Peoria Station

Tazewell & Peoria Railroad mainline looking north from Caroline Street on March 22, 2026. Planned steel storage building and new rail siding will be at right. O'Brien Steel Service Co's existing facilities are at left  We now have more information about O'Brien Steel Service Co's expansion plans into Detweiller Marina.  WMBD TV-31 covered it earlier this month when plans were revealed at a Peoria Park District meeting. The TV station posted an update on its website yesterday  after the Sierra Club hosted a meeting with community leaders. The article includes a photo of the plan, and confirms that a new rail siding will be built from the adjacent Tazewell & Peoria Railroad mainline to serve a relocated existing crane system and steel storage area. It isn't clear, however, if this will be enclosed or open. Based on the map, it could be either way.  Unfortunately, controversy appears to be the sole reason for media coverage, and only by one outlet. The Peoria J...

O'Brien Steel Service Co. seen from Caroline Street June 28, 2023 after transfer of 550 feet of formerly City-owned trackage Information is a little vague at this point but WMBD TV, Channel 31, is reporting on plans by O'Brien Steel Service Co. to expand into Detweiller Marina , which is across the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad from its existing facilities along NE Adams Street. The video link below shows what appears to be a stub-end spur with a south switch on the east side of TZPR that is not there now. If you remember back in 2023, the City of Peoria abandoned the remaining south end of the Kellar Branch and transferred ownership of 550 feet from the junction with TZPR to O'Brien Steel so they could get rail service. Shortly after the transfer (probably June 2023), some digging had been done to clear out the spur switch on company property. By December, however, the dirt had been filled in again. One STB filing indicated O'Brien Steel was eager to get this tran...

The Surface Transportation Board today granted the City of Peoria authority to discontinue service over an approximiately 1.1-mile portion of the Kellar Branch's south end on behalf of the long-defunct Central Illinois Railroad Company.  The main point of the filing involves O'Brien Steel Service Co., which has been without rail service since the Central Illinois Railroad Co. ceased operations in 2010.   "The City explains that, after discontinuance it intends to transfer approximately 550 feet of right-of-way and track at the south end of the Line to O'Brien Steel, which plans to use the track as a private industrial spur to connect to the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad." I expect that the City will transfer this property to O'Brien Steel shortly, and that rehabilitation will commence soon afterward. Some or all steel plates and I-beams will arrive by rail once facilities are able to receive them. O'Brien will also likely ship scrap steel by rail as well,...

Looking north from NE Adams and Cornhill streets in Peoria, Illinois, Sunday, February 12, 2023 Here's some notes and thoughts on "AB-1056 (SUB-NO. 1X) PIONEER INDUSTRIAL RAILWAY CO. LLC - Discontinuance of Trackage Rights Exemption - In Peoria County, Ill.," a filing to the Surface Transportation Board last week and entered into the public record Wednesday, February 15, 2023.  (1) The carrier asks the STB to authorize PIRY to "terminate its trackage rights over approximately 1.07 miles of line (a portion of the Kellar Branch) located between milepost 1.71 and 2.78 (the 'Line') in the City of Peoria, Peoria County, Illinois." (2) As of January 1, 2023, the carrier is legally known as "Pioneer Industrial Railway Co. LLC." (3) PIRY's filing is part of the City's railroad service plan, discontinuing long out of service trackage rights over the south end of the old Kellar Branch.  (4) Board approval will free up the City of Peoria to 550 fe...

CAPTION: A Tazewell & Peoria Railroad "Industry Job" rolls along S. Water Street in downtown Peoria, Illinois late-afternoon Tuesday, November 15, 2022. TZPR 1351 has five empty corn syrup tank cars pulled from PMP Fermentation Products, and two truck chassis loads from the Komatsu plant. I passed on Union Pacific's MPECL today. The EOT was flashing but with no movement or radio chatter by 4:00pm, I left the Adams Street Yard area. But when I arrived downtown, I heard a locomotive horn and came across this!  Hopefully, in the not-too-distant-future, locals like this working the Uptown Division (ex-Rock Island) will be handling steel to and scrap metal from O'Brien Steel Service Co. I've seen nothing new on plans to restore rail access and obtain service from the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad, but I assume that the project is still a go.  O'Brien Steel does a lot of work for Caterpillar and Komatsu, and for its Rohn Products subsidiary as well. So steel p...

Patriot Rail's acquisition of Pioneer Lines is already producing fruit! In a letter dated May 17, 2022, M. S. Carver Lumber president Joseph Fontana wrote the Surface Transportation Board requesting a legal change to Pioneer Industrial Railway's lease with the City of Peoria of 3.74 miles between a connection with Union Pacific and Pioneer Industrial Park. There seems to have been a delay in action by Pioneer Industrial Railway but both a 56-page Notice of Exemption and an eight-page Motion for Protective Order were filed with the STB on October 3. The Board granted PIRY's request today. You can read the filings here . Today's decision can be read here . I suspect rising diesel fuel prices may have been a factor in Carver's desire to rail service restored to its Pioneer Park facility. Lack of competitive access notwithstanding, direct rail delivery is cheaper than truck, even if a short distance from a wholesaler or transload site. UPDATE: On page 47 of the main Oc...