A railroad worth railfanning...
If you are a railfan and looking for some older locomotives to chase then say no more Keokuk Junction Railway is the Railroad for you. They are a shortline in Central and west central Illinois that runs from Peoria out west to Keokuk. The locomotives I am talking about most often or not just takes the freight over to the Good Hope and La Harpe, Illinois area where other locomotives out there handle the freight. They make a return trip with freight cars either the evening they run west or the next day it tends to vary at times. What you will get to see if you catch them going west are two FP9A's #1750 & #1752, a F9B #1761 and many times accompanied by a GP20u # 2003. The FA units served several Canadian railroads up until 1995. So in my next paragraph I should run down the history on them in case you are someone that doesn't already know. I was suprised myself when I found out but in a good way like "Oh cool". Blah blah blah let's get down to the goods shall we.
I will start off by saying The FA units are my favorite in this area and I have had the privilage to photograph and film them since they pass through my small boring town atleast twice a week which livens up another dull day of small town life. I'm so used to them I can tell without seeing them what type of locomotive is leading by the horn. The FA has a distinctive horn and boy can it blow and loud. Prex #1750 was built by General motors in October 1954 and was bought by Canadian National RR and served them until they were sold to Via Rail Canada RR in March 1978. The Algoma Central RR bought it in 1995 and it was sold to Pioneer Rail corp in 2003 which was assigned to Peoria and Western at first in 2007 then reassigned and the name changed to the current Keokuk Junction Railway in 2011. The second FA #1752 runs about the same history as the #1750 except it was built by General Motors in January 1955. It served the same railroads and was sold to Pioneer in 2003, was PWRY in 2007 until the name was changed and was reassigned as KJRY in 2011. The original colors for these locomotives were red and silver with a bear on the side of it.
The F9B # 1761 also served the same railroads and sold in the same years as the FP9A's until purchased by pioneer in 2003. It has been repainted to match the Pioneer colors. It has had mechanical issues the past few years and laid at the La Harpe Diesel shop for a while. Since the Santa event in Dec 2016 they have been using it between the FA's so it's quite a line up. If you never encountered an old A-B-A line up then it's a must. Most of the time when they haul west they have a GP20u with them and this unit is most of the time the #2003. The #2003 was probably built around 1960 and it was a former locomotive of the AT&SF Railroad. This is the usual line up on the trains that head west from Kolbe their car shop and small office near Mapleton to western Illinois. The farthest they have gone I know about is East Peoria yard. They cross the Illinois River at Peoria at Bridge Junction. If you want to catch them heading west a good day is either a Monday or Thursday mornings but they sometimes varies so they aren't always clock work on predicting when they'll run through. Sometimes a friend or two gives me a heads up on Facebook but most of the time I've caught them just by hearing them blow their horn from my own apartment which is three or four blocks from the nearest crossing. They usually leave Mapleton by 9:30 am so if i was going to guess to go park somewhere around Mapleton around 8:30 or 9:00. Do not go on railroad property or put yourself in harms way. I cannot stress that enough. Pretty much use common sense but i'm sure if you've been rail fanning a while you know this. If anyone newer to it reads this is for them. They are probably the better railfan friendly railroad's around so let's keep it that way people. Okay, done preaching common sense but it had to be said. A Railfan note every December they hold a Santa Train event that runs from Mapleton out west to Smithfield, Illinois. It is free. You can take your kids to Santa in the Caboose or if you're like me you're there for the locomotives. There is many good shots to be had and video to be filmed at this event in many good track side locations. I don't recommend being up there next to the tracks while it runs for safety reasons so just don't. Again use common sense. It is moving equipment that can really maim or even kill if something goes wrong so again I stress use common sense. I have to state this because I seen a few the last event standing right up at the tracks. Thankfully they had sense to move out of the way. I'll shut up now before i become some preachy mom most people have sense so let's leave it at that.
