Peoria Station

I finally got the loaded CN-bound soybean train this afternoon! Boy were those units growling going through Chillicothe!  CAPTION: Iowa Interstate Railroad train ZENOE (Zeh Noh Grain, Eastbound) rolls by the former Rock Island depot at Chillicothe, Illinois late-afternoon Saturday, April 18, 2026. Later, the whole train is shown at E. Knox Street in Rome. IAIS 503 and IAIS 153 have 109 soybean loads for Canadian National on TZPR's Pekin double track main.   I caught TP&W's westbound road freight at Gridley Saturday evening. I'm glad I did. There was one empty OZIX twin-bay covered hopper and a lumber load (for Morton Buildings' East Peoria Transload?) that must have come off CSX.  CAPTION: A Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway westbound freight, sometimes known as "M-EFEP" (Manifest, Effner IL to E. Peoria IL), pulls six grain loads from the Ruff Brothers Grain elevator on the east side of Gridley, Illinois early evening Saturday, April 18, 2026. S...

After work, I caught this TP&W-CN grain extra rolling east through Secor, so I set up at El Paso and again at Gridley.  I had my camera set to "Auto," which unfortunately suffers from an object at the 1080 setting. I usually shoot 4k, so I switched it for the runby at Gridley.    TP&W-served elevators at Cruger (Grainland Farmers) and Chenoa (Prairie Central Cooperative) have loaded unit trains for BNSF, Canadian National, CSX, Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific, all with run-through power. With this TP&W-CN train, I've now caught all five.  CAPTION: A Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway crew assembled a grain at Grainland Farmers' Cruger, Illinois elevator mid-afternoon Monday, April 6, 2026 and departed east for Gilman, Illinois where the train will be handed off to Canadian National Railway. Video locations are El Paso and Gridley. CN 2665 and CN 3978 have 113 cars.   - David P. Jordan

A number of TP&W manifests of late have had short consists when departing East Peoria. Days of operations still seem to vary, but short consists either mean more frequent runs or a lull in business. That lull, if a factor, is probably seasonal.    I learned of the train's departure from East Peoria around midday Saturday. It was a short consist, and eleven of the cars and one locomotive (IORY 3492) were on that transfer I caught Friday afternoon. But I decided to chase starting at Washington. After that, I cured an empty stomach and caught up to the train again at Secor. I usually bid adieu at El Paso, but knew pickups were planned at both Gridley and Meadows. These may be the first times I've seen TP&W pickup eastbound soybean loads at these local elevators that are consigned to Incobrasa Industries in Gilman.    I included video of the Gridley pickup. I stayed at Chenoa to watch a southbound Union Pacific intermodal train and Amtrak's San Antonio-bound ...

I took a half-day from work Friday hoping to catch Union Pacific's MPECL. Unfortunately, Adams Street Yard was empty when I drove by around 1140. I turnaround and checked the signal at W. Farmington Road. Yellow indication. I backtracked, thinking maybe the train was stopped at Peoria Junction and had yet to receive track warrants. No sign of it. I did see what I thought at first was BNSF's M-PEIGAL waiting for instructions to go west.    Turns out, MPECL was hiding from me. Or perhaps LPD01 was still at East Peoria, and when it crossed the river and returned to home rails, the train became MPECL as a new crew got onboard and departed around 1330. Unfortunately, I was an hour east. Also, the BNSF train was M-GALPEI that was for some unknown reason holding well short of Darst Street.    I salvaged my day with the knowledge of a westbound TP&W freight. Now that Ruff Brothers also uses the elevator on Gridley's east side, 15 cars total can be spotted for loading...

I learned Monday that Union Pacific's MPECL would be unusually lengthy, owing to block of 31 plastic pellet covered hoppers on the rear. I would also note eight scrap metal loads mid-train. Liberty Steel & Wire seems to suspend operations for maintenance at least two weeks prior to Thanksgiving, so that may account for the latter.    I took a half day from work Tuesday and found the train ready to depart around 1130.  CAPTION: Union Pacific train MPECL (Manifest, Peoria IL to Clinton IA) rolls by Milepost 80 shortly after entering the Peoria Subdivision mainline mid-day Tuesday, November 25, 2025. Later, the train crests Pioneer Hill. UP 5863 and UP 8135 have 79 cars.   After returning home, I learned that a westbound TP&W road freight was by Piper City shortly after 1300 hours, so I took off, tracing the TP&W along US 24 until I encountered the train at Gridley. Notables include 14 limestone loads for East Peoria Materials, five gondolas loaded wi...

