Excellent catch Dave!! I was hoping someone in Illinois might spot TBX 3401 after it arrived there! I cant wait for more!
Nope...no pics of setting out the Libby's box car at the Libby's plant in Morton IL. But I did get over to Pekin to video SF 3515 pulling a cut of cars (including TBX 3401!) onto the PPU Interchange track by the Pekin Cemetery in North Pekin. PPU 607 will take the Corn Products cars down to the Corn Products plant in Pekin and will pull TBX 3401 and the rest of the cars up to the PPU East Peoria Yard.
Capturing TBX 3401 on the move Three tracks run next to the Pekin Cemetery: The farthest track is the P&PU main and the nearest is the track that connects the P&PU main to the SF, CIM, P&E, and IC yards in Pekin. The middle track is an interchange track where the Chicago & Illinois Midland and the Santa Fe leave cars to be picked up by the P&PU Pekin Job and taken north about 8 miles to the main P&PU Yard in East Peoria. SF 3515 dropped off about a dozen cars on the Interchange track, including TBX 3401. PPU 607 has brought cars south from East Peoria destined for the Pekin Farm Yard and Corn Products about 2 miles south of the Interchange track. The cars are left on the main while PPU 607 backs into the Interchange track to pick up only those cars going south to the Pekin Farm Yard. After dropping off all cars going to the Pekin Farm Yard, Corn Products, and other industries on the south side of Pekin, PPU 607 returns north, and picks up the remaining cars (including TBX 3401) and takes them north to the P&PU Yard in East Peoria. Capturing TBX 3401 on the move! Illinois Route 29 parallel's the PPU main between Creve Coeur and Pekin, and the two are within yards of each other for much of that length. This picture shows PPU 607 entering the Grove Block about 1.5 miles north of the cemetery. After snapping the entire train, I raced a half mile down the road and was able to capture this shot of TBX 3401. At one point, you can see where the abandoned GM&O right of way cut off from the P&PU main and crossed Route 29. This is the view looking from Route 29 northwest along the abandoned ROW toward the PPU tracks. PPU 607 is barely visible in the distance. Next stop: PPU's East Peoria Yard
Rick: Yeah, gons in scrap metal service certainly take some abuse...not just from the weight itself, but also from the gouges, scrapes, and dents that careless loading and unloading can cause. Maybe the recent paint job made the loader treat 3401 a little more gently than usual, because there don't seem to be any major scrapes or dents yet.
Mark: Prior to the 1970s, IC and GM&O ran parallel to each other less than a mile apart for about 15 miles from Green Valley north to Pekin. IC had trackage rights over the P&PU from Pekin into East Peoria and Peoria. GM&O connected with the P&PU tracks in Grove, about half way between Pekin and East Peoria. The GM&O tracks were removed prior to my arrival in the Peoria area in 1974, and now, 3 and a half decades later, the trees and shrubs have grown so much that you can no longer see where the old ROW used to be.
PPU 607 brought TBX 3401 and several other cars into the East Peoria Yard. I caught TBX 3401 on a classification track near several covered hoppers leased from Trainboard currently passing through East Peoria. The yard switcher spent the first part of its shift shuffling TBX 3401 and other recent arrivals. TBX 3401 is now blocked with several other gons going to one of the scrap yards for processing/sorting. The other gons have shredded and sheared scrap metal or sized heavy plate that can be delivered directly to Keystone Steel without further processing. The gons will be part of the 1st shift Kickapoo Job and will be delivered across the Illinois River to the PPU's Kickapoo Yard, a satellite yard on the south edge of Peoria next to the major scrap yards and a quarter mile north of the Keystone Steel and Wire Mill Siding.
Check that out! What are the chances of catching all those TrainBoard lease cars at one spot?! Nice catch!
Nice modelling; but I think the Feds might have something to say about all those cars with roof walks still in operation.
Leaving EP Yard for the Scrap Yard [FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Each day, the P&PU runs 2 trains from the main yard in East Peoria across the river to Peoria and then 3 miles south to the Kickapoo Yard located near where the Kickapoo Creek runs along the city limits between Bartonville and Peoria. The Kickapoo Yard serves the large scrap yards on the southern edge of Peoria and industries in Bartonville, including one of the railroad's biggest customers, Keystone Steel and Wire, which receives 30 to 50 cars daily. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Most of the cars on this Kickapoo Job will most likely go directly to Keystone and 2 (including TBX 3401) are probably headed toward the scrap yards for further sorting and processing prior to being moved to Keystone and being made into steel. The following loads/empties were seen:[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]1 load of bundled tin can scrap [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]2 loads of shredded autos[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]1 load of sheared scrap (cut to fit into the steel mill's charging boxes)[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]3 loads of sized heavy plate[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]1 load of Electric Arc Furnace Electrodes[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]3 empty gons for outbound steel billets.[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]2 loads of unsorted scrap metal (including TBX 3401).[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]This first pic was taken from the parking lot near the P&PU offices, and shows TBX 3401 passing the P&PU MOW cars at the southern end of the P&PU's East Peoria Yard. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, sans-serif][/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]I saw the center panel car being unloaded and took this pic through the trees. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, sans-serif][/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]On Wesley Road, I took a pic of the Kickapoo Job as it passed out of Wesley Junction in East Peoria, toward the bridge, and then on to Bridge Junction.[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, sans-serif][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]The scrap yards have a loco that moves cars from the scrap yards' inbound track to the scales for weighing and then on the various sidings in the scrap yards where loads are sorted, sized, sheared, or shredded. The yard loco reverses the process when cars have been unloaded or loaded, weighs them when they are heading back out again, and sets them out on the scrap yard outbound track.[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]After being weighed, TBX 3401 is spotted on the track where its load will be sorted and sized. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]After it is unloaded, the scrap yard loco picks it up...[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, sans-serif][/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]...and takes it back to the scales to confirm the empty weight.[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, sans-serif][/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]TBX 3401 and other empties have been set out on the outbound track for the Kickapoo Job to pick it up. The scrap yard loco is pushing some more cars over the scale. [/FONT]
