Name This Peoria Landmark

It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry

Well, I ride on a mailtrain, baby,
Can’t buy a thrill.
Well, I’ve been up all night, baby,
Leanin’ on the window sill.
Well, if I die
On top of the hill
And if I don’t make it,
You know my baby will.

Don’t the moon look good, mama,
Shinin’ through the trees?
Don’t the brakeman look good, mama,
Flagging down the “Double E”?
Don’t the sun look good
Goin’ down over the sea?
Don’t my gal look fine
When she’s comin’ after me?

Now the wintertime is coming,
The windows are filled with frost.
I went to tell everybody,
But I could not get across.
Well, I wanna be your lover, baby,
I don’t wanna be your boss.
Don’t say I never warned you
When your train gets lost.

According to John & Odat, this train used to sit on N Rock Island Ave in Glen Oak Park, and then near the entrance to Detweiller Golf Course, before finally finding a permanent home at Wheels O’ Time Museum on North Knoxville.

The Train is the known as the Rock Island #886, but in actuality it is #887 with a new paint job.

It is one of only two or three Rock Island steam locomotives ever saved from the scrapper and donated to a city, Peoria being the lucky recipient. Actually it is not the original 886, because when the Rock Island was all set to donate it, they realized that they has already scrapped it, but luckily they still had a sister engine, 887. The Rock Island simply repainted and renumbered it to 886.

More history of this train courtesy of the Chillicothe Historical Society:

Engine 886, a steam 4-6-2 Pacific type was fired by Swede Allstram and engineered by N.N. Brown and Ray Vonk. Both Swede and Ray were from Chillicothe and they were known far and wide for the way they handled their train. The train itself carried a crew of 2 brakemen, Len Roberts and Joe Carroll and the conductor, Joe Sales.

Engineers wore striped overalls and starched white caps. Firemen wore blue caps and red bandannas around their neck, supposedly for emergency flagging.

When 886 came around the Rome curve, you could hear the wheels squealing, as the track was banked to allow a full 65-mile per hour speed limit. Swede, the fireman, chained himself in the cab with a ten-inch wide leather belt/harness and shoveled coal from Peoria to Bureau Junction, and back.

The train made the trip from Peoria to Bureau in 50 minutes and speeds would reach over 75 miles per hour over the straight sections of track. Merle Bradley claimed it was the fastest steam engine run in America at that time. Stops were made in Chillicothe, Sparland and Henry.

Thanks to all who commented.

Also known as VOP’s, located at 5934 N. Knoxville Ave.

Some history courtesy of Historic Peoria.com:

During a review of the land on which VOPs now stands, researchers discovered that the location was very close to that of Keller Station, the first stop out of Peoria on the Rock Island Line. In 1927, after nearly 45 years in operation, the Station was sold for $20 and torn down soon thereafter. Once called Vonachen’s Junction, VOPs was built by Pete Vonachen and reopened under its new name in 1979. The restaurant is an integral part of Junction City, a shopping center constructed to recreate the feel of old-time Keller Station.

Patrons have the option of dining in either a banquet room, a caboose bar or in the Executive Car, a retired railcar of T.P.&W that had once been used by past presidents of the railroad. The car, which was built in 1890, was refurbished in the old railroad theme and given to the Junction in 1957.

A little more history from commenter John:

The rail cars were placed there in the mid 50’s. Pete moved his office out of the basement into the back car so as to make room for a private dining room in the basement of the main building. I sold him the safe for the office and he had it welded into the car. This would have been about 1959.

Is it just me or does anyone else see the irony in the current owner of Junction City wanting to discontinue rail service on the Kellar Branch it’s track’s ripped out?

(Congrats, Burl, it’s been a while, but you got another one.)

All Aboard!

Well this certainly had more of a story than I realized.

WLW hinted at it, and CJ Summers filled us in with the rest. (I thank you both)

It’s a mural painted by Mariam Graff on a piling of the old Illinois Traction System drawbridge. It’s called the Interurban Railroad Monument. She also did the Le Vieux Carre Mardi Gras Mural and the Born Paint mural. She’s actually best known for painting portraits of dogs — she’s even done a portrait of Kirk Douglas’s (the actor) dog.

[...] the Illinois Traction System was an electric railroad (it used catenary for power) that went to several destinations in central Illinois, plus St. Louis, Missouri. You can see a map of the extent of the system here.

This mural is located on Water Street near Kellehers, if you weren’t sure.

The final trip out of Peoria was on May 29, 1978 December 31, 1978 to Chicago.

In an observation that would make CJ Summers cringe, Mahkno suggests this could be the Future Kickapoo Creek Bike Trail. It is, infact, the railroad tracks that travel alongside Kickapoo Creek Road. This photo was taken on Creek Road at the Airport Road turnoff, looking west (towards Farmington Rd.) It would make for a very scenic bike trail, now wouldn’t it?