7/6/02  CNIC Grain train derailment south of S. Pekin:  On 6/21/02, a southbound grain train on the CNIC's Pekin branch encountered some rough track and derailed not once, but twice. After derailing several cars south of the village of South Pekin, the crew was instructed to leave the derailed cars and continue south with the rest of their train. A few miles later, on the bridge over the Mackinaw River, more of the train derailed, sending some grain hoppers into the water and significantly damaging the bridge. As a result, the CNIC has been detouring the BNSF runthrough coal and grain trains around on an all IC routing through Chicago.
             SF&L Railway update: For those wishing to catch some action on the former TP&W West End, it is now possible in the daylight. The SF&L runs Monday through Thursday, with Mondays spent east of Canton in the Mapleton area. Tuesdays see them running west to Bushnell and the KJRY connection in LaHarpe. Wednesday has them operating out of Bushnell and continuing east to Canton and Mapleton to interchange with the TP&W, and Thursday has them working Mapleton and back to Canton. The power can be found tied up in Canton over the weekends, and consists of a pair of former IC GP10's with JTPX reporting marks. However, an ALCo/MLW M420 may be on the property already, as it was expected this summer from an operation in Canada.
            Keokuk Junction Railway: The KJRY has purchased trackage from the TP&W/SF&L from LaHarpe, IL to Lomax, IL and secured trackage rights on the BNSF into Ft. Madison, IA, keeping intact the west end of the original TP&W. They also have access to several yard tracks in Ft. Madison for interchange. A pair of KJRY GP20's still in BN paint have been seen on this train, along with a caboose. It is run from Keokuk as needed during the day.
             IMRL disappears: At the end of July, the I&M Rail Link will officially be part of the Iowa, Chicago, and Eastern rail network. Most of the IMRL blue power has already been disappearing from the property, and many leased CEFX SD40-2's have been spotted around the system, ready to be put to work on the changeover day. The first IC&E painted unit was sighted this week in Nahant Yard in Davenport, IA. Now is the time to get out and shoot some IMRL blue. However,  it will be interesting to see the changes that come to the property after the takeover, with the DM&E style blue and yellow taking over and hopefully some Powder River coal trains in the near future.
             Galesburg Remotes:Following the lead of many Class 1 railroad, the BNSF has begun their own program to bring remote control operations to several yards across the system as a test. Galesburg has been chosen as one of those yards, and the trimmer locomotives working the hump bowl tracks have been remotes since the end of May. Spotted at the end of June was the BNSF 6100, an SD9-3, working with a former Santa Fe SD39 in remote duties. Stay tuned to see what effect this new technology has on the yard, the BNSF, and the railroad industry in general.
                                                                                       (Thanks to David P. Jordan and Bill Irvin for the news)

4/14/02 TP&W MORTON SPUR UPDATE:
The Toledo, Peoria & Western did in fact embargo their Morton Spur in January 2002. The following month, a new customer came on board and so a rehab of the line began about mid-March replacing ties from Crandall
Jct. to Erie Court on the west side of Morton. the line was reportedly embargoed due to track conditions so the rehab makes sense. The new customer is Fort Transfer Co., a Morton-based trucking firm that specializes in hauling hazardous waste. Tank cars of agricultural chemicals have been delivered on occasion but reportedly 400 cars a year are expected. The tank cars are unloaded on the mainline but it appears there are materials to construct a spur. Morton Buildings received two loads of lumber in late March. The line was officially "in service" at the end of March.                                                                                                               (David P. Jordan)
1/21/02  UPgrade on the UP:  Well, it looks like the UP has committed to using the former C&NW Southern Illinois line through Peoria for through trains once more.  The ex-CNW track is the fastest (and possibly cheapest) way for trains running out of Proviso Yard in suburban Chicago to St. Louis and points south.  The former routing of these trains would be across Chicago on various Belt lines (IHB or BRC) to Yard Center and south on the Villa Grove sub.  The new routing would be much faster.  Here is a current listing of SI train symbols compiled by David P. Jordan:

