TP&W Local, TZPR Local, Union Pacific MPECL 10-27-26

 
This train came out of the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's East Peoria Yard and East Lead, so it must have setout cars there enroute to Collier. 


CAPTION: A Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway local, probably EP2, rolls along the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad by Krause Avenue and Darst Street in Peoria, Illinois late-morning Tuesday, October 27, 2026. IMRR 2108 has five phosphate loads for Collier Yard (Growmark's Mapleton terminal is the consignee).

After renewing a book at the Peoria Public Library's downtown campus, I stepped outside and headed to my car when I heard the distinctive sound of a locomotive horn. I headed toward the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's Uptown Subdivision to investigate. Sure enough, HESR 2107 was dragging a train of Iowa Interstate interchange cars toward East Peoria. Train had 22 mash cars for ADM's Hilliards barge loadout, six tank cars (probably containing soybean oil for Cargill c/o MacroSource's North Pekin facility) and five scrap metal loads for Liberty Steel & Wire. All of the last group was marked "MLMX for Sims Metal Management." The IAIS serves none of this firm's facilities, but the Indiana Harbor Belt does switch the Sims facility at East Chicago, Indiana, making that a possible origin point. 


CAPTION: A Tazewell & Peoria Railroad local drags Iowa Interstate interchange cars past BioUrja Renewables LLC's Peoria distillery midday Tuesday, October 27, 2026. HESR 2107 has 33 cars. (Iowa Interstate's SIPE left these cars in the North Limit Yard the day prior.)

After capturing the TZPR train, I checked Adams Street Yard to find MPECL was gone (it was there before I went to the library before noon), so I hightailed it to W. Farmington Road, where the signal indication was yellow. This told me the train had already cleared this location, so I headed north. After I stopped at Casey's in Dunlap, I heard the detector near MP 67 go off, so I knew I had just beat it. Akron was the first location I wanted to capture video, and I had barely time to set up when I arrived. I decided to chase as far as El Camino, capturing another runby near Camp Grove. Final view shows the Bartlett elevator and loaded grain train waiting for a crew. 


CAPTION: Union Pacific train MPECL (Manifest, Peoria IL to Clinton IA) rolls by Akron, Illinois early-afternoon Tuesday, October 27, 2026. Later, the train approaches Camp Grove at slower speed. Final view is at El Camino, the location of Bartlett Grain Co LP's newly-opened Sheffield elevator and rail loop. A loaded grain train is ready for a crew. UP 6213 has 38 cars.

- David P. Jordan

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