Leo Phillips and others,
A few weeks ago, in message no. 45069 posted on 12/12/13, Leo noted that there
was a photo on E Bay of #5621 (Leo's message identifies the locomotive as
#5631) pulling a train eastbound on the C&I. In the consist are a half dozen
empty stock cars with the doors open, apparently belonging to GN and or NP. The
questions raised were why were empty stock cars going east, where did they come
from and why? I don't believe any firm conclusion was reached in the following
discussion. (BTW, the slide sold for $114 and some change! WOW!)
I was going through some photos in my collect a couple of days ago and came
upon the very same photo as sold on E Bay. Grouped with it were four other
photos taken on the same day of the same train and locomotive, complete with
the white lime all over the rear of the boiler. One of my photos identifies the
date as October 16, 1956. The first photo in the group shows the train arriving
in Shabbona. The stock cars are NOT in the consist. Following the locomotive is
the single sheathed box car, then what appears to be a Q PS-1 steel box car and
then a very distinctive C&NW yellow over green reefer followed by another
orange reefer. Following those cars are a hopper car, another box car, a
gondola, and then a flat with a load covered in a white wrapping. In the back
ground on the south side is a box car red building and a section house for a
track speeder. Further back, appears to be a grain elevator. There appears to
be only one track in this view.
In the next two photos, the locomotive and a portion of the train are standing
on as secondary siding on the south side of the main at a cross walk. The main
line and the main siding are to the right of the locomotive. To the left of the
locomotive there is another fourth track which appears to be no longer in
service. In the first of these two view, the engineer is looking back and you
can only see the single sheathed box car behind the locomotive. In the second
of these two photos, the view is close to head on. The brakeman is on the
ground talking to the engineer in the cab. The train detail is limited, but it
appears that the stock cars are now behind the SS box car. One of the stock
cars in the E Bay photo appears to have gray or white paper or canvas hanging
out the door. That white material can be seen in this photo.
Next comes the photo on E Bay. Now buried about 20 cars deep in the consist is
the C&NW green and yellow reefer. The orange reefer behind it is missing.
Besides the stock cars, it appears that the train picked up a number of other
assorted cars including some more box cars and one additional hopper car. The
fifth and final photo that I have shows the train approaching Waterman from the
west. Again the six stock cars are there with the truss rods on the first one
and the gray material hanging out of the door of the third. The stack is clean
and he appears to have her hooked up pretty well headed for Eola.
Talking with Bob Campbell, who worked the C&I frequently, the train is probably
a local freight that regularly ran from Savanna to Cicero. He recalls that
there was a stock pen at Shabbona as well as in a couple other towns along the
route. The track that the locomotive is sitting on at Shabbona was used to
switch several businesses in the town. It would seem that the stock cars
delivered cattle or other animals to someone in Shabbona. Possibly there was a
feed lot in the area that fatten animals up for eventual sale and slaughter.
The train in these photos was, most likely moving the stock cars to Eola to
build them into a westbound train for return to their home RR.
Unfortunately, I don't know who took the photos that I have and I certainly do
not have permission to use them or post them. I just wanted to share the rest
of the story. I wonder if the photographer took any more photos on that day?
Bill Barber
Gravois Mills, MO
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