Peoria Station

List, Wind turbine trains are back! I learned that BNSF was running a wind turbine tower train to Peoria late this morning, but wasn't going to leave work to see it. Had I gone to Wesley Road Hilliards (Creve Coeur) directly from work, I would have see it, though the mid-afternoon shadows may have been bad for photography or video.  Anyway, I saw the train from Interstate 474, but having heard some radio chatter on the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's mainline channel, I decided to investigate. Turns out, the Keokuk Junction Railway's weekly "East Peoria Turn" had just received dispatcher's instructions from Iowa Junction (on Peoria's far south edge) to East Peoria. Despite poor afternoon lighting, I captured a runby at Sanger Street.  CAPTION: The Keokuk Junction Railway's East Peoria Turn is shown running on the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad at Sanger Street in Peoria, Illinois mid-afternoon Monday, November 13, 2023. LTEX 3848, PREX 2003 and LTEX ...

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...