Chicago to Peoria Passenger Service? - Trains Magazine
I rode the Peoria Rocket several times between Chicago and Peoria. Including two group trips with fellow high school students. (OK, that was a while ago.)
My last trip on the train was around 1975 with the Rock in banckruptcy for the 3rd and final time. The train still carried a diner lounge. I recall having a good steak meal with a salad and a glass of wine for around $7.00. By then the train was down to two coaches and the diner.
In the 1960s the Rock offered twice daily service on the route. The 7:00 AM depature from Peoria generally had a seven car consist powered by one E unit. (water level into Chicago along the Illlinois River) . The consist generally was two head end cars, including an RPO, three reclining seat coaches, a diner lounge named "Creve Coure Club" and a parlor car named "Peoria". I ate in the Creve Coure Club several times, but I never had a 1st class ticket to get in to the Peoria. In the late 60s the RPO was replaced by a TTX flatcar with one trailer load of mail. The TTX car was equiped with a steam line and was run right being the E unit.
The consist swelled before Christmas when people from central Illinois took the train to Chicago to shop at the Loop stores such as Marshal Fields. The Rock Island would add suburban coaches to the train to accomodate the extra passengers.
One day as a pre driving teen I was standing near the Peoria depot taking pictures of the E unit when the engineer came over to me, talked for a while, then gave me a tour of the engine. It was my only time inside a cab unit. I remember my glasses fogging over as I walked by the steam generator at the rear of the E.
A while ago an attempt was made to revive Peoria-Chicago passenger service by operating a train over the TP&W to the current Amtrak route at Chenoa, IL. The attempt was not a success.
1) It's just too easy to drive to Chicago and driving allows you to set your own schedule.
2) Most personal trips to the Chicago area are not destined to the Loop. People traveling from central Illinois are largely going to suburbs. This would reqire a train change in Chicago and still leave the traveler at a suburban train station instead of his/her destination. It's far easier to just drive.
3) People from central Illinois still go to the Chicago area for Christmas shopping. They go to suburban malls on chartered busses.
There would be a very limited market for a Peoria-Chicago passenger rail service. 38 miles to the east is Normal, IL, home of Illinois State University. There are five Amtrak trains per day between Normal and Chicago. 48 miles to the northwest is Galesburg, IL, home of Knox College. There are four Amtrak trains per day between Galesburg and Chicago. I'd say the area is adequately served. A Peoria proper service would have a very limited area to draw passengers from.
It would be great to see the old Peoria Rocket again. I just don't see it as being viable. They might try a bus connection at Normal. But I don't see that drawing many riders either.
"By many measures, the U.S. freight rail system is the safest, most efficient and cost effective in the world." - Federal Railroad Administration, October, 2009. I'm just your average, everyday, uncivilized howling "anti-government" critic of mass government expenditures for "High Speed Rail" in the US. And I'm gosh darn proud of that.
