Peoria Station

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...

It is about time they notice. Wind turbine components have been stored in the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's East Peoria Yard for more than two months - in full public view. It took awhile for the local "newspaper of record" to report on it. Even if they lacked sufficient information, they could have run a photo. Better late than never, I guess. Fortunately, the article posted late Tuesday confirms that the components are for the Walnut Ridge Wind Farm in Bureau County. Blades, tower sections, hubs and nacelles have sat longer than expected because the developer (Landwehr Construction Inc.) wanted to truck them out on Wesley Road, Route 29 and then I-474. But Wesley Road couldn't handle the size and/or weight of some of the materials. An alternative route onto Columbia Street, West Washington Street, Main Street and then US 24 east is planned for the last week of June through the last week of September. The company will ship two turbines (requiring nin...

I finally caught the TP&W hauling wind turbine tower sections... ...for the western Logan County project. I've previously shot video and pics of wind turbine components being hauled on the Toledo, Peoria & Western, but back in 2008-2009 when my video was of lesser quality.   Thursday, I received a heads up that this train was at Gilman, Illinois. So I drove east on US 24 and found it stopped at Weston for a crew change. It wasn't long before the relief crew took the train westward. There were 64 wind turbine tower loads, which came from the Union Pacific at Watseka. These were added to 42 cars of manifest traffic left at Gilman by the Indiana Local Tuesday afternoon. In the above video, TP&W locomotives 5010 & 3442 lead the 106-car train at Weston (whole train), Chenoa, west of Meadows, Gridley, El Paso (whole train), Eureka and Washington. The towers are bound for sister Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's East Peoria Yard.  - David P. Jo...

I finally caught a Union Pacific wind turbine components train! In 2009, that carrier delivered multiple such trains to the Toledo Peoria & Western Railway at Sommer (just south of Bartonville near E. D. Edwards Station). Although I saw UP power coupled to one end of a train, I only witness movement on the TP&W. Saturday, March 3, 2018 offered a chance to see it. Although a local move (Adams Street Yard in Peoria to the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's East Peoria Yard), and a slow one at that (the video lasts 11 minutes, 14 seconds), waiting about four hours was worth it.  The train, led by UP 6158 and UP 5725, had 36 blades on 72 specially-equipped 86' flat cars (two flat cars needed per blade). I'm unsure of its origin, but the manufacturer of those towers which arrived on the TP&W last week (Vestas) also manufactures blades at a Union Pacific-served plant in Brighton, Colorado. The train came via St. Louis, so a Colorado origin makes sense...

The first trainload of wind farm components for Walnut Ridge Wind Farm in Bureau County arrived East Peoria early Monday. On Tuesday, they were unloaded.  A cut of 18 flat cars still loaded with Vestas wind turbine towers sits on track B-19 at the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's East Peoria Yard. As evidenced by towers sitting on the ground at left, many others had already been unloaded before I recorded this scene Tuesday afternoon, February 27, 2018.  - David P. Jordan

They're here... After being delayed four days by severe flooding at Watseka, Illinois, Union Pacific delivered a wind turbine components train to TP&W there Sunday evening.  A combined mixed freight and about 34 wind turbine tower loads arrived East Peoria early this morning. The cut of tower loads was still in TP&W’s East Peoria Yard this afternoon. The towers, destined for unloading at the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's East Peoria Yard, display Vestas markings. Vestas North America manufactures these at a Union Pacific-served plant just south of Pueblo, Colorado so it seems likely where the train originated. - David P. Jordan

For the first time in several years, wind turbine components will be arriving East Peoria by train.  The Walnut Ridge Wind Farm will erect up to 106 towers this fall between in Bureau County, Illinois. The Tazewell & Peoria Railroad (TZPR) is part of the logistics chain that will see components arrive on flat cars.  A large section of railroad property in East Peoria is being prepared for the project. Cranes are on site (see photo) that will be used to unload components from railcars and re-load them to specially-equipped trucks which will haul them to the construction site. In past years, the Toledo Peoria & Western Railway's East Peoria Yard has been used for this purpose. Sister TZPR's facilities must be a better fit for the latest local wind energy project, and a good indication that components will arrive on multiple carriers. UPDATE (Feb. 22) - The first wind turbine components train just departed Villa Grove, Illinois on the Union Paci...