I know I know it's a lot of tongue in cheek, but there's an interesting
issue here.
With all this discussion of Midwestern topography and the operating
challenges of the Burlington's grades, it might be easy to forget that much
of the Q's character was influenced, even determined, by its being
overwhelmingly a system of pretty level, pretty straight trackage,
especially its Lines East. The introduction to Mike Spoor's CB&Q Color
Guide to Freight and Passenger Equipment states, "The physical plant was
one of the finest, with ruling grades not exceeding 0.8 per cent and only a
few curves more restrictive than 1.5 degrees." That may be a slight
overstatement, but not by much. Even the notorious West Burlington Hill had
a ruling grade of less than 1.2 per cent -- hardly mountain railroading by
the standards of the Santa Fe, Rio Grande or almost any other western road.
I don't doubt, nor would I belittle, the problems such stretches of the
line caused Q operators and crews. But the very fact that they did cause
headaches qualifies them in my book as Exceptions That Prove The Rule. What
I mean is, they were problematic precisely because they WERE so
uncharacteristic of the railroad as a whole (just as a six-inch snowfall
can wreak havoc in a place like Dallas or Atlanta -- and neither would I
belittle the very real problems such unusual weather causes my friends who
live there). Had West Burlington Hill (to say nothing of the 3 to 4.5
percent grades and 16 degree curves encountered in the Black Hills) been
more typical of what the CB&Q had to contend with, the railroad itself
probably would have had a noticeably different character, at least during
the steam era. Instead of a motive power fleet whose "flagships" were the
big rigid-frame engines with tractive efforts in the 60-80k lb range, I'd
have expected some serious interest in articulateds for mainline service --
and a lot more of 'em on the roster than the half-dozen modest 2-6-6-2s
that survived the Depression to work the Black Hills branches and help push
freights over Angora Hill. And speaking of branches, I'd also expect to
have seen a lot more consolidations out on the Q's branch lines, instead of
the prairies, Atlantics, and ten wheelers that were so ubiquitous.
Jonathan Harris
(Chicago native and 20-year resident, so no Western Chauvinism intended)
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