Peoria Station

Saturday, I decided to drive along the TP&W as far as Effner, checking on recent infrastructure expansion.  Along the way, I noticed a CSX grain train on the Prairie Central Co-Op loop at Greenfield (just west of Chenoa) and found the three-track rail loop on Incobrasa Industries property extended on the south side, and possibly complete.  Lingering in Gilman, I noticed a westbound moving along the TP&W in the distant north. A closer looked confirmed that it was a run-through train of grain empties from CSX. I wasn't sure if a Hoosierlift crew was going to drop it between Gilman and La Hogue, but when I waited at the latter, it came by me at mainline speed. Good show!  After checking new siding construction on the TP&W at Effner, I returned west and encountered the Chenoa train just past Forrest, turned around and shot video in town.  CAPTION: On Saturday, August 30, 2025, the Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway ran both a westbound empty CSX grain tr...

TP&W-served elevators at Cruger and Greenfield (Chenoa) have been loading a lot of grain trains for CSX in recent weeks. I was finally able to catch an empty westbound for Cruger today. Even better, the CSX unit honoring 9-11 first responders was the leader! CAPTION: A TP&W crew ran this westbound empty CSX grain train to Grainland Cooperative's Cruger, Ilinois elevator late-morning Sunday, June 8, 2025. Scenes are between Secor and Eureka, and at Cruger. CSXT 911 and CSXT 724 have 89 cars.   - David P. Jordan

Loaded ethanol trains make occasional appearances on Union Pacific's Peoria Subdivision, so when I receive a heads up that one is due, I usually go after it.  I'm unsure how to decipher "IH" and "BH" symbols but I assume the train came out of Iowa and is bound for Texas, though CSX units may indicate interchange at East St. Louis for a southeast point.   CAPTION: A Union Pacific unit ethanol train rolls by W. Farmington Road near Peoria, Illinois late-morning Saturday, November 19, 2022. UP 8119, UP 7368 and CSXT 7236 were on the point of their 110-car train (including a buffer car at each end). CSXT 896 was DPU. Symbol reportedly UEIHBH.  - David P. Jordan

  I again caught a Canadian National Railway switching Amerhart and Hanna Steel. Thursday, March 25, 2021, I happened to hear radio chatter between the crew of Canadian National Railway's southbound local, L557, and the dispatcher. I only caught part of the conversation but knew the dispatcher had given L557's crew a track warrant to run from IC Junction at Pekin to Mount Pulaski. That meant the train was close to Pekin. I was just across the river. So it was prudent to investigate.  I saw five steel coil loads and three lumber loads left at the siding just north of Derby Street. The northbound local, L556, usually leaves these cars for the next day's L557. But where was L557? Moments later, I found a Tazewell & Peoria Railroad (TZPR) crew assembling a train for East Peoria. Their dispatcher (based at St. Albans, Vermont) gave them permission to run past IC Junction to East Peoria. So either the CN local had just cleared IC Junction or had yet to leave East Peoria. Turn...

Despite the soggy and cold weather Saturday, I got out to see not one but two TP&W trains!  First, TPW 3442 led 71 empty flat cars through El Paso, Illinois at 5:40pm. The train departed Prairie Central Cooperative's new (2018) Greenfield rail loop west of Chenoa. Cars had arrived with wind turbine tower loads and the empties were being sent to Houston, Texas via Peoria and BNSF Railway.  The second train was a manifest. TPW 2070, TPW 3440 and TPW 3046 had 169 cars. The 90 CSX covered hoppers on the rear were dropped at Grainland Cooperative's Cruger elevator.  The TP&W has seen a surge in traffic in the past year or so, thanks to expanded grain-loading facilities, wind turbine components and lease and operation of the Winamac Southern Railway. Longer and more frequent trains have become the norm. Industrial development in the Hoosierlift and Logansport areas of Indiana are expected to increase traffic in the near future.  - Dav...

Saturday afternoon, January 27, was unseasonably warm and unusually busy with train action.  I worked six hours until noon then went to buy lunch, intending to spend the rest of the day at the downtown library where for the past decade, I have been researching local transportation and industrial history.  Almost immediately, I encountered a distraction in the form of an eastbound Toledo Peoria & Western local made up of TPW 3046 and 13 cars heading toward that carrier's East Peoria Yard. Video (below) was taken at the East Washington Street crossing. All of the cars were from industries located on TP&W's Mapleton Industrial Spur.  Note the Conrail gondola: used to haul scrap metal, it was probably spotted, unloaded and pull from Caterpillar's Mapleton foundry. It was probably the first rail shipment from this facility. (Conrail markings now belong to Norfolk Southern, and the car was likely interchanged back to that carrier via the Tazewell & Peoria R...