I am enjoying Vol 3 of John Strauss' work on Q passenger service. But
something caught my eye.
Look at the photo on bottom of page 13. There are at least 16 cars of So
ILL finest coal sitting on track 6 in the west yard,even a couple "flats" still
in service. Having worked there that means this is material with local
destination(s). What or which industries served by locals out of Eola in 1963
could have used 16 cars of coal ?
All the city power plants were gone,even the big Aurora plant, all
heavy industries had converted to gas. If this was coal for the North or west it
would have gone there via Galesburg. If it was coal awaiting final billing
or was stored in transit it would have been buried over on the higher #d tracks.
If going to the "J' it would be in the east yard. OK it might be in a x/o dose
for the east yard.
Speaking of which,get your magnifying glass out and look over the top of
the thrid coal car from the right. That's a fire on about track 8 or 9
with a human figure nearby ? I can't believe a Q employee would build a
fire in the middle of an active classification yard ?
Also nice view of the old west rip in the background.
Leo Phillipp