Toledo, Peoria and Western Railway

The Toledo, Peoria and Western Railway reporting mark|TPW is currently a short-line railroad that operates 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. Traffic includes agricultural-related commodities, auto parts, coal, steel and chemicals. TPW has connections with UP, BNSF, NS, CSXT, CN, CP, CERA, CIM, KBSR and T&P.

History

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 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 the Penn Central collapsed in 1976, the TP&W acquired the former Pennsylvania Railroad trackage from Effner into Logansport.

In 1979, the Toledo, Peoria & Western was acquired by the Santa Fe. TPW was merged into ATSF on December 3, 1983.

The ATSF sold the main line on February 3, 1989 to new investors called Delaware Otsego Corporation, who reused the TP&W name; TP&W was an independent railroad again. In 1998, TP&W had revenues of approximately $13.4 million and moved over 59,000 freight carloads and intermodal units.

Acquired by RailAmerica on September 3, 1999, it is still operated as TP&W.

Keokuk Junction Railway purchases

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 TP&W trackage (then managed 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 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.

ee also

* Keokuk Junction Railway
* RailAmerica

External links

* [http://www.mtco.com/~epa2154/tpw.htm TP&W photos 1997 - 2002]
* [http://www.catskillarchive.com/rrextra/wkill.Html TP&W accident at Chatsworth, Illinois, Harper's Weekly - August 20, 1887]
* [http://broadway.pennsyrr.com/rail/prr/Corphist/tp_w.html TP&W Corporate ownership, PRR records]
* [http://www.steamlocomotive.com/northern/tpw.shtml TP&W Northerns]
* [http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-IMPACT/2003/August/Day-20/i21033.htm EPA abandonment]
* [http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/14mar20010800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2002/02-32077.htm Federal Docket No. 34282]
* [http://www.pioneer-railcorp.com/Subsidiaries/KJRY/kjry.html Keokuk Junction Railway Company]
* [http://www.railroad.net/photos/bicentennial/media/tpw700.jpg1976 photo, East Peoria]