TP&W M-Train 6-19-26

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 eastbound was short at only 32 cars, and 21 of these were brand-new covered hoppers for Incobrasa Industries. 


CAPTION: Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway eastbound M-train, sometimes called M-EPEF (Manifest, E. Peoria IL to Effner IL), rolls through Secor, Illinois and then El Paso late-afternoon/early-evening Friday, June 19, 2026. OHCR 3329 and BERX 6908 have 32 cars. Note the block of brand new Incobrasa covered hoppers.

- David P. Jordan

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