Peoria Station

The first 60 cars (22 loaded Incobrasa, 38 plastic empties) were probably from the Illinois & Midland RR, and the two IMRR geeps were probably on the transfer run from Powerton! CAPTION: An eastbound Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway M-Train, sometimes called M-EPEF (Manifest, E. Peoria IL to Effner IL), rolls by W. Bittersweet Road in Farmdale, Illinois shortly after leaving the East Peoria Yard early-evening Friday, September 18, 2026. TPW 3481, IMRR 2108 and IMRR 2084 have 77 cars. - David P. Jordan

I just came across a publication at my local library called Choose Greater PEORIA Illinois , produced by livability dot com. On page 23, a community profile lists "transportation assets," which include two items which caught my eye- Five Class 1 railroads for hauling cargo Six short line railroads Both are incorrect. Greater Peoria, a designation that based on the magazine's other content matches the five-county official metropolitan area, is served by four Class Is, one Regional and four shortlines.  American common-carrier railroads are designated as Class I, Class II ("Regional") and Class III ("Shortlines"). These are broken down using annual revenue by the then-Interstate Commerce Commission critieria introduced in 1992 - $504,803,294 minimum for Class Is and $40,384,263 minimum for Class IIs. Carriers with annual revenue below the Class II minimum standard are designated as Class IIIs.  The Class Is are BNSF Railway, Canadian National Railway, No...

I would have stayed home this afternoon, but got a heads up that the southbound signal at Edelstein was green. I had hopes for an early MCLPE, but alas it was a Powerton-bound coal train. I should be happy, because those have perhaps four years left.  CAPTION: A southbound Union Pacific coal train rolls by W. Farmington Road near Peoria, Illinois late-afternoon Wednesday, October 2, 2024. UP 5523 and UP 5562 have 135 loads for the Illinois & Midland Railroad at Crescent for delivery to NRG Energy's Powerton Station. UP 5572 is DPU.   - David P. Jordan

I learned that Union Pacific brought an empty grain train up to South Pekin last night. Another crew delivered it to the Illinois & Midland Railroad's Powerton Yard this morning, after pulling it across the Illinois River Bridge and backing through the Crescent Connection. Destination: Prairie Central Cooperative's Greenfield (Chenoa) rail loop on the Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway.  Later in the afternoon, I learned that a TP&W crew had already brought the train through East Peoria via the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's Pekin double track and was already by Washington. So I left the downtown library, made a brief stop home and headed east. I found the UP-TP&W grain train crossing N. Main Street in Eureka about 1700 hours.  Lighting was poor, but I made the best of it.  CAPTION: A Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway crew forwards east a train of grain empties received from Union Pacific at Powerton, Illinois Saturday afternoon, May 18, 2024. Scenes a...

Two hours, 24 minutes in length - It literally took all day, New Year's Eve, to merge the video files, save the video and then upload to YouTube. The audio is a little inconsistent for the first hour, and I'm sure I'll need to clarify some information in the comments, but... Peoria, Illinois and its suburbs boast nine common carrier railroads, heavy industry and an exciting variety of facilities and operations sure to please visitors. But some train operations are unpredictable, and the rail lines confusing for those unfamiliar with the territory. Hopefully, maps, scenes and narration will help you navigate this exciting and historical railroad town! Excerpts of videos already posted on my channel, mostly in 2021, are used to describe the current railscene.   - David P. Jordan