MPRPB(Daily/Manifest, Proviso, IL - Pine Bluff, AR)
MASPRB(Daily/Manifest, Alton & Southern - Proviso, IL)
MCLPE(Su, Tu, Th/Manifest, Clinton, IA - Peoria, IL)
MPECL(Mo, We, Fr/Manifest, Peoria, IL - Clinton, IA)
CNAKI(as needed/Coal, North Antelope Mine, WY - Kincaid, IL)
CKINA(as needed/Coal Empties, Kincaid, IL - North Antelope Mine, WY)
CNAPW(as needed/Coal, North Antelope Mine, WY - Powerton, IL)
CPWNA(as needed/Coal Empties, Powerton, IL - North Antelope Mine, WY)
CNAHE (as needed/Coal, North Antelope Mine - Havana, IL - for Hennepin via barge)
CHENA (as needed/Coal Empties, Havana, IL - North Antelope Mine, WY)
CBTKI (as needed/Coal, Black Thunder Mine, WY - Kincaid, IL)
CKIBT (as needed/Coal Empties, Kincaid, IL - Black Thunder Mine, WY)
CMMSO (as needed/Coal, Monterey Mine, IL - Sommer, IL)
CSOMM (as needed/Coal Empties, Sommer, IL - Monterey Mine, IL)

Not only is the UP running more trains through Peoria, they are feverishly working on improving the track up and down the SI line.  In the past several years, the UP has not had a good history of derailments on the SI.  Last summer, it seemed as if they would put one on the ground every other week.  It looks as if they are attempting to remedy this problem, and with all of these new  trains, it looks like it will need it.

                                                                                                                (Thanks to David P. Jordan for the news)

            MLK Day Journeys:  Martin Luther King Day in Lincoln, NE dawned bright and sunny. With a warm forecast(highs in the 50s) and no school, I decided it was a prime train chasing day.  I left the dorm and headed north to see what the BNSF might have on hold up at 17th St.  There was an "earthworm" grain train put away in the OL&B with two H2 C44-9Ws, but he didn't even have a crew yet.  As I made the circle back towards the yard, I heard an empty report out of the west end.  I was still 5 minutes away, but I was hoping I could beat him out to the Emerald area.  Sure enough, as I got there, he was still crawling out the west end of the F tracks. I couldn't ever see the power, so I just decided to chance it and headed towards west A street.  It was still early, so the only possible place to try a shot of a westbound was a broadsider at the big fill.  After getting the shot of this guys pair of Grinstein Macs (I was hoping for something other than that, but at least the leader was the 9499, a patched version) I headed back to the yard to await the departure of this days L-NEB 645, the Wyemore local, which I had noticed still sitting in the yard earlier.  After setting out two misroutes and a "dangerous" car, they departed out the McCook line about 11:00.  I was especially interested in this local because of his motive power up front.  Today, the consist was a trio of BN green GP30s, and although two had been patched, it is still a rare find to get three together.  I headed out to Pioneers to look for a decent shot.  I managed to find one and set up for the local.  After baggin' him off of Pioneers Rd. I attempted to get ahead of him again, and found that to be tougher than first thought.  Those GP30s had that train moving at track speed, which is quite high, after all, this track is also used by Amtrak in the wee hours of the morning.  After getting stuck behind some slow drivers, I only managed to catch up to the LNEB645 as he was making the big turn onto the Wyemore line in Crete.  Thankfully, the Wyemore line's light rail and little ballast make for a much slower train.  I managed to get ahead of the local quickly and set up for a shot south of a rather large Farmland facility.  He had not stopped to work any of the sidings in South Crete, and had no work at the Farmland plant, so he was by me in not too long.  I decided to try to leapfrog him a couple of times and see what kind of shots I could come up with.  I went on down the line into Wilber (that's a lot funnier if said in a Mr. Ed voice)  and found a nice elevator for a backdrop.  I set up a couple of blocks south of the elevator and waited for the 645 to show up.  Pretty soon, his headlight became visible, but it seemed that it was taking him forever to make his way into town.  As he finally approached, I realized why. The local had dropped all but one car north of town, and was going to spot the elevator.  But, apparently that was a job for after lunch, as the crew  spotted the trio of GP30s (oh, it's the 2827, 2813, and 2815 by the way) in front of the elevator and went across the street into the restaurant to grab a bite to eat.  So, this spoiled the shot I had set up, as they didn't pull far enough south. Instead, I went up and got some shots of the power sitting there. Not wanting to wait for the crew to finish their lunch, I decided to head back up to Lincoln, as I had heard the Ravenna Sub DS saying that there were three eastbounds around Milford.
        So, back to Cushman it was.  Upon approach, I noticed that those three eastbounds had touched down in the F tracks, and the previously empty fuel pads were now occupied.  One of those eastbounds happened to be something other than a coal load.  It was the P-SSEMEM, and it had a consist that would make any Santa Fe fan drool,  a pair of surprisingly clean ATSF C44-9Ws, the 622 and 674(and they didn't even have orange AC units like most these days). With only three shots left in the camera, I decided to get the P train at Hill St. and call it a day.  I heard them depart around 14:30, and virtually at the same time, the H-PASKCK was also starting south.  I was worried that the H train would be on the near track at Hill St., blocking the shot of the P train, but as the SSEMEM was passing the PASKCK on the fuel track leads, they noticed an open trailer on the H train, resulting in a call to the BNSF special agent, and a stopped PASKCK, allowing the P train to proceed unimpeded.  My plan to climb the Hill at Hill St. was thwarted by what looked like a hobo wandering underneath the Van Dorn overpass. Not wanting to confront any angry drunken hobos today, I opted for the shot out of the back of the truck. After the P trains length of stacks passed, I decided to head for home.  That should do it for MLK Day 2002.

