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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While in the Mapleton area this afternoon I noticed the above sign off Wheeler Road, just a little distance past the Supply Chain Services (SC2) facility.
Mapleton Solution Terminal refers to nearby bulk storage tanks. Olin Mathieson Corp. opened an anti-freeze processing and packaging facility there in December 1957. Eventually acquired by Northern Petrochemical Corp., it manufactured [...]

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  Understanding the benefits of rail transportation to the Peoria area requires not only familiarity with the firms using railroads but also commodities and products shipped and received. Click here for a list of rail users in the six-county TransPORT region (Fulton, Marshall, Mason, Peoria, Tazewell and Woodford) and what types of traffic they ship and receive. It’s [...]

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Following years of labor unrest and a long shutdown, the Toledo Peoria & Western Railroad Company entered a period of prosperity under the leadership of J. Russel Coulter. Coulter, who took the office of TP&W President and General Manager on May 1, 1947, spearheaded the purchase of real estate adjacent to his railroad’s tracks. The [...]

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Today’s Journal Star reports:
The Tri-County Regional Planning Commission tried for $78.6 million to link the Peoria area with high-speed rail proposed between Chicago and St. Louis. The Heart of Illinois Regional Port District (TransPORT) asked for $31.4 million to link its 70-acre Mapleton property to the river.
My Take: A link for Peoria to the proposed [...]

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I haven’t blogged about Springfield’s anti-rail hysteria for several days, but a lot has been going on. Just read the www.sj-r.com and its Boiler Room blog. Most significant is that Mayor Tim Davlin seems to have softened his position a bit, probably the result of last Friday’s meeting with other politicans and railroad officials.
Unfortunately, commenters to these online [...]

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  PEORIA – For nearly three years, PMP Fermentation Products has received corn syrup, the primary raw material needed to manufacture its line of gluconate and erythorbate products, by railcar. The first arrived around January 11, 2007.
Since that time, PMP has received railcars on a regular basis. Traffic appears to have increased signficantly during the past [...]

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Bloomington-Normal is generally regarded as an economic rival to Peoria, and possesses superior service from the nation’s interstate highway system. Although it has excellent rail passenger service, Bloomington-Normal falls far behind in rail freight service, and has no commercial water transportation. The area is no less interesting, however, and below are thumbnails illustrating its freight and passenger service.

AMTRAK [...]

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Click the map and see where area rail users are located! There area other area rail users, but this map represents the core. Give me feedback.
1. ADM Grain Co. – Creve Coeur Barge Dock
2. ADM Grain Co. – Creve Coeur Elevator
3. ADM Grain Co. – Peoria Elevator
4. AGRI-Bunge, LLC
5. Agridyne, LLC
6. Allied Iron & Steel [...]

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There’s another active branchline railroad in the Peoria area – Toledo Peoria & Western’s Morton Industrial Spur. This 4.9-mile track is a remnant of the Santa Fe’s Pekin District, which was built by predecessor Chicago Pekin & Southwestern in 1872. The line opened on January 6, 1873 between Streator and Pekin (TP&W track was used [...]

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