It is always good to catch a long TP&W freight on the East End mainline.    Minutes after a notice on a local Facebook group that a TP&W eastbound freight was approaching Washington, I left the house and drove to Cruger. Watching its passage, I noticed that the two locomotives on Saturday evening's transfer to the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad - TPW 5009 and IORY 5007 - were on this train. I did not stick around for it due to darkness, but I assumed they would return with eastbound traffic.    Today's train has a decent variety of rolling stock -    1 tank car (soybean oil empty) 9 tank cars (nitrogen fertilizer solution loads) 1 tank car (denatured alcohol load) 2 tank car (industrial alcohol loads) 12 covered hoppers (phosphate empties) 2 tank cars (sorbitol loads) 1 tank car (corn syrup empty) 1 tank car (methylamine anhydrous empty) 1 tank car (dimethylamine anhydrous empty) 5 covered hoppers (phosphate empties) 25 covered hoppe...

Looks like TP&W runs its westbound "M-Train" from between Gilman and LaHogue on Wednesdays and Sundays for now.    I'm glad I went after it tonight. I had heard that Ruff Brothers Grain Co., which acquired the old McKey & Roegge (JBS United) elevators on the west side of Gridley in 2011, was rehabilitating an elevator track, and figured that they had purchased the old Myer Crop Center, which apparently hasn't shipped by rail since being purchased by Brandt Consolidated in 2009. I noticed seven covered hoppers spotted there for loading (eight more were at the west side elevators).  CAPTION: A Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway westbound "M-Train," sometimes called "M-EFEP" (Manifest, Effner IL to E. Peoria IL), rolls by Prairie Central Coop's Greenfield rail loop just west of Chenoa, Illinois early evening Wednesday, April 30, 2025. Later, power is shown at Meadows and again at Gridley with 20 cars behind them preparing to switch R...

My motto is still intact - If you get a chance to see a TP&W manifest, take it!   I learned that a westbound was by Chatsworth at 12:44 this afternoon, so I decided to head east and intercept. As soon as I turned left onto a north-south road on Gridley's west edge, the flashers activated and the gates lowered. Today's train was unusually short - 15 corn loads for Peoria or Pekin processors, and a plastic empty. Perhaps they needed the power here for the next eastbound? CAPTION:   Toledo, Peoria & Western train M-EFEP (Manifest, Effner IL to E. Peoria IL) rolls through and near several towns Sunday afternoon, December 15, 2024. Locations at west of Gridley, at El Paso, Secor, west of Secor, Cruger, Washington and Ernest Street, just southwest of Washington. TPW 5010, TPW 5008 and TPW 3441 have 16 cars.    - David P. Jordan

Another day, another monster Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway road freight!  A summary of the train's monster consist shows the variety of traffic moving westbound on the TP&W these days -  eleven covered hoppers CORN eight hoppers LIMESTONE two covered hoppers ORGANIC GRAIN two covered hoppers LOADS ???? four gondolas L/C wire rod one cenerbeam flat LUMBER two covered hoppers DDGS two covered hoppers ZINC OXIDE two tank cars L/C nitrogen eight tank cars HOME SHOP five covered hoppers L/C soybeans two covered hoppers SOYBEAN MEAL? two covered hoppers ZINC OXIDE nine covered hoppers DDGS? 54 covered hoppers L/C soybeans three covered hoppers ZINC OXIDE one tank car L/C amines (UN 2735) two covered hoppers L/C grain or dry fertilizer 13 tank cars L/C nitrogen (last one HOME SHOP) CAPTION: Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway train M-EFEP (Manifest, Effner IL to E. Peoria IL) is shown early- to mid-afternoon Saturday, March 16, 2024 at Fairbury, Chenoa, Gridley, El Paso,...

When it crossed the UP at Chenoa, it had well over 100 cars, perhaps half Incobrasa Industries covered hoppers.  The head end 33 cars taken west consisted of eight limestone loads, three tank cars (possibly corn oil loads) and eight DDGS loads from The Andersons' Clymers, Indiana ethanol plant, and 14 zinc oxide loads from WSP's Clymers, Indiana plant.  CAPTION: The Toledo, Peoria & Western train M-EFEP (Manifest, Effner IL to E. Peoria IL) tied up east of Chenoa, Illinois by Saturday PM/Sunday AM March 3, 2024. So a crew out of East Peoria ran engine lite to fetch it. Unfortunately, locomotive issues forced them to pull the first 33 cars and leave the rest by the Prairie Central Coop rail loop at Greenfield. The shortened train is shown at Meadows, Gridley and El Paso. The train stalled just east of Secor, so the power was cut off and run to East Peoria. IORY 5007, IMRR 2108, MQT 3407, IORY 5014 and TPW 2070 were on the point.   David P. Jordan