Peoria Station

Some communities are smarter than others. One is Plymouth, Wisconsin.
In February 2007, the Wisconsin & Southern Railroad presented a plan to the Gov. Jim Doyle called “Rail Restoration 15,” or “RR15.” The plan called for restoring rail service to several Wisconsin communities through three projects, one of which involved rebuilding 11 miles of unused but in-place trackage [...]

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This is the second time in about a month at the same location that I’ve seen this happen. The first time, a bicyclist was riding on the other side of the road in the other direction!
- David P. Jordan

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 PEORIA -  At least one trail proponent has made his position known, using the hood of a Central Illinois Railroad Company locomotive to spell out, “Jobless Yet? Build the Rec trail!!”
Note “B. S.” above…I couldn’t agree more.
- David P. Jordan

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From an excerpt from the Journal Star’s article regarding Tuesday night’s Peoria City Council meeting:
At-large City Councilman Ryan Spain countered by saying that by promoting usage along the Kellar Branch through the city would prove to be a “disruption” of noise and train lights on houses that, for many years, have not had to contend [...]

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The above photo shows a British Columbia Railway boxcar spotted for unloading at the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad’s Creve Coeur freight house this afternoon. BC Rail is now part of Canadian National, the railroad which handles the majority of lumber bound for Peoria area consignees, including Carver Lumber. This car’s presence at the Creve Coeur facility suggests [...]

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Back in 2005, it was first reported that the City of Davenport, Iowa made plans to construct a rail spur from an existing rail line to a new industrial park located on the city’s northwest side. Known as the Eastern Iowa Industrial Center, it attracted the interest of Ferguson Enterprises, but due to lack of rail [...]

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Is the latest twist in the Kellar Branch saga sunset for more local railroad mileage?
PEORIA – On the Peoria City Council agenda for Tuesday, July 14 is to vote whether to approve a reciprocal trackage rights agreement between the Central Illinois Railroad and Pioneer Industrial Railway that will allow for abandonment of the Kellar Branch from Park [...]

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PEORIA – The City of Peoria is planning to re-zone Growth Cell Two from “Light Industrial” to something else. You’ll recall that trail proponents for several years dangled rail-spurred industrial development  there like a carrot to the Peoria City Council to entice their support in converting the city-owned Kellar Branch into a recreational trail. Let’s [...]

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PEORIA – Is this barrier recently erected on the east side of Knoxville Avenue near Junction City the City of Peoria’s latest scheme to replace the venerable Kellar Branch with a recreational trail?
Perhaps the City of Peoria is feeling remorse over its costly and drawn-out failure to force the operating railroad off the line through the Federal [...]

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To hear Peoria City Councilman-Elect Dan Irving or Peoria City Treasurer-elect Patrick Nichting tell it, the above photo of a Pioneer Industrial Railway train having just cleared NE Jefferson Street today, April 20, is not possible since there are no customers on the Kellar Branch. But raw, unphotoshopped pictures don’t lie.
Carver Lumber received this carload [...]

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