BNSF M-PEIGAL, Union Pacific MPECL 8-9-24

These trains appeared at W. Farmington Road about two minutes apart. 
 
I usually head directly to Adams Street Yard after work on Tuesdays and Fridays hoping to catch Union Pacific's MPECL leaving town. But on Friday, I decided to head through East Peoria for the possibility of a decent-sized outbound Norfolk Southern D49. Reportedly, it arrived early that afternoon with four units. I found out that those units returned to Good Yard engine lite, however. 
 
My detour was neither a risk nor a waste of time. I heard the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad St. Albans dispatcher give BNSF's M-PEIGAL permission to depart the West Lead in East Peoria to Darst Street with a big train (83 cars, 22 loads/61 empties). When I drove along SW Adams Street, the Union Pacific train was gone. But the tail end was visible to the west!
 
The first train to cross W. Farmington Road was BNSF's M-PEIGAL. It was heavy with empty nitrogen fertilizer solution tank cars from TP&W returning to Iowa Fertilizer Co's Wever, Iowa plant. In fact, most of the cars were from TP&W. 


CAPTION: BNSF Railway train M-PEIGAL (Manifest, Peoria IL to Galesburg IL) rolls by W. Farmington Road shortly after departing the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's East Peoria Yard mid-afternoon Friday, August 9, 2024. BNSF 6832 and BNSF 5170 have 83 cars.
 
A couple of minutes later, after I moved closer to W. Farmington Road, Union Pacific's MPECL appeared with a decent variety of IMRR, KJRY, TZPR and TP&W business. 


CAPTION: Union Pacific train MPECL (Manifest, Peoria IL to Clinton IA) rolls by W. Farmington Road shortly after departing Adams Street Yard in Peoria, Illinois late-afternoon Friday, August 9, 2024. UP 6959 has 57 cars.
 
- David P. Jordan

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