When I was young I remember Peabody laying the track for the PSL from a Barge Loading Facility on the Mississippi River in East St. Louis to the Tipple at Freeburg, Illinois. The Tipple was there to serve the River King Strip Mine at Freeburg. (Peabody River King had several Pits, including Freeburg, New Athens and Lensburg, Illinois) It ran along the SW edge of Belleville, Illinois and in the process, near my Sister's home, so I got to see a lot of it. The railroad was primarily a coal hauler, but on occasion they would haul heavy machinery to the mine. Their main motive power, as I recall, were Alco RS locomotives. Later on I worked for Peabody at Freeburg, but by that time all coal transport was handled by the IC. I was told that the main reason for the PSL in the first place was that Peabody initially was unable to negotiate a reasonable contract with the IC for haulage to the barge terminal. Much of the ROW has disappeared, but there is still evidence of its' existence as driveways to homes, and in one case the "tunnel" under Highway 15 near Belleville is being used by the Illinois Department of Transportation for storage of materials.
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