Jonathan,
Very well done. Brief and very helpful to a modeller.
The train I'm modelling on the old Keokuk and Western in 1962-63 will be pulled
by an NW2, includes a variety of freight equipment and ultimately will have a
kit-bashed model of a Q branchline combine as showed in the Freight and Colour
guide. A good picture of a similar train is in Mike Spoor's In Colour volume 3.
Duncan Cameron
----- Original Message -----
From: bigbearoak
To: CBQ@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, March 16, 2009 12:51 PM
Subject: [CBQ] Re: Mixed trains on the Q
Until I read these postings, I hadn't realized to what extent the character
of the Burlington was expressed in its mixed trains - much as it was in the
distinctive qualities of its steam engines or passenger equipment.
As the various postings indicate, the Q ran a variety of mixed train types.
That in itself is no surprise; as a general rule on US railroads, there's
probably no other kind of train where you'd see greater variety, even on trains
from the same railroad. But the 'mix' of mixed trains on the Burlington wasn't
random or a hodge-podge of components. There was a definite evolution of
characteristic consists - which is of interest if, say, you are trying to model
a mixed train for a particular era.
Early on, these branchline trains looked very much like the mixeds on any US
shortline or branchline - a smaller, older engine relegated to the lighter
track and traffic of a feeder line, pulling a short string of cars trailed by a
wooden combine or maybe a drover's caboose. There were also a handful of shorty
passenger cars, both wood and steel, built for branchline service, during the
early part of the 20th c. Motive power varied, but this service was, on many
divisions, the last niche for the railroad's Class "A" 4-4-0s, what justified
their rebuilding and continued service through the 1920s. This form of mixed
train would have been fairly typical from, say, the 1904 renumbering to the
1928 relettering. In a few areas, such trains persisted much longer, through
the Depression and WW II into the 1950s. You could model this type of train in
HO using a trusty NPP K-2 4-6-0, a LaBelle or Railway Classics drover's
caboose, and period freight cars of your choice. The drover's caboose could be
replaced by a NKP shorty combine (CF-7). And in some regions, an extra express
reefer or cream car would be a plausible addition.
In the late 1920s and early '30s, economic and technological changes altered
the appearance and consist of this traditional mixed train on most of the
Burlington's branchlines. The rise of internal combustion technology prompted
the railroad to retire its aging fleet of Class "A" Americans. The steamers
were 35-40 years old by then and having to haul freight cars considerably
heavier than they were designed to. Declining traffic and the frugality of the
railroad had allowed them to keep working branchline mixeds well into the
1920s, but when gas-electrics appeared, the railroad quickly replaced them with
the internal combustion units. The gas-electrics could haul a few freight cars,
but normally they operated with just a single trailer car - sometimes a
baggage-RPO, sometimes a combine, sometimes a coach, but almost always an
older, wooden car (saved fuel, and in truth, the gas-electrics weren't that
powerful). When traffic warranted, a steam engine would replace the
gas-electric. Ten wheelers were common, but Atlantics, Pacifics, moguls and
prairies might be used, depending on topography, tonnage, and era.
Another set of changes occurred after World War II, the result of further
retirement of old equipment and changing traffic patterns. By this time, the
oldest, wooden passenger cars were wearing out, as were some of the old
gas-electrics. Declining traffic led to the abandonment of some routes and
trains, resulting in a surplus of both gas electrics and steel passenger cars.
These now became the main source of passenger equipment on branchline trains.
Some coaches were used as-is, some were converted into combines. Some
gas-electrics, with motors removed also were converted to combines. You can see
various examples on the Washington, IA branch and the Sterling-Cheyenne line,
where an SW-1 or NW-2 came in as the worthy successor to an Atlantic or
Ten-Wheeler, or in the case of the Sterling line a gas-electric. Center cabs
were also used as motive power on some branches. As for modeling, you could use
a Branchline passenger coach as a stand-in for a 6100-series coach, or use the
real thing from NKP or Aurora. And there are many kit-bashing possibilities for
unique branchline cars the Q cannibalized out of its own equipment. Throwing in
an express car or three - either the older wooden express reefers or the newer
BE-1 troop sleeper rebuilds - would be plausible for some lines.
A different solution was developed where passenger traffic was light and/or
grades heavy, as on the Deadwood, SD branch. There, a standard way car was
modified with extra seats and side door, with the train hauled by a pair of
SD-9s. Again, models are available for both the front and rear end. I'm sure
there were lots of other lines where the occasional passenger was accommodated
in an unmodified waycar.
Hope this pocket history is somewhat clarifying. Various Burlington Bulletins
have good pictures of CB&Q mixed trains, especially BB 30 on Washington, IA.
Also see Jones and Coleman's book on the Sterling branch and various South
Platte Press publications on different Mid-western branhes; more pictures are
scattered through the color books of Mike Spoor and Al Holck, and check the
Otto Perry archive at the Denver Public Library - and of course Bill Glick's
comprehensive passenger car trilogy for pictures, diagrams, and histories of
the Q's distinctive equipment.
Jonathan
--- In CBQ@yahoogroups.com, "Dustin" <dholschuh@...> wrote:
>
> Does anyone out there if mixed trains on Q were all the same.I know trains
92 & 93 on the Sterling Denrock branch were mixed.I'm assuming the passengers
were accomadated on the caboose.But were there other mixed trains that ran with
a baggage car or maybe a combine then a caboose.
>
> Dustin Holschuh
> Rock Falls,Il
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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