April Showers Spawn Floods, Wreak Havoc in Mid-America


HEAVY RAINS ON APRIL 17 AND 18, 2013, caused widespread flooding in the Peoria, Ill., region for over a week. The BNSF Railway Peoria Branch and the Union Pacific Peoria Subdivision suffered wide- spread washouts from Kickapoo Creek, and BNSF’s ex-Santa Fe main line was closed by a washout at Chillicothe. The Tazewell & Peoria closed its lift bridge over the Illinois River in Peoria, and farther west Norfolk Southern closed its ex-Wabash bridge over the Mississippi at Hannibal, Mo. Several washouts also occurred along Iowa Interstate’s former Rock Island Second Subdivision, and the Keokuk Junction Rail- way was closed for a week between Marietta and Good Hope. The Burlington Junction Railway was cut off from its interchange with BNSF Railway at Burlington, Iowa, when the flood gates were closed,


24 MAY 2013 • RAILFAN.COM


and the Quincy flood gate severed another portion of the railroad. On April 18 a UP work train tiptoed through untamped and un-


aligned rail on the Peoria Subdivision, the result of flash flooding caused by the adjacent Kickapoo Creek (top). The BNSF Peoria Branch, also hard hit by water, runs alongside the UP at the left. On April 21 (above left) another UP work train, having dumped its ballast further north on the Peoria Sub treads lightly through rising flood wa- ters from the Illinois River, which would not crest for two more days. On the BNSF Peoria Sub just east of Edwards, Ill., (above), the sub- grade was washed out a Edwards. The Galesburg to Peoria local, visible in the far right background, managed to find its way to the relative safety of the siding at Edwards.


THREE PHOTOS: CRAIG MCGREGOR


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