Peoria Station

I think the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway’s 172-page Industrial Development Brochure is incredible for its detail, and it shouldn’t leave prospective buyers of listed properties and buildings with too many questions. But if they do have any, they can always contact the railroad.

Closer to home, RailAmerica’s Toledo Peoria & Western Railway lists these properties. I’m curious, though, why two of them, here and here, which are nowhere near TP&W track, are listed (furthermore, they could find out that “Middle Road” is not spelled “Middel.”).

Genesee & Wyoming, Inc., owner of two local shortlines – Illinois & Midland Railroad and Tazewell & Peoria Railroad – provide few details on their website, but it does say this:

I&M’s extra-wide 200-foot right-of-way, and adjacent industrial sites on both I&M and T&P, offer excellent location opportunities for manufacturing, distribution and transload facilities.

Before the Internet Age, railroads published and circulated booklets detailing industrial development sites in various communities they served. One example was the Chicago Rock Island & Pacific Railroad’s 1964 booklet. One page of the Peoria section, which appeared in the railroad’s 1963 Annual Report, can be viewed by clicking the thumbnail below.

The Rock Island’s promotion of both the Galena Road Industrial Park and Pioneer Industrial Park caught the attention of the Peoria Journal Star, which mentioned it in a June 16, 1964 editorial.

Past and present, American railroads know that to remain viable long term they must continuously promote their services to prospective industrial and logistics firms. And the only change is the type of media.

- David P. Jordan