Peoria Station

Labor Day 2022 was a little overcast and rainy, so I didn't go up to Princeville to see BNSF switch Seneca Foods Corp's cannery. My previous encounter with this action had been on Labor Day 2017. I knew there was a chance to see it again on this holiday, but figured it would be raining. I don't know how many raindrops fell, but BNSF did switch Seneca Foods that day. I didn't see it, but learned about it later.  Fast forward to Labor Day 2023. Although BNSF switched Seneca Foods early evening Friday (I was close at Edelstein, but found out too late, the third time this year on a Friday such as happened), I wondered if there would be a repeat on Monday. Initially, I planned to stay home. But in late-afternoon, I just decided to chance it. I'm glad I did because I arrived the crossing just east of the cannery and started shooting stills of the boxcars at the plant... ...and then the eastbound local pulled up. I believe many (if not all) of these pumpkin loads are going...

After church this morning, I went up to Princeville to check out some new track construction by the Seneca Foods cannery (More on that below). This was the last of three eastbound intermodal trains that I saw on the way up there, or while in town.  A contractor has torn out the switch and short stub end siding just west of the S. Walnut Street crossing, and track connecting to the siding on Seneca Foods property. A new siding is being built with panel track a little further south. Seneca Foods seemed to increase boxcar loading of pumpkin last late-summer/early-fall, so perhaps track capacity is being increased to sustain higher volume from that customer. The siding was in poor shape, so rebuilding/re-configuration was needed anyway.  CAPTION: An eastbound BNSF intermodal train rolls through Princeville, Illinois midday Sunday, March 19, 2023. BNSF 7552, BNSF 737, BNSF 6782, BNSF 7635 and BNSF 7409 have 107 cars.   - David P. Jordan

On Monday, September 4, 2017, I managed to capture BNSF switching Seneca Foods Corp's Princeville, Illinois plant. Earlier, I noticed a boxcar spotted at the cannery rail dock but figured the eastbound local had already passed and that there would be no service on a holiday.  I'm glad I stuck around to learn how wrong I was... I was parked along BNSF's Chillicothe Subdivision at N. Rice Road east of town when I heard the distinctive sound of a locomotive horn in the distance. Mainline signals were dark so I knew the horn blast signaled that the local was in town. Back in Princeville I found a pair of B40-8Ws and three plastic loads shoving into the industry track to fetch the loaded boxcar.  After returning to the mainline and shoving into the rest of the eastbound local (L-CHI101) sitting on Main 2, the crew radioed the dispatcher for permission to depart. Prepared to capture the train's departure, I was interrupted by a westbound intermodal train. So ...