>When did NS abandon the old PRR branch between Maroa and Pekin?
>How did NW get the line and what dd they serve in the Peoria Pekin >area? I saw the right of way has been built on near Morton but the 74 >overpass is still in place.
That line ran between Maroa and Farmdale Jct. (on the outskirts of East Peoria) and was abandoned effective February 24, 1988. An old issue of CTC Board (April 1988, IIRC) contains a photo of D50 as it roll across a wood trestle near Kenney on November 1987. This was certainly one of the line's last trains. D50 ran from Decatur to Minier (site of a large grain elevator) and return. Service to about three customers in Morton probably ended about the same time.
N&W got that line when they acquired the Illinois Terminal on September 1, 1981.
From my research, I can determine the following regarding this ex-PRR line:
N&W petitioned for abandonment in June 1987 of the following three segments - Farmdale Jct.-Morton, Morton-Minier and Minier- Decatur (including ICG trackage rights Maroa - Decatur). The middle segment, South Morton - Minier, was approved for abandonment in July (it had been embargoed to due a deteriorating bridge across the Mackinaw River since shortly after the operational merger with the Illinois Terminal) and the other two segments were approved for abandonmenet in December.
Customers left without service were two grain elevators - one at Minier and the other at Waynesville. About three customers in Morton were left without service - Dunlop Tire, 84 Lumber and Morton Buildings. Dunlop Tire was preparing to move its operation to Kansas City while Morton Buildings had another facility in town served by the ATSF.
Train D50 provided service to the two grain elevators. Morton customers were served by ITC train No. 200 for a few months before the operational merger with Norfolk & Western (May 8, 1982). The pair of alternate-day ITC trains (northbound 200 and southbound 201) were routed onto the N&W between Decatur and East Peoria via Gibson City in early 1982. When these trains were dropped on the operational merger date, westbound manifest FP-65 (Frankfort, IN to East Peoria, IL) handled the Morton switching. The trains would drop their consist on the main track just short of the Farmdale Jct. switch then back down the old PRR to Morton. Any outbound empties would be taken to P&PU for "turning."
Around November 1, 1986, N&W discontinued through freight service on the old NKP Peoria District and trains FP-65 and PF-62 were replaced by a Gibson City to East Peoria turn called D61, renamed a year later, D41. This train continued the same practice, switching Morton customers on the old PRR line on its westbound trek.
the July-August 1988 and September-October 1988 issues of Prototype Modeler feature a story about the D61/D41 trains and mention the Morton business in brief.
Hope this helps,
DPJ