I recently spent a day in Watseka for work and saw a couple TPW trains run through town, mainly covered hoppers. It looked like they were moving at 10-15mph maybe.
Is there much traffic on that line anymore? And, aside from grain elevators, who are the customers? IIRC, it was once considered as a possible bridge line for ATSF-Indiana traffic.
A bit nostalgic - my oldest son and I took a caboose ride on that line farther west when it was the TPW (again) a couple of decades ago.
TFAI!
I’m really surprised that no one has given you any useful feedback on this topic. I was looking forward to up-to-date information as well.
I can offer limited, outdated information…I drove across Illinois on the mostly parallel US 24 several times in the 15-18 year ago time frame, durning normal business hours on week days…and never saw one single train.
My timing could have just been of odd luck, but after the first few trips, the complete absence of trains was impossible to ignore.
[quote user**=“Convicted One**”]
I’m really surprised that no one has given you any useful feedback on this topic. I was looking forward to up-to-date information as well.
I can offer limited, outdated information…I drove across Illinois on the mostly parallel US 24 several times in the 15-18 year ago time frame, durning normal business hours on week days…and never saw one single train.
My timing could have just been of odd luck, but after the first few trips, the complete absence of trains was impossible to ignore.
[/quote]
Similar to Convicted One’s mempries; I worked out of Chicago in the 1980’s for an OTR Carrier. Our customers and routes crossed the area of the TP&W’s trackage. Exactly. as he stated, it sure seemed to be a railroad without any traffic, at least in the daylight. It crossed the ICRRs tracks at Gilman,Il.
There was another N-S RR that crossed it at the Indiana side of the border with Illinois; Can’t remember its name now. In the late 1980’s there was a large Intermodal facility built just off the westside of I-65 just north of the Kentland Interchange (Remington,In (?)… It was on the line of the TP&W to its Lafayette, In. line.[ Terminus was then about Logansport,In} I think it was a’bust’ (?)
I cannot ever remember seeing any activitiy there. Somehow, I think it came out iof some of the era’s big merger activities(?)… AT&SF and PRR (maybe P.C. RR) and TP&W were all in a ‘merger dance’ sround that time (?).
I also recall there was a lot of ‘talk’ [Railroad speak: ‘Scuttlebutt’?] around about the possibility of TP&W becoming a possible West to East(?) South By-Pass for the congestion in the Chicago area, as well(?) Another ‘Bust’ ?
Here is a l
Interesting thing about that place, first time I saw it as I was driving by in 2003. Probably about 3 PM, and every light in the yard was burning bright. Nice big “BNSF” monument sign at the entrance drive too.
But no apparent activity.
It was being used as a staging yard for wind turbine blades the last time I saw it.
Hoosier Lift was it’s name. Created by ATSF when they controlled the TPW. I was Right Of Way Agent for Santa Fe and participated in its creation. It was the idea of Larry Cena; at that time President and CEO.
Thanks for your input. Since you were in a position to know, what was the strategic initiative behind the creation of that facility? One hears a lot of re-boiled opinion about this place, usually governed by the will of the person “offering” their opinion. But it would be nice to hear for once what the original mission statement was. [angel]
I have no personal info but believe the concept was to intercept northbound I-65 traffic ultimately destined for Chicago and then further west. Thus the cargo could use the TP&W to a Lomax connection with the Santa Fe main line thus avoiding congested Chicago. Also a reverse move for eastbound cargo which would not go through Chicago and down I-65.
I presume Santa Fe’s marketing staff provided info that persuaded President Cena.
It seems to me that all those benefits are as tangible today as they were 30 years ago, if not more so. What changed?
The merger with BN ?
Well, I got curious in regard to this line’s apparent dormancy, so I followed it via Google maps from Monticello IN west to Peoria IL. And while it doesn’t “prove” anything…normally in such an aerial “flyover” you see at least some activity. I found next to none.
There appear to be sidings still in service at many sizeable Ag operations…but scant tangible proof that any of them are being serviced. Likely a different story during harvest season?
