Peoria Station

Almost ten years ago to the week that Iowa Interstate and Norfolk Southern began exchanging unit ethanol trains (and some manifest traffic) via Peoria, the two carriers re-routed one here today owing to weather-related congestion at Chicago!  Back to the present - I wasn't sure I could see 64K, but when I saw on the Peoria, Illinois Railroads Trains & Shortlines Facebook Group that it was only getting a warrant at 1342, I figured I had a chance if I left work immediately and headed east on I-74. When I arrived, the train was paused by Good Yard before getting permission to cross the UP. This gave me time to get to downtown Bloomington... CAPTION: A Norfolk Southern unit ethanol train rolls through downtown Bloomington, Illinois late-afternoon Wednesday, January 17, 2024. NS 7704 and NS 4180 lead 82 cars (80 ethanol and two buffers) with NS 1158 and NS 4759 as DPUs. Train was loaded at Archer Daniels Midland Co's Cedar Rapids, Iowa facilities and symboled SABI (S. Amana IA ...

The Iowa Interstate brought an SIPE train into the area early this afternoon and parked it on Main 2 of the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's Pekin double track along Wesley Road.  A relief crew, I assume, boarded the train's power (715 and 500), ran to Grove so they could cross over to Main 1 and head up to the East Peoria Yard and grab a 29-car PESI.  I saw PESI downtown while driving I-74.  I caught up to it at the North Limit Yard and shot video of it running by the Illinois Valley Yacht Club and the San Koty area.  The last seven cars were loaded, possibly with distillers' mash from BioUrja's Peoria distillery bound for eastern connections at Chicago, or perhaps an odd movement from Decatur to Cedar Rapids. ADM owned or leased equipment could be used for either one.  CAPTION: Iowa Interstate Railroad manifest PESI (Peoria IL to Silvis IL) rolls by the Illinois Valley Yacht Club early evening Wednesday, June 28, 2023. Minutes later, it passes the old San Kot...

It is good to see blocks of ADM covered hoppers still moving in the warm weather months. Some of you may recall that shortly after the Iowa Interstate Railroad (IAIS) implemented scheduled SIPE and PESI trains three cycles per week just after Labor Day in 2022, this business suddenly vanished. The newly scheduled freights were abolished after just a few weeks and replaced by as-needed extras.  The Cedar Rapids and Clinton, Iowa (CP) feed pellet traffic returned this past winter as usual, and it appears the year-round mash/DDG business that vanished last September is back!  CAPTION: Iowa Interstate manifest SIPE (Silvis IL to Peoria IL) rolls by the old San Koty station area a few miles from Peoria, Illinois early evening Wednesday, May 31, 2023. IAIS 515 has 68 cars for the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad at East Peoria. - David P. Jordan  

I just missed IAIS 718 arriving the North Limit Yard this afternoon, but caught its return trip north.  I have to wonder what happened to the ADM grain mash business? There should be another 40-60 empties on this train. Did Union Pacific snatch it from the Iowa Interstate? For many years, the C&NW and successor Union Pacific handled feed pellets from ADM's Cedar Rapids plant to the Clinton Municipal Dock-ADM except in winter, when the Upper Mississippi River closed to commercial navigation (lock repairs, ice) and this traffic, from both Cedar Rapids and Clinton, went to the Illinois River at Peoria. Eventually, the Iowa Interstate was able to grab some of this business (CP, IMRL, ICE, DME handling the Clinton pellets to Davenport). From winter 2006-2007, the IAIS had all of it. Starting around 2010, when ADM "Dry Grind" opened at Cedar Rapids, a large volume of distillers dried grain (DDG, or "mash") began moving to the docks on Wesley Road year round.  Iron...

I learned that Iowa Interstate manifest SIPE arrived East Peoria before sunrise Sunday so I knew there was a chance PESI would depart in late-morning. I was correct. PESI is shown in several locations between Peoria and Mossville. There are three scenes on the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad (West Yard, RI Morton St. Depot, Limit Yard) and Iowa Interstate (Peoria Heights and Mossville). IAIS 504 and IAIS 507 have just 30 cars - three loads (tank cars) and 27 empties. The tank cars were carrying a non-hazardous material. One had CRGX (Cargill) markings, so it is possible that soybean oil is being shipped back north.  I'm also starting to wonder what happened to the ADM grain mash business. For a long time, this traffic out of Cedar Rapids, Iowa moved almost year-round. It seems to have dried up the past week or two.  - David P. Jordan

Each winter, the Upper Mississippi River, from about Keokuk, Iowa north, is closed to commercial navigation for about three months from the second week of December. As a result, a number of all-water movements shift to rail-barge and Peoria-Pekin area terminals experience a surge in volume.  Whereas Grain Processing Corp. (Muscatine, Iowa) and Archer Daniels Midland Co. (Clinton, Iowa) ship gluten feed pellets and/or distillers dried grain supplement (DDGS, or "grain mash") down the Mississippi River from April thru November, they must ship these large volume, bulk commodities to an active barge loadout during December thru March.  The Iowa Interstate Railroad (IAIS) benefits from this seasonal shift in transportation. Grain Processing Corp. and Archer Daniels Midland Co. typically route feed products via the Canadian Pacific Railway to the IAIS at Davenport, Iowa. From there, IAIS hauls this traffic to the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's East Peoria Yard for...

Sunday afternoon, I was able to chase an Iowa Interstate coal train PECR (Peoria IL to Cedar Rapids IA) from Bridge Junction in Peoria to Mossville.  The train, loaded at the Shay Mine near Carlinville, Illinois, arrived here on Norfolk Southern, and a trio of NS motors (#'s 2593, 7716 and 9961) led two Iowa Interstate units (#'s 153 and 514) with 93 loads. In Cedar Rapids, the Cedar Rapids & Iowa City Railway will deliver it to Archer Daniels Midland Co's co-generation plant.  Scenes are at the old (1900) Rock Island depot, the new (1967) Rock Island depot, rolling through the Limit Yard (from the on-ramp off N. Adams Street to eastbound US 24) and at Sankoty (whole train).  - David P. Jordan