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| Chicago & North Western Historical Society posted Someone wanted to see photos of the C&NW yard in South Pekin, Illinois (south of Peoria). Here are two of the historic boxcar family area in 1913. Our C&NW Historical Society does not hold many photos of South Pekin in it's "heyday." Mark Perry: When I was roadmaster at South Pekin in the early 80's, I found a completion report for the line extension from Peoria to the southern Illinois coal fields. This work was being done at the same time as these photos were being taken and I sent the blueprint copy of the report to Chicago hoping that I could get a copy returned to me. One other quirky thing I found out about in my research was the fact that there was a narrow gage track system around the yard supposedly to move supplies. I started rebuilding the yard only to have track abandoned further south. Marv Walking: C&NW didn't have much presence or interest south of Chicago. But they did once go to St. Louis. Bill Edrington: Marv Walking - Coal, for use as locomotive fuel, was the reason for the extension of the line south of Peoria. The CNW established a subsidiary, Superior Coal Company, to sink four new mines that were centered around the new town of Benld just after the turn of the 20th century. Initially another CNW subsidiary, the Macoupin County Railway, hauled the coal north to a connection with the Chicago & Alton at Green Ridge, just south of Girard. The C&A then delivered the coal to the CNW at Chicago (and some at Peoria too, if I recall correctly), but after a few years of poor service from the C&A, the CNW extended its own line all the way south to Green Ridge, absorbed the Macoupin County Railway and booted the C&A out of the picture. In 1927, a short extension was built to a connection with the Litchfield & Madison at DeCamp, near Staunton, and that’s when CNW became a player in the St. Louis market, finally merging the L&M outright in 1958. |
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| Dave Crociana commented on Mark's comment I have a blueprint of the yard from 1939 and it shows that small gauge track that started in the Rip area and went out to a around the 'Sink Hole'. There was a track for them to load and unload out in that area. I'll post a photo of that blue printed area. [Dave Crociana provided four more blueprint images, and Mark commented on the changes. Please use the "posted" link to access those comments.] |
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| Dave commented on his comment In the larger photo you can see where the 'sink hole' was, just east (or below) where the supply/scrap track ran its circuit. It's where they'd dump water from the steam locomotives. The dotted line that leads to it I believe was the underground drainage system they had to dump the engines where the water would flow. I remember crawling around in some of those concrete tunnels when I was a kid. It came out at the Sink Hole. |
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| Tim Howard commented on the above post from Railway Age 1914 article. I live a stones throw from the former ROW of this line to Benld. |
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| Gary Talsky posted After 12 years here I finally made it to the UP South Pekin Yard, not realizing it's so close to Powerton. Big disappointment however as the place looked practically deserted on 02/25/2018 around 13:42. I stood in the same spot but pushed in the zoom for the details. Nor was there anything on the old IC now CN line a stone's throw east of here. David JordanDavid is an administrator in this group. Chicago & North Western ceased classification at South Pekin in September 1982. Most tracks were removed a few years later, but what remained served the railroad well until shortly after the Union Pacific merger in 1995. Manifest trains were combined (southbound) and split (northbound) and the interchange with Illinois Central was active until then. Paul Tincher As a young student trainman, I delivered a train to the IC. Shortly after, they took the connection out of service! That place was crazy busy back in the day. Amazing to see what’s left of it...nothing! David Daruszka If I remember correctly from my C&NW days there were some labor issues at South Pekin and damage was done by employees. The C&NW had a snit and closed the place down. David Plotts Results of the UP takeover Paul Tincher Nope. South Pekin died way before that. One of the former SP yardmaster’s told me the N&W-SOU merger killed a lot of traffic that used to go through SP for interchange in STL. David JordanDavid is an administrator in this group. David Plotts Paul Tincher Both of you are correct. When N&W and SOU created NS Corp. in 1982, it created a new route for Iowa grain bound for southeast poultry processors...C&NW to Chicago, then N&W to the SOU at Cincinnati. That reduced traffic on what had been two pair of daily Iowa - St. Louis manifests. The N&W-SOU merger as well as the earlier BN-Frisco merger (December 1980) is said to have reduced traffic on the two pair of daily Proviso - St. Louis manifests. C&NW apparently acted as a bridge line between St. Louis connections and Chicago connections. When carriers such as the Frisco and Southern found merger partners with access to Chicago, C&NW SI Line business fell like a boulder in water. The economic recessions of 1980 and 1981-1982 hurt as well, though the addition of Rock Island trackage probably softened the effects of the former. Although South Pekin Yard ceased being a classification yard on September 25, 1982, the C&NW continued to use some of the tracks not only as a crew-change point but also a facility to combine Iowa and Proviso trains southbound and split them northbound (this practice ended in 1994 but probably resumed by UP in late 1995). The IC/G interchange was active, especially in 1988 when severe drought conditions closed the Mississippi River to commercial navigation for weeks and forced export grain shipments to move to New Orleans via an all-rail routing. The C&NW handed off many unit grain trains to IC at South Pekin in those days. Believe it or not phosphate fertilizer received via barge at CF Industries in Mapleton was routed ATSF/TPW-Sommer-CNW-S. Pekin-IC/G to a number of Growmark FS fertilizer warehouses in Central Illinois. When I worked for Pioneer Railcorp, I recall a Repetitive Waybill Code (RWC) for such a routing to the Decatur Junction Railway (Macon, Illinois I think). UP, not C&NW, was in the routing, so this movement must have continued for a time post-merger. That merger occurred in 1995. I may have seen the last car to be routed via the IC interchange track at South