Peoria Station

PEORIA – Local railfans are reporting the movement of Central Illinois Railroad Company’s (CIRY) switch engine 1207 from Pioneer Industrial Park to the south end of the line, where it has joined the 1202. The CIRY deems the line unsafe for its crews and locomotives and never ran the length of it, until now.

The reason for the movement of the 1207 is unknown, but my best guess is that the 1202 had some mechanical issues that could take some time to repair, and that service to O’Brien Steel Service Co. couldn’t wait.

Hopefully, I can soon determine what happened this week and why.

UPDATE (Feb 5): Some discussion on my PeoriaRails yahoo! group may have provided an answer as to why the Central Illinois Railroad Company moved its Pioneer Park switcher to the south end of the line. Apparently, the company wants one of the locomotives (1202) back in Chicago. If CIRY intends to service its storage car operation at Pioneer Park and O’Brien Steel Service with the same locomotive (1207), then they will need the Kellar Branch to remain intact for the forseeable future, which if true, doesn’t bode well for pro-trail interests who have placed their hope in negotations reportedly taking place between the railroads, Cities, Park District and other interested parties. Remember, both railroads operating this line have federal backing to continue service.

UPDATE 2 (Feb. 6): The CIRY 1202 has been moved up to Pioneer Park. Apparently, they swapped locomotives. Not sure of the reasons for this, but CIRY has now made a run down the Kellar Branch and then back up it, apparently for the first time. The 1202 faces the other direction. Perhaps the crew had enough of  pushing those storage cars ”cab forward”?

- David P. Jordan