Peoria Station

I heard the dispatcher give it permission to head north on the Peoria Subdivision, so when it took awhile to catch up to it, I figured it had to be short.    It was.    Kind of a neat one though. Behind the ES44AC were two empty covered hoppers and five loaded tank cars, all placarded as UN 3065, or "alcoholic beverage." I'll dub this one the "Vodka Special." Don't know if the five cars came from BioUrja in Peoria or Alto Pekin LLC or Alto ICP in Pekin.   I'm curious about their destination. Typically, they are consigned to a distillery that is resuming operations after a maintenance shutdown or to a liquor blending and packaging facility. Although the cars are likely to be handled all the way to Silvis, I suspect they will moving back east on manifest CRBI (Cedar Rapids IA to Blue Island IL) to a Chicago connection.  CAPTION: Iowa Interstate Railroad manifest PESI (Peoria IL to Silvis IL) rolls along the Peoria Subdivision through Mossville, Ro...

When I head to the downtown library on Saturday morning, I usually check East Peoria for possible rail movements. This morning, I knew that Iowa Interstate power (513 and 153) would take NS 5281 on PESI later in the day, and decided to check its status. I existed I-474 at Creve Coeur and drove Wesley Road, noticing the yellow signal indication at Wesley East and also toward the Illinois River Bridge. I figured an empty BNSF coal train or loaded BNSF gluten feed train might be lined up. Turns out, it a Tazewell & Peoria Railroad local from Pekin.  CAPTION: A Tazewell & Peoria Railroad local, enroute from Pekin to East Peoria, Illinois, rolls along the double track at Hilliards and later at Wesley late-morning Saturday, January 11, 2025. TZPR 1521 and 21 cars pulled toward the bridge so it could back into the East Peoria Yard's south end. The Iowa Interstate units were still resting on the Creve Coeur Team Track, so I headed for the downtown library. I finished up a roll...

Recently, I noticed Incobrasa Industries covered hoppers at Alto Pekin LLC's wet corn mill elevator, indicating TP&W is borrowing these cars for general service to online elevators or Inco Grain Ltd. is loading for for Alto at its Goodland, Indiana elevator.  CAPTION: A Tazewell & Peoria Railroad local from Pekin is shown at Wesley (Creve Coeur), Illinois moments from arriving the East Peoria Yard on a cold and soggy mid-afternoon Saturday, December 14, 2024. TZPR 1352 has 16 cars. I received a heads up on BNSF's M-GALPEI too late to see it arrive Peoria, but was able to catch M-PEIGAL's run back west. I don't know if this was a third cycle for the week, or if Thursday's train was delayed until Saturday. Either are possible.  CAPTION: After crossing the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's Illinois River Bridge, BNSF Railway train M-PEIGAL (Manifest, Peoria IL to Galesburg IL) curves toward Sanger Street in Peoria, Illinois on a cold and soggy mid-aft...