Gerald-
This has been the start of a most interesting discussion and I would hate to
see it cut off unless it becomes a fist fight.
As much as I love the Q and cherish Overton's various works, I am not sure
that the CB&Q, in the time period being discussed,
was the progressive, well built, well managed machine that we normally think
of.
I am in the middle of enjoying Dave Leiter's "Wisconsin Central in Illinois"
which is a fascinating glance into the 1880-1910 railroad scene in Chicago
as well as being an important history of the WC / C&NP / SOO. Some figures
presented in the book, not directly about the Q, seem to suggest that the
MILW was a much stronger railroad than the CB&Q, at least as far as the Twin
Cities traffic is concerned. As to the physical plant, I don't know that
the argument can be made that the CB&Q was a top notch property then.... the
grade from Congress Park to State Road (LaGrange Road) followed, if it can
be believed, the same one that the West Towns labored up. I rode my bike up
Burlington Avenue and the old West Towns ROW, and it was steep..... the
ruling grade east of the Mississippi before the track was raised in 1895 (by
commission order after a lawsuit) against the wishes of the CB&Q.
I am not sure that Overton was entirely an unbiased historian....and it is
interesting to ponder why the CB&Q, with its other achievements, was not
able to get the mail contract between Chicago and the Twin Cities, and why
the owners of the road, the NP and the GN, used other lines to bring their
trains into Chicago for some time after the merger. Perhaps is was more
than family jealousy!!!????
Charlie Vlk
------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CBQ/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CBQ/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
CBQ-digest@yahoogroups.com
CBQ-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
CBQ-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
|