Peoria Station

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...

Six of seven train movements (including the Keokuk Junction Railway train in both directions) were recorded in about a two-hour period Wednesday mid- to late-afternoon.    While I've seen nothing official, it is obvious BNSF's M-GALPEI/M-PEIGAL trains are running Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The change, I believe, was implemented sometime after last April when Thursday runs were moved to Fridays.  CAPTION: BNSF Railway train M-GALPEI (Manifest, Galesburg IL to Peoria IL) rolls by Bridge Junction and then across the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's Illinois River Bridge mid-afternoon Wednesday, February 11, 2026. BNSF 6047 and BNSF 3801 have 44 cars.   I caught the KJRY local's arrival but did not plan to stick around for its departure. I happened to hear the crew ask permission to depart the East Lead for Iowa Junction when I was still closeby, so I turned around and caught it after all. I'm glad I did, as I got one with an "Omaha Track" gondola...

When I exited westbound I-74 toward E. Washington Street this afternoon, I happened to notice Norfolk Southern's D49 local power and cars behind it. I wasn't expecting to see it on Monday, but perhaps more Liberty Steel & Wire traffic is requiring more frequent East Peoria runs.    I hope so.    D49 used to make the East Peoria trip to interchange with the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad five days a week. Of course, Decatur-Normal connecting locals D32/D36 used to cycle daily, but apparently do not anymore for lack of crews.    Today's train had the usual plastic pellet traffic from the Illinois & Midland RR, coiled wire rod, steepwater, alcohol and carbon dioxide refrigerated liquid loads from the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad and coil steel empties from Iowa Interstate. The truck coil springs on the four AEX covered hoppers were open, i. e. empty. Makes me wonder if The Andersons (AEX) Clymers, Indiana ethanol plant is routing DDGS/Mash to t...

I had my scanner set to the Union Pacific Peoria Sub channel when I left home, so when I heard radio chatter at exactly 1530 hours, I knew I was in business! But when I checked Adams Street Yard, the Low Line was already empty! When I turned around, I could see MPECL's tail end sitting on the Low Line, waiting for dispartcher's instructions to move north from Peoria Junction.    I drove past the old Molitor Junction area just south of Harmon Highway, I could see the approaching train, so I went to W. Farmington Road and waited. Sure enough, the train came by in just a few minutes.    Friday's train had a good mix of Illinois & Midland Railroad, Keokuk Junction Railway, Tazewell & Peoria Railroad and Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway traffic, including zinc oxide, wheels and alcohol loads.  CAPTION: Union Pacific train MPECL (Manifest, Peoria IL to Clinton IA) rolls by W. Farmington Road shortly after departure from Adams Street Yard in Peoria, I...

I exited I-74 this morning onto E. Washington Street to find two locomotives and a tank car had backed out of the TP&W's East Peoria Yard. It could only mean that another run to Morton was imminent! I'm glad I happened upon this movement because it marked the first time I'd seen it use six-axle power. The only other time it is known to have happened was on March 2, 2023 when MQT dropped two tank cars for Fort Transfer. I don't believe Santa Fe ever used six-axle power on its Pekin District.  CAPTION: The Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway ran "Morton Job" Sunday morning, November 19, 2023. TPW 5015 and MQT 3407 rolled down Norfolk Southern's Bloomington District to Crandall and then the Morton Industrial Spur to deliver a lone tank car to Fort Transfer Company. Scenes are at Farmdale, Crandall and Morton, with final scenes showing power leaving engine lite.  - David P. Jordan

I checked Union Pacific train MPECL (Manifest, Peoria IL to Clinton IA) this afternoon after work to see if things had gotten back to "normal." It appears that either traffic is up, winter weather from two weeks ago is still affecting the carrier's carload network, or both.  Video shows MPECL rolling by W. Farmington Road shortly after departing Peoria, Illinois at 1639 hours. UP 7765 has 70 cars. A cut of 14 or 15 dry sorbent cars from the Illinois & Midland RR (via Tazewell & Peoria Railroad) were left behind at Adams Street Yard, mostly likely due to TPA (Tonnage Per Axle).   I know the Keokuk Junction Railway ran an eastbound road freight Friday at an earlier time that usual, so they delivered cars to UP either later that afternoon or on Monday. The Illinois & Midland Railroad had a bunch of dry sorbent cars for UP early in the week as well. Then you have the regular traffic from TZPR- and TP&W-served industries.  - David P. Jordan

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

Just before leaving work at 3:00 Friday afternoon, I learned that the TP&W was going to make a run to Morton. It is always exciting to catch a train where you live (I'm a few blocks from the tracks), but this occasion was even more exciting because it was the first time since July 7 that the TP&W came into town to deliver loads or pull empties at Fort Transfer Company's bulk liquids facility west of Jefferson Street. (I live here, and check every day, and had not seen any tank cars there until today.) I went home, grabbed my camera and headed to Norfolk Southern's Bloomington District, waiting at the N. Main Street crossing. Minutes after my arrival, at 3:18, I heard the NS dispatcher give TPW 5009 permission to run from Farmdale (where TP&W and NS connect) to Crandall Siding. The four-car train showed up 17 minutes later. Next, the TP&W crew pulled across the Tennessee Avenue crossing and shoved into Crandall Siding far enough to clear the connection switch...

