Peoria Station

I got a surprise on my way to the downtown library this afternoon.   Radio chatter indicated that BNSF's M-GALPEI had arrived, and a string of cars on one of the Long Tracks looked like a good candidate for it. Other radio chatter indicated, however, that another train was asking for permission to depart Iowa Junction (Peoria) for the East Lead in East Peoria, which I later realized was TP&W's EP2 job. But priority was given to Union Pacific's Peoria Wayfreight, or LPD01, which was monstrous at 72 cars. I shot it coming across the river and again as it near home rails at S. Darst Street. One thing for sure, Tuesday's MPECL will be an unusually large train...   (BNSF power tied up on the team track, so M-PEIGAL will grab two more units brought in by NS last week before heading west later, possibly tomorrow morning.) CAPTION: Union Pacific's "Peoria Wayfreight," LPD01, rolls across the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's Illinois River Bridge enr...

I left work early and glad that I did. BNSF's M-GALPEI was waiting at S. Darst Street to enter Tazewell & Peoria Railroad property until TPW 2105, running engine lite, got clear. Radio chatter indicated a high-wide load, which is unusual for M-GALPEI since Caterpillar ceased assembling wheel loaders, wheel dozers and soil compactors at the Montgomery (Aurora), Illinois plant in 2019. While I could not see any markings indicating its manufacturer, the electrical transformer riding on that eight-axle Kasgro heavy-duty flat car was probably manufactured by Asea Brown Boveri in St. Louis.  CAPTION: BNSF Railway train M-GALPEI (Manifest, Galesburg IL to Peoria IL) rolls along the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad Southern Division at Krause Avenue in Peoria, Illinois early afternoon Friday, May 2, 2025. BNSF 4101 and BNSF 5014 have 65 cars. Note the electric transformer load on the head end.   The TP&W local had but five cars to grab from Collier Yard, so it did not take ...

After locomotive issues forced a retreat late-Sunday afternoon, TP&W tried again Monday.  I caught it at Washington, but decided a power runby at the Route 8 overpass would do so I had to time to capture the train again a few miles west at Ernest Street. I missed it crossing the Farmdale Trestle but managed to capture it entering yard limits, cutting off the eight crushed limestone loads on the head end and spot them at The Rogers Group/East Peoria Materials quarry! The other cars are for interchange via the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad, including three tank cars (probably containing corn oil), eight DDGS loads for the Illinois & Midland, and 14 zinc oxide loads for Union Pacific.  CAPTION: An East Peoria Switcher crew went east engine lite Monday to fetch 33 manifest cars left just east of Secor late Sunday afternoon. Scenes are at the Route 8 underpass in Washington, nearby Ernest Street (whole train) and the approach to the East Peoria Yard, where the crew cuts o...