                Site Update:  More of Mr. D.P. Jordan's shot have been added to the Contributors Photos section, check them out, he's got some good stuff from the Peoria area.  Also, the Nebraska Division section will be up shortly and will give me some more division between the Illinois and Nebraska pics and stuff that I've got up.

11/10/01 TP&W Tunnel Motors: Seems that the Tip-Up is really trying to put their GP20's down.  RailAmerica has recently aquired six CEFX(ex-SP/SSW) SD45T-2's and SD45R's for lease and possible purchase by the TP&W.  All six were on hand Monday 10/23 when we managed to catch the first train using the new power (the westbound Galesburg turn) leaving E. Peoria at around 21:30.  They had the 9400 (complete with working amber rotary beacon) and 9392 which was ample power for that nights train.  Can only verify one other number, the 9401, as that was the only one we could read in the dark as they sat on the diesel pit in E. Peoria.  These should really come in handy on the coal trains for Edwards Generating Station, and also, will be needed for all of those long tunnels on the East End :) .
8-8-01 Illinois & Midland News Photos: As mentioned in the last news(see below), the I&M now has a pair of Buffalo & Pittsburgh Railroad SD45's in service. Click here to see a picture of the new power.
        Site News: I've finally gotten around to putting up the Contributors section.  Check it out!
7-31-01
       Illinois & Midland:  I&M has put a pair of Buffalo & Pittsburgh Railroad (a fellow Genessee & Wyoming family railroad) SD45's into service.  Numbered B&P 456 and B&P 450, the pair was seen leading a southbound freight train out of the P&PU's yard in Creve Couer back to I&M rails in Pekin on 7-31-01.
       Union Pacific:  UP has changed the origin of their Peoria turns from Marshalltown, IA to Clinton, IA.  The train now runs into Peoria as the MCLPE and back as the MPECL.
            Iowa Interstate:  The IAIS's Peoria train, the PERI, was a very interesting sight last week.  Trailing the IAIS units were 2 former Conrail B23-7's and 4 former Norfolk Southern C39-8's.  All markings on the NS units were painted out, and they carried new reporting marks OLD.  All were destined to National Railway Equipment in the former Rock Island Silvis, IL shops.  That days PERI also was in charge of "spotting" a car to be placed at the Peoria Fire Academy.  Out of Peoria,  the single tank (to be used as fire training) was placed on the rear of the train, and simply dropped on the IAIS main next to the Fire Academy, where Hulcher was waiting to lift it to its new section of track.

