Peoria was never served by any true main lines of any railroad. With the most important line being a Rock Island secondary main line extending north to Bureau, connecting with the Rock Island main line into Chicago. Rock Island had its own station in Peoria. While other railroads used Union Station, operated by Peoria & Pekin Union Railway. P&PU had two main lines operating north and south, on opposite sides of the Illinois River. On the west side, the line extended from Union Station to Iowa Jct. And on the east side, the line extended from P&PU Jct. in East Peoria to Pekin. The bridge over the river extended from Bridge Jct. to Wesley Jct. All railroads serving Union Station did so via branch lines. And during the 1930's, many of these services were either discontinued, or moved to modest new stations away from downtown. Lines serving Union Station included Burlington Route west to Galesburg, New York Central's Peoria & Eastern subsidiary east to Indianapolis, Nickel Plate's Lake Erie & Western line east to Frankfort IN, Chicago & North Western north to Nelson and connecting there with its Chicago to Omaha main line, and Toledo Peoria & Western. Also serving Peoria was Minneapolis & St. Louis, using the Rock Island station, and extending to Oskaloosa IA. And also serving Peoria Union Station until the 1930's were the Alton Route, Illinois Central, Pennsylvania Railroad, and Chicago & Illinois Midland.
Significant Locations and Distances from Station
Bridge Jct. (1 mile SW) - junction west end P&PU Illinois River Bridge.
Iowa Jct. (3 miles SW) - west end P&PU, connect with CB&Q, C&NW spur, TP&W.
Kickapoo (5 miles W) - junction of C&NW Peoria spur, South Pekin line.
Wesley Jct. (3 miles S) - junction east end P&PU Illinois River Bridge.
P&PU Jct. (4 miles E) - east end P&PU, connect with NKP, TP&W.
Grove (6 miles S) - junction with Alton Route.
Pekin (9 miles S) - south end P&PU, connect with NYC.
IC Jct. (10 miles S) - junction with IC, C&IM.