The Blog Peoria Project

Peoria Station: The Past Comes Alive At Chicago Street

Railroad mergers have eliminated a lot of famous names and paint schemes. But for various reasons, locomotives and rolling stock get re-lettered to reflect their new owner, yet their pre-merger colors remain virtually unchanged.

That’s the case with the Burlington Northern Railroad (BN) and the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railway (ATSF), which formed parent Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation on September 22, 1995, and merged operations on December 31, 1996. Yet, some 15 years later, many locomotives and much rolling stock remain in BN and ATSF paint.

That’s the setup for the above photo. But there is another element to the story. You see, the merger of BN and ATSF caused great consternation at the Toledo Peoria & Western’s East Peoria offices. That’s because combining those Class I’s could render TP&W’s so-called “West End” (Lomax/Keokuk-Hollis with trackage rights on other carriers to reach Fort Madison and East Peoria) redundant for most intermodal and carload freight interchanged with ATSF at Fort Madison.

Read the complete post HERE.

Tags: Peoria Station