| Toledo, Peoria and Western Railway | |
|---|---|
Toledo, Peoria and Western Railroad number 400, an ALCO RS-11, on display at the Illinois Railway Museum, in Union, Illinois. |
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| Reporting mark | TPW |
| Dates of operation | 1989–present |
| Predecessor | Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| Length | 247 miles (398 km) |
The Toledo, Peoria and Western Railway (reporting mark TPW) is a short-line railroad that operates 247 miles (398 km) of track[1] from Mapleton, Illinois, through Peoria across Illinois to Logansport, Indiana, and includes a branch line between Logansport to Winamac, Indiana. TP&W has trackage rights between Galesburg, Illinois, and Peoria, between Logansport and Kokomo, Indiana, and between Reynolds, Indiana, and Lafayette, Indiana. TPW has connections with UP, BNSF, NS, CSXT, CN, CP, CERA, CIM, KBSR and T&P.
The railroad's traffic comes largely agricultural products, including both raw and processed grain products, as well as chemicals and completed tractors. The TPW hauled around 26,000 carloads in 2008.[1]
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Toledo, Peoria & Western's earliest ancestor was the Peoria and Oquawka. The eastern extension began construction, three years after its charter, in 1855.
The Toledo, Peoria & Western was incorporated in Illinois on March 28, 1887, and consolidated the operation of the Toledo, Peoria, and Warsaw Railway and the Logansport, Peoria, and Burlington Railroad. The Logansport, Peoria and Burlington Railroad, built from Galesburg to East Burlington, Illinois, in 1855, reached Gilman, Illinois, in 1857, and Effner in 1859. A TP&W passenger train was involved in the Great Chatsworth Train Wreck in Chatsworth, Illinois, in 1887.
The Toledo, Peoria & Western Railroad purchased six Class H-10 Northerns from the American Locomotive Company in 1937. These locomotives were given road numbers 80 through 85 and were the lightest 4-8-4 ever built for a North American railroad, weighing only 361,000 pounds. They had 69-inch drivers, 23.5 x 30 cylinders, a 250 psi (1,700 kPa) boiler pressure and a tractive effort of 51,000 pounds force.
In January 1960, the ATSF & PRR gained joint control (half interests) of TP&W. When Conrail was created in 1976, the TP&W acquired the former Pennsylvania Railroad trackage from Effner into Logansport, which otherwise would have been abandoned. The value of this trackage diminished in 1981 when Conrail closed the Logansport interchange.
In 1979, the Santa Fe reached agreement to acquire the former Pennsylvania Railroad's interest in TP&W. TP&W was merged into ATSF on December 31, 1983.
The ATSF sold the Lomax-Peoria-Logansport main line on February 3, 1989, to new investors, who reused the TP&W name; TP&W was an independent railroad again. When the parent companies of ATSF and Burlington Northern merged in 1995, TP&W was granted operating rights over BN's line between Peoria and Galesburg, Illinois. Control of TP&W was acquired by Delaware Otsego Corporation in 1996. In 1998, TP&W had revenues of approximately $13.4 million and moved over 59,000 freight carloads and intermodal units. It was acquired by RailAmerica in 1999, and it is still operated as TP&W.[1]
The Keokuk Junction Railway now owns parts of the old TP&W line, including the Western Illinois & Keokuk section of TP&W (Fulton, McDonough and Hancock counties in Illinois). In December 1986, KJRY purchased 33.5 miles of former TP&W trackage (then owned by the Santa Fe Railroad) from Keokuk, Iowa, and Warsaw, Illinois, to La Harpe, Illinois. KJRY's feeder line application with the Surface Transportation Board (STB) to acquire the assets of the west end of the new TP&W was granted on 2004-10-28. KJRY completed the acquisition on 2005-02-11, adding 76 miles from LaHarpe to Peoria, the old TP&W main line west of Peoria.
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