Patriot Rail puts a new face on Keokuk Junction operations

Side view of blue locomotive leading train with part of red and gray locomotive also visible Keokuk Junction Railway GP40-2 No.

6437 and LTEX GP35M No.

3848 depart Mapleton, Ill., on the first leg of the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad turn on Friday, April 21, 2023. The locomotives are two of three new to the railroad. Steve Smedley

KEOKUK, Iowa — Patriot Rail, which acquired the Keokuk Junction Railway last year, has begun upgrading the railroad’s locomotive roster.

The new owner has moved in a former CSX Transportation GP38-3, now LTEX No.

3048, and GP40-2 No.

6437, both in the Patriot Rail corporate paint scheme honoring veterans and troops. The cab sides include decals for the Coast Guard, Air Force, Navy, Army, and Marine Corps. Former DeQueen & Eastern Railroad GP35M LTEX No.

3848 has also joined the roster, but currently will not lead trains due to a lack of a cab radio in the cab. (LTEX Rail is the company also known as Larry’s Truck & Electric.) Patriot Rail acquired Pioneer Lines operations from Brookhaven Capital Partners on Sept.

14, 2022. The sale included 15 railroads operating in 12 states, increasing Patriot Rail’s total holdings to 31 railroads (including two properties where two railroads operate as one), an excursion operation, and two rail-related service companies.

Brookhaven had leased twin GP20Ds for the 126-mile Keokuk Junction, Nos.

2014 and 2022, and had slowly begun phasing out the fleet of former Santa Fe and Burlington Northern GP20s. The CIT Rail GP20Ds, with CEFX reporting marks, are reportedly going off lease at the end of April and will be leaving the Keokuk Junction property. Keokuk Junction Railway was known for its set of A-B-A FP9s that drew railfan attention from across the world.

Those engines, along with two stored A units, all former Algoma Central locomotives, have been sold and are off the property. A single former Chicago & North Western Railroad F7 was scrapped at LaHarpe, Ill., in 2018.

Three locomotives in three paint schemes bring a train around a cruve Keokuk Junction Railway GP40-2 No.

6437, CEFX GP20D No.

2014 and LTEX GP35M No.

3848 are in dynamic braking as they bring 48 loads downhill along Reed City Road at Glasford, Ill., with the eastbound road train on April 21, 2023. After switching, the train will operate a turn into the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad yards in Creve Couer, Ill..

Steve Smedley photo