Other than that,… just an odd assortment of cars standing on innerchange wyes here and there at various junctions, and a single industrial building having it’s own siding in Gridley IL, here is what else I did find:
A substantial number of cars on industry siding with nearby power on standby at Gilman IL, Incobrasa Industries,
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.7646843,-88.0187524,595m/data=!3m1!1e3
Relic of an old turntable in Forrest IL
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.7495969,-88.4067373,286m/data=!3m1!1e3
This train parked on a siding in Fairbury, with no opposiing or overtaking traffic anywhere in sight, anyone know what kind of cars those might be?
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.7466197,-88.5187134,72m/data=!3m1!1e3
A “continuous loading” facility Between Chenoa and Gridley:
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.7470632,-88.7703384,1146m/data=!3m1!1e3
This train operating in East Peoria
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One other thing I noticed, again just from the perspective of Google, so there obvious;y is no science involved.
But this line appears to be plagued by many, many small bridges over small creeks, where the bridges themselves appear questionable for 286K traffic.
Perhaps that has something to do with why this line never really panned out as a Chicago bypass? (subsequent to the demise of Hoosierlift)
Don’t think bridges were a probem in in mid-1980’s because Santa Fe had excellent bridge people to advise Mr. Cena
Weren’t they using 263,000# as the car limit in the 1980’s?
Seems like I recall reading somewhere around 1999-2000 in Trains magazine that the heavier limit was going to make some lines obsolete.
Santa Fe’s plans to transport vans from the highways would not have been concerned with 263000# loads. I am not aware of that heavy traffic on the TP&W line.
Yeah, my comment about “not working out as a Chicago bypass” pretty much took the demise of Hoosierlift as a foregone conclusion, and really was more pointed towards why the TPW has not THEREAFTER been used as a bridge between eastern and western roads AS A MEANS TO BYPASS CHICAGO.
We’ve had discussion here before pondering why this line, (or even the Kankakee branch as an alternative) are not employed as bypass routes to avoid the congestion in Chicago. And I don’t believe that any of those discussions contemplated possible limiting capacity of the extant bridges on the line.
Perhaps the cost of upgrading all those bridges made this line a less attractive alternative, is what I guess I am saying.
Anyway, my initial observation was just a “perhaps”, so I’m not sure it’s worthy of much more debate than we’ve already given it. [8D]
Currently owned by the BNSF. Will check to see if anyone on one of the forums that belong to has any current information on the ex TP&W.
All the class 1s have to go to Chicago anyway to serve that large market. So what would justify a second bypass line. Railfans and probably shippers can see reasons why. However, Fred Frailey said that class 1s don’t seem to consider transfers a priority. Once they get the car to Chicago, they figure transfers are the connecting railroad’s problem. The “final round” of mergers combining the lines coast to coast will solve the Chicago problem. They might even consider a bypass.
Well, the White Sox have been postponed due to rain so I might as well chime in.
Peoria, IL was a “Gateway.” It was a small time rival to interchange between east and west at Chicago and/or St. Louis. It was also the “Big City” for us small town folks of central Illinois. It even had medical specialists such as the pediatrician who did me a world of good when I got a peanut in to a lung at age two. The local small town doctor kind of missed that.
We’d go to Peoria maybe twice a year, aside from the pediatrician visits. Once for Christmas shopping and once more in the summer when the folks ran out of something that needed to be sourced in a big city such as Peoria.
Because it was a “Gateway” many railroads built branches in to Peoria or nearby Pekin. Off the top of my head I’ll list: Illinois Central, GM&O, they had two, New York Central, Pennsylvania, Nickle Plate, Rock Island (two branches), Santa Fe (from the east!) and CB&Q. The TP&W was kind of unique in that it passed through Peoria. It linked the Pennsylvania from Indiana to the Santa Fe in Iowa. It was a Chicago/St. Louis bypass. The Tip Up also took Peoria traffic to and from those important connections.
Peoria/Pekin business was nothing to sneeze at. Lots of good, old fashioned, midwest industry. Again, off the top of my head; Caterpillar’s main factories, Hiram Walker (the worlds largest bourbon distillery), a Pabst brewery, Keystone Steel and Wire, various meat packing facilities and a major livestock market, Corn Products (Pekin) and LeTourneau Westinghourse (another heavy construction equipment manufacturer.) There were other traffic sources.
The TP&W would take Peoria origin/destination business to the Santa Fe or Pennsylvania. BUT! The Penssy had its own branch to Peoria, so that was limited. A lot, but not all, of the industries were served b