Despite the soggy and cold weather Saturday, I got out to see not one but two TP&W trains!  First, TPW 3442 led 71 empty flat cars through El Paso, Illinois at 5:40pm. The train departed Prairie Central Cooperative's new (2018) Greenfield rail loop west of Chenoa. Cars had arrived with wind turbine tower loads and the empties were being sent to Houston, Texas via Peoria and BNSF Railway.  The second train was a manifest. TPW 2070, TPW 3440 and TPW 3046 had 169 cars. The 90 CSX covered hoppers on the rear were dropped at Grainland Cooperative's Cruger elevator.  The TP&W has seen a surge in traffic in the past year or so, thanks to expanded grain-loading facilities, wind turbine components and lease and operation of the Winamac Southern Railway. Longer and more frequent trains have become the norm. Industrial development in the Hoosierlift and Logansport areas of Indiana are expected to increase traffic in the near future.  - Dav...

When steam was king, the world was in black and white, or at least most television broadcasts in that era were in black and white. So I present this montage of steam action in black and white! I was fortunate to experience numerous mainline steam excursions between 2004 and 2019. Most of these are thanks to the Iowa Interstate Railroad, but the Monticello Railway Museum, Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway and Union Pacific Railroad are also represented here. Action is mostly in Illinois with some in Indiana and Iowa. The final scene, however, is in Colorado on the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad's 3-ft. gauge line. Steam engines shown are MILW 261, IAIS 6988, IAIS 7081, NKP 765, SOU 401, UP 4014 and DRGW 463. (Save for the first scene, all other video is available on my YouTube channel, and in color!) - David P. Jordan

Sunday afternoon, a BNSF Railway coal train being handled by a Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway crew, derailed two locomotive and two coal loads south of Bartonville. Ironically, Union Pacific's ex-Peoria Terminal Co. line (Iowa Jct. to Hollis) is temporarily out of service due to poor track conditions. So trains (presumably the Keokuk Junction Railway's Mapleton-East Peoria transfers and TP&W's Kolbe Local as well) have been using the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's Kickapoo Main between Iowa Junction and the Union Pacific connection, approximately three miles of Union Pacific mainline through the Sommer connection onto the Keokuk Junction Railway line.  The train had already entered the UP mainline when the derailment occurred. The rear locomotives derailed before it cleared the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's Kickapoo Main, tying up both lines.  - David P. Jordan

The weather on this final day of 2018 should have kept me indoors, but I found some local train action instead. First, I caught Norfolk Southern's local D49 arriving the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's East Peoria (IL) Yard early this afternoon. NS 3375 & NS 3221 have 49 cars (my second encounter in two months that the train's car count and symbol were coincidentally the same). The nine coil steel loads are mostly likely to be interchanged to Iowa Interstate. The Tazewell & Peoria Railroad ran a transfer to the TP&W's East Peoria Yard shortly after the NS pulled in. TZPR 1520 delivered 23 cars to the TP&W then returned engine lite. This unit is an ex-Apalachicola & Northern SW-1500. Next, I had a dilemma. Canadian National's Peoria Local was in town, and had been given permission to depart so I waited briefly at Wesley Road. The train stopped, and moments later, I heard the dispatcher give D49 permission to depart. I chose...

Road freights operated by the Toledo, Peoria & Western can be elusive, especially in daylight, so any chance to capture their movement must be taken when possible.  I took the opportunity Sunday, December 30, 2018 to intercept and then chase one of those elusive TP&W freights from near Secor to East Peoria. A pair of TP&W SD40-2s, resplendent in standard orange paint of parent Genesee & Wyoming Inc., lead 86 cars west a short distance past of Secor, Illinois. The first 25 cars were set out at Grainland Cooperative's Cruger elevator. After setting out 25 Incobrasa-marked empties at Grainland Cooperative's Cruger elevator a new crew got onboard. Shortened to 61 cars, the whole train is shown at both Washington and on the Farmdale Trestle entering East Peoria, Illinois.  Twenty-five carloads of corn are probably for Archer Daniels Midland Co. (or ADM Grain Co.'s barge loadout) in Peoria. A 20-car block of CSX-marked covered hoppers contai...

It is a good day when I happen to catch a train on the Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway's Morton Industrial Lead.  Late Saturday morning, August 25, 2018, I learned that a train had arrived in town. I already had plans to be in Morton so I left early, hoping to catch this train.  When I arrived, the train was already departing. TP&W 2070 was pushing a lone empty herbicide tank car near Main Street. I waited at Crandall Junction (northeast of town).  TP&W's Morton Industrial Lead is the sole remnant of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway's Pekin District, which was mostly abandoned in July 1983. Recent years have not been kind. The railroad has been trying to chase off the line's business for years, with Nestle USA/Libby's obliging after 2008 and Morton Buildings by early 2015. That leaves Fort Transfer Company as the sole remaining customer. Lack of business means occasional train movements to and from Morton. So it is a treat to ...