Now that I'm done with the history and the Santa Train event mention I probably should go over a brief history of the line itself which has run through this area since the 1800's. The line was the Toledo, Peoria and Warsaw Railroad from the 1860's until it was reorganized as the Toledo, Peoria and Warsaw Railroad in 1880's. It remained TP&W until around 1983 when it merged with AT&SF but this wouldn't last long but five or six years until 1989. TP&W wanted to scrap the line from Mapleton west to Keokuk around the late 1990's or early 2000's but Pioneer Rail corp went to court with them to acquire the line since they had interest in reactivating it. The line was dead for a few years while they played this all out legally. Finally Pioneer was granted permission to purchase and did so around 2004 reactivating it in 2005. They ran Peoria & Western trains for a while around 2007-2011 then it became Keokuk Junction Railway and has been since. They head west atleast twice a week. Their days can vary but Monday and Thursdays are good days to check them out at times. I'm so glad this line was saved because Canton as well as other areas don't have the luxury of having multiple active rail lines infact this is the only one running through town. The other line CB&Q/BN/BNSF has since been abandoned and the tracks were pulled in 2017. I remember watching them do work on the tracks clearing brush, running trucks on the line and them working on the signal boxes when they reactivated it. For a time at crossings they would have someone with a red flag wave it as they walked acrossed the road as the train slowly inched by. They also had red flags at rural road crossings on the cross bucks to let locals know the line is now active and to take caution. It was very encouraging sign when I started seeing trains again because I had thought the line was dead and would probably end up removed one day. Thankfully Pioneer came along or it would have. Anyways if you have the chance to come out this way this railroad is a must and a great catch if you're looking for an older line up of locomotives. You will not be disappointed! :)
I will start off by saying The FA units are my favorite in this area and I have had the privilage to photograph and film them since they pass through my small boring town atleast twice a week which livens up another dull day of small town life. I'm so used to them I can tell without seeing them what type of locomotive is leading by the horn. The FA has a distinctive horn and boy can it blow and loud. Prex #1750 was built by General motors in October 1954 and was bought by Canadian National RR and served them until they were sold to Via Rail Canada RR in March 1978. The Algoma Central RR bought it in 1995 and it was sold to Pioneer Rail corp in 2003 which was assigned to Peoria and Western at first in 2007 then reassigned and the name changed to the current Keokuk Junction Railway in 2011. The second FA #1752 runs about the same history as the #1750 except it was built by General Motors in January 1955. It served the same railroads and was sold to Pioneer in 2003, was PWRY in 2007 until the name was changed and was reassigned as KJRY in 2011. The original colors for these locomotives were red and silver with a bear on the side of it.
The F9B # 1761 also served the same railroads and sold in the same years as the FP9A's until purchased by pioneer in 2003. It has been repainted to match the Pioneer colors. It has had mechanical issues the past few years and laid at the La Harpe Diesel shop for a while. Since the Santa event in Dec 2016 they have been using it between the FA's so it's quite a line up. If you never encountered an old A-B-A line up then it's a must. Most of the time when they haul west they have a GP20u with them and this unit is most of the time the #2003. The #2003 was probably built around 1960 and it was a former locomotive of the AT&SF Railroad. This is the usual line up on the trains that head west from Kolbe their car shop and small office near Mapleton to western Illinois. The farthest they have gone I know about is East Peoria yard. They cross the Illinois River at Peoria at Bridge Junction. If you want to catch them heading west a good day is either a Monday or Thursday mornings but they sometimes varies so they aren't always clock work on predicting when they'll run through. Sometimes a friend or two gives me a heads up on Facebook but most of the time I've caught them just by hearing them blow their horn from my own apartment which is three or four blocks from the nearest crossing. They usually leave Mapleton by 9:30 am so if i was going to guess to go park somewhere around Mapleton around 8:30 or 9:00. Do not go on railroad property or put yourself in harms way. I cannot stress that enough. Pretty much use common sense but i'm sure if you've been rail fanning a while you know this. If anyone newer to it reads this is for them. They are probably the better railfan friendly railroad's around so let's keep it that way people. Okay, done preaching common sense but it had to be said. A Railfan note every December they hold a Santa Train event that runs from Mapleton out west to Smithfield, Illinois. It is free. You can take your kids to Santa in the Caboose or if you're like me you're there for the locomotives. There is many good shots to be had and video to be filmed at this event in many good track side locations. I don't recommend being up there next to the tracks while it runs for safety reasons so just don't. Again use common sense. It is moving equipment that can really maim or even kill if something goes wrong so again I stress use common sense. I have to state this because I seen a few the last event standing right up at the tracks. Thankfully they had sense to move out of the way. I'll shut up now before i become some preachy mom most people have sense so let's leave it at that.
Now that I'm done with the history and the Santa Train event mention I probably should go over a brief history of the line itself which has run through this area since the 1800's. The line was the Toledo, Peoria and Warsaw Railroad from the 1860's until it was reorganized as the Toledo, Peoria and Warsaw Railroad in 1880's. It remained TP&W until around 1983 when it merged with AT&SF but this wouldn't last long but five or six years until 1989. TP&W wanted to scrap the line from Mapleton west to Keokuk around the late 1990's or early 2000's but Pioneer Rail corp went to court with them to acquire the line since they had interest in reactivating it. The line was dead for a few years while they played this all out legally. Finally Pioneer was granted permission to purchase and did so around 2004 reactivating it in 2005. They ran Peoria & Western trains for a while around 2007-2011 then it became Keokuk Junction Railway and has been since. They head west atleast twice a week. Their days can vary but Monday and Thursdays are good days to check them out at times. I'm so glad this line was saved because Canton as well as other areas don't have the luxury of having multiple active rail lines infact this is the only one running through town. The other line CB&Q/BN/BNSF has since been abandoned and the tracks were pulled in 2017. I remember watching them do work on the tracks clearing brush, running trucks on the line and them working on the signal boxes when they reactivated it. For a time at crossings they would have someone with a red flag wave it as they walked acrossed the road as the train slowly inched by. They also had red flags at rural road crossings on the cross bucks to let locals know the line is now active and to take caution. It was very encouraging sign when I started seeing trains again because I had thought the line was dead and would probably end up removed one day. Thankfully Pioneer came along or it would have. Anyways if you have the chance to come out this way this railroad is a must and a great catch if you're looking for an older line up of locomotives. You will not be disappointed! :)
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