, I was able to capture Canadian National Railway's daily manifest leaving for Memphis, Tennessee. Even better, the consist include two or three cars (and maybe more) that came off L557 from East Peoria!    Car 23 - UTLX 63090 is an empty tank car, and last contained sodium hydroxide solution (UN 1824). It was pulled from PMP Fermentation Products in Peoria.    Car 24 - TZPR 321848 is a loaded gondola, containing scrap metal. It was pulled from Alter Metal Recycling, probably the Clarke Street facility (Alter also operates a yard for Liberty Steel & Wire).    Car 71 - CNA 415800 is an empty boxcar. I haven't seen boxcars at Amerhart Ltd's Pekin warehouse for awhile, so I'm thinking this car could have last contained zinc ingots. If so, it was pulled from Liberty Steel & Wire Co. at Bartonville. The zinc boxcars ten to be hi-cubes, however. (CN's Peoria and Gilman Subs, which co...

I worked until 5:00pm on Friday, but learned that a TP&W "M-Train" had left East Peoria maybe 30 minutes prior. So instead of going home first, I took off east and found the train between Eureka and Secor, able to beat it to the latter, though not by much (the slow order from earlier this year has been fixed). I got it again in El Paso.    I'm glad I had my camera in the car.    The two units on Friday's train are the newest power seen on the TP&W. Until earlier this year, the OHCR 3329 had been sitting at the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's Creve Coeur diesel shop since 2024. BERX 6908 arrived in mid-May, and was quickly pressed into service. BERX is the reporting mark for Genesee & Wyoming Inc's Berkshire & Eastern Railroad, which is the neutral operator of the Pan Am Southern, a company jointly owned by CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern Railway. Apparently, C40-8Ws make the BERX 6908, and SD40-2s, superfluous.    Friday's ea...

I saw a Facebook group message about this train just as I was leaving work at 5:00 this afternoon, so I decided to go for it. I caught it in Chillicothe, and was able to capture the first scene at the W. Moffitt Street crossing. I wanted another shot, so I settled on Sparland, which turned out very well! Notables include a loaded GBRX gondola (steel billets?) and three dry bulk fertilizer (urea, phosphate, etc.) loads (cars 22-24), possibly for the Growmark facility at Stuart, Iowa.  CAPTION: Iowa Interstate manifest PESI rolls by W. Moffitt in Chillicothe, Illinois late-afternoon Thursday, June 18, 2026. Shortly in early-evening, it was rolling through Sparland. IAIS 700 and IAIS 153 have NS 5281, and 43 cars. After capturing the IAIS train at Sparland, I crossed the river into Lacon and took Rt. 26 to East Peoria, hoping the CN local had not yet departed. I arrived with radio chatter indicating they were still in the TZPR yard. I sat at Wesley for a little while, but after dozin...

Sunday morning, I just missed them setting out a block of manifest (ADM traffic) at the North Limit Yard, but at least got it with the CN-bound grain loads as it rolled along the TZPR by PMP Fermentation Products in downtown Peoria. CAPTION: Iowa Interstate Railroad Ltd. train ZENOE (Zen Noh Grain Eastbound Loads) rolls along the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's Uptown Subdivision Sunday morning, June 14, 2026. IAIS 503 and IAIS 506 were on the point. Earlier, manifest cars were set out at the North Limit Yard. Normally, these potash empties move as PEDAV (Peoria IL to Davenport IA), but this one is reportedly bound for the Vermilion Valley Railroad at Danville. All I can think of is that the trainset is going into short-term storage. Routing would be IAIS-Chicago-CSX-Danville-VVRR. Radio chatter indicated Iowa Interstate would take the train to Chicago with a crew change at Bureau Junction.  CAPTION: Iowa Interstate Railroad Ltd. train PEBI (Peoria IL to Blue Island IL) rolls th...

I ran some errands after work, but ended up hearing static on the Union Pacific Peoria Sub road channel (CH. 77 - 161.265), but could not make out any details. So I immediately made my way to W. Farmington Road. The green signal indication for a northbound prompted me to park. Minutes later, MPECL showed up. I guess it is still being called earlier (noon to 1:00pm) most days, but the train does sometimes run later.  CAPTION: Union Pacific train MPECL (Manifest, Peoria IL to Clinton IA) rolls by W. Farmington Road shortly after departing Peoria, Illinois late-afternoon Tuesday, June 9, 2026. UP 3044 has 50 cars. - David P. Jordan