OK DAve et all...here's my contribution.
August 5th, 1955 (IIRC) the Q ran an excursion Ft. Madison, IA -Bloomfield, IA
with the 637...
I had just finished the summer school session at UNL. Charlie Able, then in
the USAF at Lincoln AFB and a member of the Lincoln Railfans Club told me about
the upcoming affair and asked if I would like to go. I, of course was
interested, but was still under "home control" at age 19. Charlie was a Master
Sargent and held kind of an office manager position at the AFB. After
consulting with the homefront and receiving a reluctant OK from my
mother....she was not real thrilled about me "traipsing across the country"
with someone she didn't know.
The trip was Scheduled for a Saturday and was due out of Ft. Madison about
8:00am. Charlie said he had to work late on Friday evening, but we would leave
just as soon as he got off and drive across Iowa on Hwy 2, hopefully in time to
get to Ft. Madison by departure time. Well, Charlie had to work later than he
had thought and it was about 9:00pm or so when we left in Charlie's
immaculately kept 1952 Ford sedan. Those of you who knew Charlie, know that he
was fastidious about his personal appearance and his car.
In those days Highway 2 across Iowa was pretty much in "as built" configuration
with lots of curves, steep hills and, of course, went right through the middle
of every town, so it was going to be a "close connection" if we were to get to
Ft. M by departure time even under best driving conditions.
As we motored across Iowa making a stop or two to eat and for gas it became
apparent by about 5:00am or so that we weren't going to be able to make Ft. M
in time..Charlie, always in command of the situation said..."Well, we'll just
head in at Donnellson and go from there. I don't recall what time we got to
Donnellson, but it was in plenty of time to buy our tickets and board the train
there.
The train was made up of several of the heavyweight 6100 series coaches and a
baggage car or two. The assigned combination car which regularly ran on the
rear of the branch mixed (one of the 3500 series cars) was the waycar. We got
on at Donnellson and rode to Bloomfield. At Bloomfield the fire department was
on hand to water the engine and then it was turned on the wye for the return
trip. There were several photo stops and runbys done on the outbound trip.
Several photos of these stops have appeared in various Q publications. Phil
Weibler alleges that he was on the trip and has photos...I've asked him to
"make a trip to his basement" and see if he can find a picture in which Charlie
or I appear, but thus far nothing has surfaced.
The 637 had about "all she wanted" on some of the hills around Bloomfield, but
I don't recall any doubling of the hills or having to back up for another run
at it.
Charlie and I got off at Donnellson and made a rapid over the highway run back
to Ft. Madison and were there in time to photograph the return of the train
just before sundown.
I don't have any still photos, but I shot two 50' rolls of Kodachrome movie
film. Several years ago...I think it was about 1997 I visited Dave Miner's
operating museum at Farmington. I took these films along with me and gave them
to Dave. He told me he would put them on video and send me a copy, but he
never got around to it. I thought that I had lost all record of the trip until
a year or so ago when I ran all my old railroad movies which, with the help of
Tim Fleck I had put on video. Sure enough those two rolls are included. My
photography technique was sadly lacking, but there is about 4 minuites of video
available for any use anyone might want to make of it.
I don't remember where Charlie and I stayed that Saturday night, but on Sunday
morning we were at Ft. Dodge and rode the FDDM&S car from Ft. Dodge to Des
Moines and back arriving back at Ft. D sometime late Sunday afternoon or early
that evening.
The drive back to Lincoln was Sunday evening since Charlie had to go to work on
Monday morning.
Pete
-----Original Message-----
From: Dave Lotz <Dave_Lotz@bellsouth.net>
To: CBQ <CBQ@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wed, Aug 4, 2010 1:28 pm
Subject: RE: [CBQ] Re: My First Fan-trip, Not one but two big steamers
Hi Bill,
Thanks for writing! I must say that I am envious!! Yes, sometimes age does
have its advantages. :-)
I have an idea.If everyone who has records of taking CB&Q fan trips would
post them to the CB&Q list, would someone on the list be willing to create
and maintain a list of them for a future Bulletin article??
And, if you have photos of that trip that you would be willing to let the
BRHS scan and use in that Bulletin, mention that in your post?
Dave Lotz
Pooler, GA
-----Original Message-----
From: CBQ@yahoogroups.com [mailto:CBQ@yahoogroups.com]On Behalf Of William
Barber
Sent: Tuesday, August 03, 2010 9:17 PM
To: CBQ@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [CBQ] Re: My First Fan-trip, Not one but two big steamers
Dave,
I enjoyed Glen's post, although I have seen it before on another
groups a year or so ago. I guess there is an advantage to being a
little older (not many though!). My first Q fantrip, or any other RR
for that matter, was with ten wheeler #637, S4 #4000 and GP7 #235.
The trip occurred on Sunday, 9/2/1956. #4000 pulled our train from
Union Station to Aurora where #637 and #235 took our train to
Streator, Zearing and back to Aurora. At Aurora, #4000 again took
over for a spectacular late evening run to Chicago. What a thrill for
a 13 year old. That trip only whetted my appetite and was followed by
many more wonderful Q fantrips as well as a few others on different RRs.
Later trips included S4s nos. 3001 and 3003, the first trip for
#5632, the 2-10-4 double header, of course, two trips with 5632 to
Denver and the D&RGW narrow gauge (one with #5626 between Lincoln and
Denver including a 120 mile cab ride on her at 80 mph), a trip to the
Twin Cities behind the #5632 (plus one aborted one), #5631's only
trip to Savanna and back and numerous trips with #4960 including her
first in Dec. 1958. Unfortunately, I did miss the #4955' and #5600
trip in 1955 and #5618's only trip July 4th weekend of 1958. I also
never had a chance to ride any of the C&S trips.
Somewhere in my files, I think I have a few ticket stubs (you could
buy fantrip tickets at the commuter stations) and a number of fantrip
flyers, including the one for the 2-10-4 double header. Toward the
end of the Q fantrip era, I was in college and missed many of those
later trips, although we did chase a few of them.
Bill Barber
Gravois Mills, MO
On Aug 1, 2010, at 5:06 AM, CBQ@yahoogroups.com
<mailto:CBQ%40yahoogroups.com>; wrote:
> Re: My First Fan-trip, Not one but two big steamers
> Posted by: "Dave Lotz" Dave_Lotz@bellsouth.net
<mailto:Dave_Lotz%40bellsouth.net>; dave_lotz
> Sat Jul 31, 2010 12:42 pm (PDT)
>
>
>
> It's odd the things that you remember - our trip must have had 6100
> series
> coaches - I remember the Pullman green cars and I recall they had
> some type
> of wicker as a part of the seats. I remember clearly heading around
> the
> curve and onto the Mississippi River bridge for the first time and
> looking
> back at Burlington and then looking down through the ties into the
> river. I
> also remember that for several days after our trip, I could hear
> the whistle
> of other steam trips at our house up on Prospect Hill. The next
> summer I
> remember hearing the whistles again, but it sounded very different
> - must
> have been the 5632.
>
> Dave Lotz
> Pooler, GA
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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