Peoria Station

I've been working two hours over since yesterday, and Friday as well, so I'm going to miss Union Pacific's MPECL. So when I get a heads up on a local train movement, and am not too tired to take advantage of it, I go for it.  Mid-afternoon Thursday, I learned through social media that Canadian National's L557 local was on duty at the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's East Peoria Yard. I figured that if the crew did the usual switching at Pekin, I'd have a shot at catching it there or somewhere south. I ended up driving down I-155. About six minutes after a friend confirmed that it was through Delavan, I saw it approaching the highway underpass between Emden and Hartsburg. I decided to head north on I-55, exit onto Rt. 66 and then parallel the Union Pacific to N. Kickapoo Street. Had I exited on the west side, Lincoln's traffic lights and slow speed limits would have ruined my plans. I arrived at the N. Kickapoo Street crossing moments after L557 received perm...

Gritty, industrial railroad on the Union Pacific begins with action begins at the Bloomington, Illinois yard, and moves to Lincoln where the local switches the Internatonal Paper Co. box plant. The crew of MASBN (Manifest, Alton & Southern to Bloomington IL) arrived well before sunrise, but their duties weren't yet complete.  After dropping the train in the yard, they took UP 7012, UP 1066 and WRIX 1229 and turned them at Prairie Central Cooperative's Cayuga elevator loop, which is located just north of Pontiac. All three units faced north, so they needed to be turned: UP 7012 because it would lead counterpart MBNAS south that evening; UP 1066 because the other local power, UP 1148, was facing north; and WRIX 1229, because its new home, AgRail LLC, wanted it to face south. When this was accomplished, UP 7012 was moved to the other side of the yard and tied up, and the crew went off duty. Shortly, the crew of LSF54 boarded UP 1066 and delivered WRIX 1229, an SD18M which once...

On Saturday, March 20, 2021, Union Pacific local LSF54 ran from Bloomington to Lincoln, Illinois and return to switch International Paper Co.  The Bloomington, Illinois-based local crew used UP 1405 and UP 1387 to deliver three loaded boxcars and pull two empties. Returning to Bloomington, the LSF54 crew placed the empties on the rear of train MBNAS (Manifest, Bloomington IL to Alton & Southern), which departed in early evening. UP 7499 had 33 cars.  - David P. Jordan

Saturday morning, I caught Union Pacific's LSF51 (Bloomington IL to Carlinville IL) local switching International Paper Co. in Lincoln, Illinois.  Built in 1947 by U. S. Corrugated, the "box factory" is located on a remnant of Illinois Central Railroad's Havana District, and employs about 100. Boise Cascade purchased the plant in 1984 and Willamette purchased it in 1992. Willamette added a warehouse (including an enclosure for boxcar unloading) in 2002 about which time the company was acquired by its competitor, Weyerhaeuser Co. Six years later, International Paper Co. acquired Weyerhaeuser's corrugated packaging operations. Like many light-density, grain belt branchlines, Illinois Central's Havana District suffered from motor carrier competition and proximity to river barge service. Successor Illinois Central Gulf abandoned most of the line in segments between 1981 and 1987. All that is left are three sections at Lincoln, Clinton and Champaign-Seym...