Peoria Station

Decatur, Illinois is both a major rail hub and manufacturing center. Several heavy industries generate considerable business for the city’s four railroads. Like Peoria, Quad Cities and Galesburg editions, I will summarize each railroad’s operations, facilities and customers along with a photo. Reference to the thumbnail map below should be helpful.

By alphabetical listing lets look at Canadian National, CSXT Transportation, Decatur Junction and Norfolk Southern.

  Canadian National Railway acquired the historic Illinois Central Railroad on July 1, 1999, yet a decade hence that carrier’s black scheme still adorns much of locomotive and rolling stock fleet. Above, a Peoria-bound freight train creeps through a residential area as it leaves Grand Avenue Yard on October 7, 2006. Besides the Peoria “turn,” CN runs a daily train to Mattoon and return, where connections are made with mainline freights. The CN’s primary Decatur switching yard is at Grand Avenue. Another yard, known as the “Runaround Yard,” was sold to ADM earlier this year to support that major rail user’s plant switching operations. CN serves a number of customers in the Decatur area: Archer Daniels Midland’s East Plant complex (consisting of ADM Grain Co., the soybean crushing facility, ADM Corn Processing, a co-generation plant, and other processing and support facilities), Archer Daniels Midland’s railcar repair facility, Cargill Texturants, Caterpillar, Decatur Herald & Review, Keen Transport, Morgan Distributing, NSR Technologies, Parke Warehouse No. 9, Ring Can Corp and Tate & Lyle. Illinois Valley Paving is served at Bearsdale (recently opened to replace their operation at Elwin) and PPG Industries’ flat glass products plant is served at Mt. Zion.

  Decatur’s daily newspaper continues to receive boxcars of newsprint. Above, a CN yard job is shown switching the Herald & Review on May 28, 2005.

  CSX Transportation serves Decatur from the east via a line of Baltimore & Ohio heritage. The B&O used to run on now-NS trackage from Decatur southwest to Boody, then on its own line to Springfield. Now, trains terminate at Decatur, which provides sufficient traffic for a pair of daily trains operating to and from Indianapolis (shown above). A Tuscola-based local train comes into town as well. CSXT has direct access to the massive Tate & Lyle wet corn processing plant, which is adjacent to their yard along El Dorado Street, but must rely on CN and NS connections for other business.

  Pioneer Railcorp’s Decatur Junction Railway (DT), operates through Decatur (above photo shows DT local on CN trackage on January 4, 2002). Since 1993, DT has been contract operator of two branchlines owned by local elevators: TopFlight Grain Co’s Cisco – Green’s Switch line and the Elwin – Assumption line, jointly owned by Moweaqua Farmers Co-Op Grain and Assumption Co-Op Grain Co., which DT serves in their namesake towns. Another elevator served is ADM Grain Co. in Macon. Fertilizer dealers in Macon, Moweaqua and Assumption are also served by DT. Finally, DT delivers plastics to Grain Systems Inc. via rail-to-truck transload at Assumption. The two branchlines are linked via trackage rights on CN through Decatur.

Norfolk Southern has by far the largest presence in Decatur, which includes the carrier’s largest flat (no hump) classification yard. The Triple Crown Services “Roadrailer” train above and the manifest  below on September 15, 2007, illustate typical rail traffic on NS lines through Decatur. Norfolk Southern serves Archer Daniels Midland’s East Plant complex (ADM Grain Co., the soybean crushing plant, ADM Corn Processing and other facilities use NS, though CN performs some plant switching for them), West Plant (corn and soybean oil refinery) and railcar repair facility, Stratas Foods (an ADM/ACH Foods joint enture), Pacific Rail Services’ container loading and unloading facility, Nortrak, Parke Warehouse, Sol Tick & Co. and Tate & Lyle’s massive wet corn mill and elevator complex.

Finally, CSXT, CN and NS all have direct connections with each other, and regularly exchange traffic, while Decatur Junction interchanges directly with CN.

- David P. Jordan