Does anyone know how the Q dispatched motive power on the passenger
trains to/from the Twin Cities? Particularly during the 50's and early
60's. I remember that the TCZ power tended to be E5 or E7 units with a
sprinkling of E8s or E9s thrown in, while the NCL and EB usually ran
with E8s or E9s. Was there any reason for this pattern of which type
of E, or just the random draw out of the pool in Chicago? An old Q
engineer once told me that the E5 and E7 units had higher speed
gearing and could make better time with the TCZ schedule and that the
8s and 9s had more hp for the longer EB and NCL consists. True, or
fiction?
I know that the TCZ power usually turned with the train at Mpls. and
returned on the next trip. Did units that went north on the NCL, EB
or Blackhawk wait in the twin cities and come back with the same train
or rotate first in, first out?
Finally, where did EB and NCL power lay over in St. Paul? Dayton's
Bluff or the small engine terminal on the east end of SPUD? I am
assuming (I know, never assume!) that the nb TCZ power layed overnight
in the Mpls. coachyard with the train, but what about the Blackhawk?
Same as the TCZ in Mpls?
Thanks in advance.
Bob Plaehn
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