Pekin. In October 1996, the cupola caboose now parked outside Pioneer Railcorp's present Peoria HQ was parked on the IC siding just south of Main Street. It was sent via UP to Adams Street Yard and then trucked to its present location. UP shifted IC interchange to P&PU, but there wasn't much. In 2002, the connection was removed. Although South Pekin Siding was rehabilitated with ribbon rail at the same time, one yard track was stubbed. Subsequently, tracks into the engine facility (used by the UP a few years to park locomotives) and car repair facility were removed. UP shifted the pair of Proviso-St. Louis manifests to the Villa Grove and Pana Subs in fall 1996 (though it shifted them back to the C&NW in 2000-2007) and ended through manifest service south of Peoria in 1997. Barr-Girard and DeCamp-Edwardsville segments were abandoned in late 1998. If Taloma Farmers Grain Co hadn't built its unit train-capable facility at Allen Station in 1997-1998, the Crescent-Barr segment might have been abandoned as well. Fortunately, the Peoria Sub provides UP with a good detour route and a congestion-free route for work trains and Sterling grain trains. PTC has been installed, so the line will likely be retained for the forseeable future. Below is the PJStar article dated September 26, 1982 on the South Pekin Yard's closure.Manage  Paul Tincher I can’t remember when i helped deliver that train to the IC, but I hired out in Jan. ‘96 and worked as a trainee out of SP until April or May of that year when I had to go to Proviso. I DO know I was on the last crew to use the turntable at South Pekin. We spun a unit in the middle of the night, took our train to Clinton, woke up the next day and there was a bulletin that it was OOS, never to be used again! David JordanDavid is an administrator in this group. Paul Tincher What kind of train was it? Paul Tincher Manifest. Mixed freight. David JordanDavid is an administrator in this group. A whole train or just a cut of cars? I remember covered hoppers on the interchange track about December 1995. Paul Tincher It was the whole train. And we also tied on to 10-15 cars that were already sitting in the connection. David JordanDavid is an administrator in this group. Paul Tincher Some kind of detour? Paul Tincher I believe it was. David JordanDavid is an administrator in this group. Obviously, the article leaves a lot to be desired. Example... "The stop before Pekin on the line originating in KANSAS CITY is within 100 miles..." Paul Tincher When my uncle worked there he took me down one night and got me a cab ride with one of the engineers he knew. That place was busy as hell! Then before we left a northbound freight did a “rolling” crew change at the yard office...the head end crew stepped off and I started yelling “THERES NOBODY ON THE TRAIN!” and my uncle said “Wait for it...” and here came the new crew out of the office, jumped on and away they went! |
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| John Freed posted This is a picture of what's left of C&NW' roundhouse after the March 1938 tornado. This was from the Peoria Evening Star edition from April 09 1938.I have several pictures and will be sharing them over time. I played around that round house as a kid. If my parents had known about it, I still wouldn't be sitting. 😁 David Jordan: shot video of his student trip on C&NW's SPMTA in April 1995. Before departing South Pekin, they use the turntable! |
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| David Jordan commented on John's post Here's a scanned version of that photo from the Peoria Star's April 9, 1938 edition. |
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| 1939 Aerial Photo from IHLAP |
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| Evan Johnson posted 1984 |
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| Andy Zukowski posted Chicago and North Western engine facility scene at South Pekin, Illinois. 1980 John Windish: Steam locomotive equipment rotting away. [Nope, see below.] |
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| Andy Zukowski commented on this post Chicago & Northwestern Railroad SD40-2 #6836 at South Pekin, Illinois on November 10 , 1980. Dave Crociani: Andy Zukowski Great photo. That was 3 years before the yard closed and all 3 towers were still there. They were used for fuel oil for some years. They're all gone now. |
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| Tim Howard commented on Andy's post Railway Age Gazette Vol 56 1914 - CNW Extension in Illinois - S Pekin IL Dave Crociani: The Illinois River Bridge was built in 1913, so this was the first full year of operation for South Pekin. There would later be 3 more of those water towers erected. I remember that roundhouse and as a kid would go over there with my friends and explore. There was a tunnel system underground to dump water and ash into the 'sink hole' which was about 100 yards beyond that stack. |
Dave Crociani provided the following four diagrams on Andy's post with the comment: "That became a very active and productive facility. I have blueprints of the yard as of 1939."
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| Dave Crociani posted C&NW South Pekin. Box Car homes for many transfer families. Around 1913 or a little later. Many of those boxcar homes are still there. [I could not find any boxcar homes still existing.] Dave Crociani: In South Pekin most of the East side were boxcar homes. There were some conventional homes built there too. But many, many boxcars. It was a mass immigration or the Railroad for people to move there and there not being lodging facilities. The RR had just expanded the line from Nelson, IL to Benld, IL hooking up with the L&M that they would eventually buy. They needed a lot of workers to pull that off. The blueprint I have of that yard shows and very large and active rail facility. Dave Crociani posted C&NW Yard at South Pekin, IL. Somewhere around 1913. |
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| Comments on Dave's second post https://villageofsouthpekin.org/home/home/ |
Noah Haggerty posted seven photos with the comment: "Here's a bit of a different view! The Chicago & Northwestern's yard at South Pekin, IL taken around the late 1970's from the skies! At the locomotive facility, a train led by two GP15-1's had just came south from Peoria. John & Roger Kujawa Photo, Thomas Dyrek Collection."
Terry Harris: The Illinois Terminal ran trackage rights on the C&NW between LeClaire (Edwardsville, IL) and Monterey Jct. Consequently, the place (or station) name "South Pekin" was familiar. But I'd never seen any pictures of the place until these. Thanks for posting them.
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