Peoria Station

On my way to the Davenport Train Show Saturday morning, I noticed the rear of an empty coal train approaching Knoxville on BNSF's Peoria Subdivision. I was able to set up at County Highway 10 crossing in time for video. Train came from the Kincaid Power Station on the Illinois & Midland Railroad. A BNSF crew took over at Crescent/Powerton Yard. CAPTION: An empty BNSF coal train rolls across County Highway 10 at Knoxville, Illinois late-morning Saturday, April 5, 2025. Shown nearing the end the train's run on the Peoria Subdivision, BNSF 6018 and BNSF 9080 are on the point. BNSF 8560 is DPU.   My return home via a different route and knowledge that Iowa Interstate train PESI had passed Mossville at 1805 hours led to an encounter at Putnam. The empty "Crandic" boxcar was apparently bad ordered by BNSF at Galesburg and routed to the IAIS at Peoria (via TZPR). Boxcars are rare on the IAIS Peoria Sub.  CAPTION: Iowa Interstate Railroad Ltd. manifest PESI (Peori...

Bartlett Grain Co. LP's Bureau County facility will be similar to its Canadian Pacific Kansas City-served South Jacksonville, Illinois facility, shown May 2, 2020.  Bartlett Grain Co. LP is planning to build a $50 million grain loading facility in Bureau County, Illinois. Media reports here and here  tells us Bartlett Grain will build on 155 acres east of Rt. 40 and north of Interstate 80 between County Roads 1700 and 1745 East. The complex, complete with a rail loop capable of loading up to 120 cars, will employ 25 to 30.  Rail service will be provided by the Union Pacific on its Peoria Subdivision, which runs from Nelson south to Barr. Grain will be shipped to Mexico.  - David P. Jordan

After seeing reports of these trains for several years, I finally caught one.  Monday morning, I received a headsup that Union Pacific was running a northbound baretable train ("baretable" is railroad industry lingo for empty intermodal cars) on its Peoria Subdivision. Union Pacific train ILMG3R-04 originated somwhere south of St. Louis and was destined to Global 3 at Rochelle, Illinois. The Peoria Sub was a convenient route for this movement. Lone SD70M 4424 leads 100 empty intermodal well cars past Milepost 59, which is the north end of Edelstein Siding.  - David P. Jordan

Last Friday evening, Union Pacific ran an MMCPR (Manifest, Mason City IA to Proviso IL) down the Peoria Subdivision. It ran an MMTPR (Manifest, Marshalltown IA to Proviso IL) last evening and another MMCPR this Friday evening. All three were enroute to the Alton & Southern Railway's Gateway Yard in East St. Louis, which is probably where these trains' traffic ends up anyway. I caught the latter two, and just after sunset managed to capture video of the latest MMCPR rolling under BNSF's Mendota Sub near Buda. UP motors 5374-5812-2475-5494-6792-5868 had 75 cars of agricultural traffic. Train stopped briefly for dispatcher radio chatter then resumed its journey. MPECL waited at Edelstein Siding for MMCPR's passage.    Word is that Union Pacific is experiencing a traffic meltdown at Proviso Yard (near Chicago), and is detouring or re-routing many trains to unplug the mess. I doubt the problem is anywhere close to being solved so expect more such ...