TP&W M-Train, KJRY Local 2-6-26

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 there and the west side elevator. The scene could be from 1976, not 2026.


CAPTION: The Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway ran a westbound "M-Train," which is shown at Gridley, El Paso, near Secor and in Eureka early- to mid-afternoon Friday, February 6, 2026. TPW 3441 and IORY 5014 have 39 cars after  a total of 15 grain empties were set out at two elevators in Gridley.

Later, I found the Keokuk Junction Railway local in the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's East Peoria Yard, already building air pressure on the outbound. 
 
Track upgrades must have increased KJRY train frequency, as East Peoria turns were made both Tuesday and Friday this week. Interestingly, the TZPR and COER gondolas on the head end were the loads. I tried to time a trip over I-474 to see their content but missed my chance by mere seconds. Must be something from Alter Metal Recycling or Liberty Steel & Wire Co. Hitchcock Scrap Yard's Canton transload might be too close for rail transportation, so perhaps these cars' destination is Amsted Rail (Griffin Wheel Div.) on BNSF's Mooar Line in Keokuk?


CAPTION: A Keokuk Junction Railway local crosses the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's Illinois River Bridge late-afternoon Friday, February 6, 2026. LTEX 3836, LNW 3806, LNW 3807 and LTEX 6437 have 19 cars (four loads, 15 empties).
 
- David P. Jordan

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