7-13-01 Peoria News:
            Union Pacific: UP was seen doing some major track work in the Peoria area this spring, and it looks like they might have missed a few spots. This past weekend, the UP dumped another coal train in the area around Reservoir Road near Pottstown, IL, the second in the past year.  13 cars on the ground in a semi remote section of Pioneer Hill.  It took Hulcher a few days, but things are getting back to normal now.
            It seems that the UP is still running the MPRAS/ASPR(Proviso to Alton & Southern) (click here to see a pic) trains through Peoria, a routing that was changed last year, favoring the old CN&W SI line over the ex-C&EI Villa Grove sub.
      TP&W: The Tip-Up's east end is really picking up with traffic this summer.  There is now a Gilman turn that leaves the E. Peoria yard around midnight for the IC interchange in Gilman, IL.  With the addition of this train, it is now possible to see 3 trains each way on the East End per day.  A new switcher is based in Fairbury, and makes a daily turn to E. Peoria and back, plus the train from Hoosierlift, IN are all possible morning trains westbound into E. Peoria.
            TP&W has also implemented a new Alpha-based train symbol system, with the Galesburg turn being the T-EPGB, and the Gilman turn being the T-EPGL. I'm not sure on some of the other symbols, I'll have to see what I can find out.
            The West End is not quite dead yet.  The Tip-Up is still running an as needed train out to LaHarpe to interchange with the Keokuk Junction Railway.  And, just this week, they ran a two GP20/one car train into Ft. Madison to interchange a covered hopper with the UP.  The KJRY has UP interchange rights at Ft. Madison(where the UP has trackage rights over the ex-ATSF route). However, the UP does not run any manifest traffic that way, so, when the car was left in Ft. Madison for the UP, it had to be picked up by a BNSF manifest train (the M-DMOWQM) running the K Line through Ft. Madison, to be taken to the W. Quincy, MO yard.  The UP also has trackage rights over the the BNSF through WQM (left over from SP days), and does run an occasional manifest that way. When they do run a train, it will pick up the covered hopper and send it on it's way to California.  Got that? Quite a routing for that hopper, but maybe a possible source of traffic into Ft. Mad for the Tip-Up.
     Pioneer Industrial Railroad: The Artrain was in Peoria Heights on the Pioneer Industrial over the Fourth of July.  This year the train featured art from the NASA art collection and the rolling gallery was called the "Artistry of Space". The P&PU interchanged the four passenger cars and caboose to the PRY on 7/3/01, and it was taken up the hill that morning, and finally being spotted in the Cohen's spur on 7/5/01.  With all of the commotion over the possible abandonment of the ex-CRI&P Kellar Branch over which the PRY runs now in order to make way for a trail(?), the Artrain was most likely the last passenger train that will ever run up the Pioneer Industrial Railroad, and it's first passenger move in almost 20 years.  I will have some pics up on the site of this train soon, as I was fortunate enough to have ridden it up the hill.
     BNSF: The Peoria Sub has really been seeing an increase in traffic with these new CN-IC/BNSF run-thru trains.  Mostly grain, but some coal has been showing up, and all with unusual power consists.  The IC has been running pairs of their SD70's, along with BNSF power(mostly SD70MACs) and anything else they feel like sticking on there.
           The Peoria Sub was under an all day maintenance window for the entire month of June, causing all trains to be held in Peoria or Galesburg until the work for the day was through.  This allowed me to shoot a few more trains in the late afternoon sun out around Elmwood than would normally be possible.  Hopefully, the maintenace that they did cleared up some of those nasty 10mph slow orders that they had, especially the long one between Peoria and Edwards.
            The Mississippi flooding in May of this year also had an affect on the BNSF's Peoria sub.  Several detour trains were run into Peoria during the month.  These trains were reroutes of BNSF-UP interchange traffic that usually went from Barstow, IL to the UP at Clinton, IA.  I've prepared a little photo section of one such detour train that I chased one morning into Peoria.  Go here to see it.
     P&PU: While the BNSF was working on their line, the P&PU decided to close their Illinois River lift bridge for maintenance as well.  The work should be done by now, returning operations to normal in the Peoria area.
                                                                                                                        (thanks to David P. Jordan for the news)

           Site News:  There will be lots of new pics up in the various sections soon.  I just got back a batch of slides and have them all scanned and ready to go.
 

4-3-01 Peoria News:
           TP&W:  The TP&W has really been changing things up lately.  The west local is still running whenever the Keokuk Junction has enough cars to interchange.  I actually caught this train on 3/10/01 coming into E. Peoria.  The intermodal train is now running via Galesburg, and is usually combined with the BNSF local traffic.  They usually leave E. Peoria around 20:00.  Apparently, TP&W power is not running through past Galesburg as was originally thought,  but it has been reported that BNSF power has been running through on the eastbound train.  These trains have been having the BNSF symbol of P-EPEKCK1-XX westbound and P-KCKEPE(or REM)1-XX eastbound.  So, my hope for increased TP&W traffic on the Peoria Branch was not to be.
    Other TP&W:  The Tip-Up could be seeing new traffic soon from two new industries popping up along their lines.  The first,  an auto-rack loading facility in Kentland, IN most likely for Subaru.  This should generate a considerable amount of traffic for the east end.  And,  there is a proposed ethanol plant for Fulton County which would need rail service and could possibly be located along the west end.  This may be a reason for them to reconsider any scrapping that might be in the works.  There also is a great amount of potential business on the west end that could be picked up by any new owner.
    UP:  The UP has started to run grain trains of Iowa corn bound for Arkansas and Texas feed lots down the SI line through Peoria.  These trains should be an all year move.  The SI just keeps getting busier and busier.
    BNSF:  The BNSF's Peoria branch is hosting an ever-increasing amount of CN/IC runthrough trains.  These mostly grain trains come down the BNSF off of the CN/IC(ex-CC&P) at E. Dubuque, IL and run down the BNSF "Peavine" into Galesburg where they bypass the yard and go straight to Peoria.  I saw one such CN/IC grain train on 3/10/01 as it came off of the BNSF and tied up south of the P&PU yard awaiting a crew .  CN/IC power usually runs through, and this train had a colorful consist of IC/CN/GTW/IC.
                                                                                                                           (Thanks to David P. Jordan for the news)

