My father, John Carroll, formerly of the CB&Q had been section foreman
at Ottawa until he went to work for Ottawa Silica in early 1964. The
Ottawa Silica Foundation and the LaSalle County Historical Society were
instrumental in getting the locomotive installed on Boyce Memorial Drive
on Ottawa Silica property. Mr. Edmund Thornton whose family owned and
operated Ottawa Silica was the moving force behind the securing of and
installation of 4978. The locomotive was moved from Eola to Ottawa by a
Q motor, a GP I believe, but I am not certain. They did not want to
have added weight of coal and water, or have the need to dump ash or
clean it again in Ottawa.
The final movement of the engine to the Boyce Memorial Drive site was
accomplished over temporary tracks laid from the Ottawa Silica yard into
the berm along Boyce memorial Drive (named for W.D. Boyce founder of the
Boy Scouts of America) The track partially sank in the mud (after two
days of heavy rain) as the locomotive was pulled along those tracks and
slewed into its final location by a Cat endloader and a Cat crawler
alternately pulling and belaying to keep the locomotive upright and
mostly on the track. The ruts left in the lawn were up to three feet
deep. The blacktop entrance road to Ottawa Silica crumbled under the
moving operation. The locomotive was in place (mostly) on the day of
the scheduled presentation ceremony.
This was the second time I helped my father by lugging a bucket of oil
along while he oiled the curve from the Fox River branch line onto the
old electric tracks that the Q had acquired to run into Ottawa Silica
along the south bank of the I&M canal.
Ed
Edward V. Carroll
Professor of History
Heartland Community College
1500 W. Raab Road
Normal IL 61761
(309) 268-8582
FAX (309) 268-7991
>>> milw261@sbcglobal.net 12/27/04 12:54 PM >>>
--- In CBQ@yahoogroups.com, "Matt Carlson" <mcarlson@r...> wrote:
> The 4000 is under cosmetic restoration that is on hold for the
winter. It
> is for the most part done and looks very good.
>
> ----
> Matt Carlson
> La Crosse, Wisconsin
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: East Pass [mailto:EastPass@1...]
> > Sent: Wednesday, December 22, 2004 09:46
> > To: CBQ@yahoogroups.com
> > Subject: Re: [CBQ] Last Q Steam To Operate
> >
> >
> > Louis,
> >
> > I took a photo of the 4978's tender sticking out of the
> > door of a stall at the Eola Roundhouse while it was being
> > moved from Galesburg to Ottawa. Would presume it was put
> > there to get some degree of security while they were waiting
> > for the right day to move it to Ottawa. While I can say for
> > certain it was not under steam and was as cold as can be I do
> > not recall whether there was any coal in the tender.
> >
> > While I can not say for certain that it did not move from
> > Galesburg under it's own power I can not see any possible
> > reason why they would have taken the trouble to do so. That
> > would have involved a full inspection and all the paperwork
> > and trouble to get a flue time extension. With the expense
> > involved in painting it and finding all the missing parts
> > we should consider ourselves lucky it was preserved at all.
> >
> > The 4963 was at Galesburg at that time so they at least had
> > one place to go for parts. I wonder how they got the 4000
> > patched together as a complete locomotive. When you think
> > about it what might have been fairly easy to do in 1958
> > would have been much more difficult in 1962 or 1963. Both
> > the 4000 and 4978 had been stored outside with little thought
> > given to long term care.
> >
> > Russ
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: LZadnichek@a...
> > To: CBQ@yahoogroups.com
> > Sent: Monday, 20 December, 2004 14:52
> > Subject: [CBQ] Last Q Steam To Operate
> >
> >
> >
> > December 20, 2004
> >
> > Mr. McCauley - Reference your recent post stating that the 4978
operated
> > under its own power from Galesburg to Ottawa in approximately
1963,
> > where did you
> > come by this information? Did you personally witness the O1-a
under
> > steam or
> > do you have a photograph of the event? I'd very much like to
know. Best
> > Regards.
> >
> > Louis Zadnichek II
> > Fairhope, AL
When 4978 was moved to Ottawa, IL, for display, it was not moved
under its own power. I grew up on the Streator branch and a friend
of mine's father, whose house was also on the branch, was home the
day she was towed dead in the "Fox River" local from Eola to Ottawa.
This reminds me of the fellow I ran into the day she was moved from
Ottawa to Montgomery in November of 1997. We were standing at the
top of Wedron Hill watching the move and he said he couldn't
understand why they just didn't steam it up and run it to Mendota. I
attempted to explain that the procedure was slightly more complicated
than just adding water and coal but he basically scoffed at my
ignorance. That's how some of these stories get started......
Homebuilt Northern
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