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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