        Trainwatching Adventures:  Well, since the weather is getting nicer around here, I suppose it is time to get out and do more trainwatching.  Yesterday was rather eventful. I started out around 14:00, making my usual rounds of the yard here in Lincoln.  As I was passing over the St. Joe line on the Parkway, I saw the DPU units on a southbound coal train, so I decided to give chase.  As I rounded the curve at Pioneers, I saw that the train I was chasing was an Arbor Load heading out the Nebraska City line.  This is the first train I have seen on this line in my 2 years of being here in town!  So, I figured that even though he was going away from the sun, I might try some shots.  I've heard that this was an easy chase.  His power was all H2 Macs.  Two on the point(8901 and 8884) and two pushing(8928 and 9846).  The Nebraska City line is a real challenge for loaded coal trains as it has several severe eastbound grades, and this is the reason that Hobson yard always ties two extra DPU motors on in the yard before this train departs for the branch.  So, as I chased this train down Hwy. 2 I was looking for any place that would yield a decent shot.  I thought I saw a park by the tracks, so I pulled off on Southwood Rd.  Now, I had heard that there were semaphores still in place on this line, but imagine my surprise when, as I crossed the tracks, there was a semaphore to my left.  Well, I had to get a shot of this.  After getting the shot by the semaphore, I decided to see what I could do east of town.  After waiting for the train to get by, I headed east, passing his head end very quickly, as he was only doing about 15mph. I made it out to the "metropolis" of Cheney well ahead of the train(oh, it's the C-CRMARN0-13 if you're interested).  I saw a possibility to shoot the trailing DP units in the sun here.  I waited around 20 minutes before the CRMARN finally caught up with me.  What a show! The two lead MACs pounded by in Run8 spraying sand and dust everywhere as they tried to top the big hill at Cheney.  They were really down to a crawl.  After the head end came by, I set up for my shot.  It took a good while for the mix of OPPX and OMAX hoppers to creak by before the rear DP motors showed up around the bend, working hard, but not quite like the leaders, most of the hill had already been had.  Of course, the trailing motors had their nose doors open, making them look not quite right.  But, it still looked pretty cool in the viewfinder.  I decided not to chase them any farther, and headed back to the yard.  The rest of the day was just me being out of postion for every train that was departing.  I no more than got to Cushman on the west end of the yard, than the Z-DENKCM1-02 called out on the east end, so I hurried back to try to beat them to Hill St., but ended up having to shoot his consist of ATSF 524, CP 6018, and BNSF 118 in Sherman Park(where luckily the gates were open for a baseball game). And I guess I did shoot the P-PTLKCM1-29 at Hill St. with a BNSF SD45-2 trailing, but it was really getting cloudy by then.
        It looks like the BNSF must be leasing some power from CP Rail now.  I've seen two CP SD40-2's in town in the past couple of days.  And, I've been seeing more and more of the old Santa Fe Superfleet junk showing up around here. The 118 mentioned previously has tiny BNSF initials below the road number.  Hopefully, the fact that Superfleet stuff is around here lately means a quick trip to MAC in KC for repainting.  The Superfleet DID look good when it was new, but now it is just sad looking.
    Site News:  Not only have I written an update page, but I also have been doing major work on the website in general.  You've probably already noticed the new look to the front page. I've also been putting up lots of new pics, including some new TP&W stuff.  I also just got back a batch of slides, and I've already got some stuff from that group up on the rosters page.  There is lots more in the works, including a page that I've been working on to show my trainwatching log that I keep as a Works spreadsheet.  Watch for that to be up soon, along with lots of new pics.