BNSF M-GALPEI, TZPR Local, TP&W M-EFEP 1-26-25

I saw BNSF's M-GALPEI in the East Peoria Yard mid-afternoon Wednesday, so cold weather earlier this week seems to have taken operations off-schedule. I received a heads up that BNSF Railway's M-GALPEI may have departed Galesburg sometime Saturday night. I was expecting a possible M-PEIGAL this morning, but when I drove by the south side, it was M-GALPEI entering the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad at S. Darst Street. 

CAPTION: BNSF train M-GALPEI (Manifest, Galesburg IL to Peoria IL) rolls along the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad in Peoria, Illinois late-morning Sunday, January 26, 2025 as it curves toward the Illinois River and East Peoria. BNSF 4351 and BNSF 3837 have 17 cars.

After the BNSF train crossed the river, I did as well and found a Tazewell & Peoria Railroad yard job pulling 21 mash (or gluten feed) loads down the Pekin double track toward ADM Grain Co. at Hilliards. It is that time of year when they do this up to twice a day as the upper Mississippi River is closed to navigation and ADM's Cedar Rapids, Iowa plant sends more product to the Hilliards barge dock via Iowa Interstate. 

CAPTION: A Tazewell & Peoria Railroad local rolls onto the Pekin double track at Wesley (Creve Coeur), Illinois late-morning Sunday, January 26, 2025. TZPR 1351 has 21 loads for ADM Grain Co. at Hilliards.

Later, I learned that a TP&W westbound had been reported at Chatsworth around 1130 hours, so I waited until it was closer and ran into it near Secor. Short train, but I suppose Incobrasa Industries has sufficient local soybean supplies following the harvest. 

CAPTION: Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway train M-EFEP (Manifest, Effner IL to E. Peoria IL) rolls just west of Secor, near Eureka, in Eureka and in Washington, Illinois early-afternoon Sunday, January 26, 2025. MQT 4307, RCPE 3481 and IMRR 2108 have 16 cars.

David P. Jordan