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[CBQ] Fw: [PeoriaRails] Burlington Route Freight Operations, Galesburg -

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Subject: [CBQ] Fw: [PeoriaRails] Burlington Route Freight Operations, Galesburg - Peoria
From: Don Zinnecker <dzinnecker@juno.com>
Date: Fri, 30 Sep 2005 09:03:30 -0500
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CBQ list members will find this interesting!    Thanks, David! 

--------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "David Jordan" <dpj1974@insightbb.com>
To: PeoriaRails@yahoogroups.com
Date: Thu, 29 Sep 2005 02:26:10 -0000
Subject: [PeoriaRails] Burlington Route Freight Operations, Galesburg -
Peoria
Message-ID: <dhfjc2+3fk2@egroups.com>

List,

Most regular manifest schedules on any given line were implemented 
by or during the 1920's but I have no information on Chicago, 
Burlington & Quincy's freight operations on their Galesburg - Peoria 
line prior to the mid-1950's. At this time, two eastbound and two 
westbound manifest trains were scheduled each day. These were 
eastbounds No. 68 and No. 70, scheduled to arrive Peoria at 10:15pm 
and 9:15am, respectively. Westbound counterparts, Nos. 75 and 91, 
were scheduled ot depart Peoria at 11:45pm and 11:00am, 
respectively. 

Though these two pair of freights handled the line's "through" 
traffic, any of them could make a pickup and setout at Yates City 
and perform local work if needed. Crews based at Galesburg ran to 
Peoria and return. 

As with most railroads serving the Peoria area, the Burlington made 
use of the Peoria Gateway. Direct interchange was made with the Rock 
Island, P&PU, Peoria Terminal and TP&W. The P&PU connection allowed 
interchange with the Chicago & Illinois Midland, Chicago & 
Northwestern, Gulf, Mobile & Ohio, Illinois Central, Illinois 
Terminal, Minneapolis & St. Louis, the Nickel Plate, the New York 
Central's Peoria & Eastern and the Pennsylvania RR at East Peoria 
and the Peoria Terminal connection allowed interchange with some of 
those same roads at Pekin. Connections with the Santa Fe at Pekin 
was possible via either the P&PU or PT but there seems little reason 
for it. 

The most important of these connections were the Nickel Plate, 
Peoria & Eastern and TP&W. The Pennsylvania RR was also an important 
connection but most CB&Q-PRR interchange was routed via the TP&W for 
its better route between CB&Q at Peoria and PRR at Effner, Indiana. 

Interchange with the Nickel Plate primarily took place via P&PU's 
East Peoria Yard but some perishable and meat traffic was 
interchanged to the NKP via TP&W when it had the only icing 
facilities left in the area by the 1960's. 

The CB&Q-NYC interchange included some eastbound livestock and 
westbound autoframes besides the usual general merchandise. 

That with the Pennsylvania RR consisted of traffic going to Indiana 
and southern Ohio points. 

During the 1950's, CB&Q-TP&W interchange grew significantly as new 
industries were attracted to the TP&W. While much of this 
interchange took place at Canton, some did take place at Peoria.

Another connection at the Peoria Gateway grew in importance during 
the 1950's. It was during this decade that the Illinois Terminal 
shed its interurban heritage and concentrated on building its 
freight business. Some CB&Q-ITC interchange took place via the 
P&PU's East Peoria Yard. 

There seems to have been a general dismantling of the Peoria Gateway 
during the decade of the 60's in which Class 1 railroads sold 
shippers on their Chicago connections following operational 
improvements which were supposed to reduce transit times and the 
windy city's notorious congestion. So it was during the mid- to late-
1960's that shippers increasingly routed their traffic away from 
Peoria. Some traffic simply disappeared from the rails. In other 
cases, Peoria was the only sensible gateway and still had a sizable 
amount of traffic, neither originating nor terminating within the 
city's switching district, that continued to go through its railroad 
yards. 

Though "through" traffic declined on the Burlington's Peoria line 
durng the 1960's, locally-generated traffic from the likes of the 
growing Caterpillar Tractor Company, the large Keystone Steel & Wire 
plant, local processors such as Hiram Walker & Sons, Pabst, Allied 
Mills and Corn Products, and many smaller firms might have made up 
for the loss as the "Q" was still running those two pair of manifest 
trains at the time of the Burlington Northern merger of March 2, 
1970. CB&Q served about 80 customers in Peoria in 1947 but most had 
closed, moved to larger facilities on other railroads, gone out of 
business or switched to trucks by the late 1960's. Some of the Q's 
largest customers in Peoria - United Facilities, Federal Warehouse, 
Chris Hoerr & Sons, etc. - had relocated their main operations to 
East Peoria. I. Bork & Sons relocated to the P&PU on W. Clarke 
Street. TOFC service began in 1959 and its subsequent growth led to 
the construction of a larger ramp in the mid-1960's. Customers were 
switched out of the Q's Peoria Yard, which was expanded in 1957. 

The Burlington Norhern, formed by the merger of the Great Northern; 
Northern Pacific; the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy; the Spokane, 
Portland & Seattle and the tiny Pacific Coast Railroad, created the 
nation's second largest railroad (after sick Penn Central). Much in 
the railroad industry was changing at the time and this new railroad 
would remain prosperous in a decade when most others were either 
marginal or dying. 

During the late 1960's, as merger plans were formulated, the Q's 
Peoria line manifests received new numbers. Gone were Nos. 68 and 70 
in favor of 104 and 106. Trains 75 and 91 became 105 and 107. The 
two pair of freights ran daily except for 106 and 107, which ran on 
Monday's only as necessary. Trains 104 and 106 arrived Peoria at 
1:00am and 9:15am, respectively. Trains 105 and 107 left Peoria at 
1:45am and 11:00am, respectively. 

Even in the late 1960's, the Q's Peoria line traffic was still 
heavy. According the the BRHS's BURLINGTON LINES OPERATING DATA 
SHEETS, both 104 and 106 were blocked in the following order:

Peoria Proper*
P&PU
NKP 
TPW Dead Freight
TPW Meat and Perishable
TOFC 
Waycar

*Loads and empties destined to CB&Q-served industries within the 
Peoria city limits, also including Rock Island customers.

Also note "NKP" (Nickel Plate) was Norfolk & Western from October 
1964. 

Counterpart trains 105 and 107 were blocked in this order:

TOFC - Galesburg and beyond
Carload - Galesburg and beyond
Empties

Also during this time period, train No. 735, a Lewiston to Galesburg 
local, made a side trip to Peoria (via Yates City), most likely to 
deliver Fulton County coal to Peoria connections. 

I'll cover the Burlington Northern era in the next installment.

Any additions, corrections and comments welcome

DPJ









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