They did it again! Don't get me wrong, I'm glad the Peoria Journal Star is covering this story , but the local newspaper of record is going to confuse future historians. Tuesday's article on truck shipments of wind turbine components stored in the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's East Peoria Yard contained a typically obnoxious error. The first of more than 900 oversized truckloads of wind turbine parts have exited the TP&W railyard in East Peoria, bound for a wind farm in Bureau County. Who knows how the reporter bungled this. He wasn't familiar with local railroad facilities so he relies on what people tell him, or forgets what he is told. Someone with the East Peoria Police Department or East Peoria Public Works might have told him it was a TP&W yard or the reporter was told "TZPR" (or "T&P") and he could only remember "TP&W."  Anyway, as components are moving out of East Peoria, there is room fo...

Last year, Chenoa, Illinois-based Prairie Central Cooperative began construction on a new elevator and rail loop. The new facility (see above), being built between Meadows and Chenoa, will be capable of loading 100-car (or more) grain trains when it is completed later in 2018. Grain processors abound in Central Illinois, but the region produces far more than is needed locally, so a large volume is exported to other regions, and other nations. Presently, Prairie Central Coop's three TP&W-served elevators at Meadows, Weston and Fairbury individually ship corn to Peoria (ADM) and soybeans to Gilman (Incobrasa) but co-load a unit train for the southeast, usually routed to CSX at Lafayette, Indiana. The new elevator will probably load unit trains for both southeast and southwest markets.  Another elevator expansion appears to be in the works. Grainland Coop's Cruger facility is reportedly planning to extend its track east toward Eureka so it can built unit trains o...

The Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway made a Morton run this morning.  I learned of it through social media and took the chance to drive from my home in Dunlap and intercept it. Fortunately, I arrived in time to see TP&W 2105 shoving two loaded herbicide tank cars across Norfolk Southern's Bloomington District. TP&W's Morton Industrial Lead has seen better days. It is used to serve only once customer - Fort Transfer Company. The railroad has wanted to dump its Morton operation for a long time, but Fort Transfer, which began receiving liquid herbicide in early 2002, has kept it going. Access via trackage rights on Norfolk Southern's Bloomington District between East Peoria and Crandall and a small volume of business that fails to contribute much line-haul for the serving carrier has long plagued this last remnant of an ex-Santa Fe branchline which dates to January 1873. I shot video of the train shoving the two tank cars through town and also at Fort...

The sadness never ceases when it comes to dying railroad branchlines and their indifferent owners.  A quarter century ago, as interest in rail freight operations blossomed, I became familiar with a remnant of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway's Pekin District. The Toledo, Peoria & Western assumed operation of a middle portion of Santa Fe's only Illinois branchline through lease on July 8, 1983. Just less than six months later, TP&W was absorbed by its parent. Then on February 3, 1989, TP&W was reborn as a shortline. When TP&W first served Morton customers in 1983, there were three active customers - Caterpillar Tractor Co. (parts department), Libby, McNeil & Libby (canned pumpkin) and Morton Buildings (timber truss plant). Service was provided five days a week, Monday thru Friday, with an East Peoria-base Morton Switcher operating via Pekin Junction on Washington's east side. A trackage rights agreement with the Norfolk & Western R...

Saturday afternoon, January 27, was unseasonably warm and unusually busy with train action.  I worked six hours until noon then went to buy lunch, intending to spend the rest of the day at the downtown library where for the past decade, I have been researching local transportation and industrial history.  Almost immediately, I encountered a distraction in the form of an eastbound Toledo Peoria & Western local made up of TPW 3046 and 13 cars heading toward that carrier's East Peoria Yard. Video (below) was taken at the East Washington Street crossing. All of the cars were from industries located on TP&W's Mapleton Industrial Spur.  Note the Conrail gondola: used to haul scrap metal, it was probably spotted, unloaded and pull from Caterpillar's Mapleton foundry. It was probably the first rail shipment from this facility. (Conrail markings now belong to Norfolk Southern, and the car was likely interchanged back to that carrier via the Tazewell & Peoria R...

With the new year, Dynegy's Edwards Power Station, located south of Bartonville, switched from Union Pacific to BNSF as rail transportation provider. Coal is still shipped from the North Antelope Rochelle Mine in Wyoming's Powder River Basin (PRB).  BNSF Railway doesn't serve the Edwards Power Station directly. The power plant, which began operation in 1960 and saw subsequent expansion in 1968 and 1972, is located on the Union Pacific Railroad's Peoria Subdivision. There is another carrier possessing direct access: Toledo Peoria & Western (TP&W).  Although Union Pacific provides the simplest and most efficient means to deliver PRB coal to Edwards, Dynegy decided in late 2016 to shift more tonnage to BNSF in return for lower contract rates. So the carrier handles 135-car coal trains to Peoria and interchanges them to the TP&W for final delivery.  If a TP&W crew is available, interchange will take place on the Peoria side of the river, tho...