Set out on a siding beside the
mainline at Somonauk, Illinois,
in October 1941, its main and
eccentric rods removed and
placed in the tender coal bunker
for transport, C&S 803 is
clearly being moved somewhere.
It was then assigned to the
Chicago Division, which normally
meant use up in the Twin Cities,
but it would move to the
Galesburg Division by the end of
1941, to this is likely the
reason for its appearance in
Somonauk. It still has the
large Sunbeam headlight that it
carried when first assigned to
the Q.
After its stint on the Galesburg
Division the 803 moved on to the
St. Joe Division and was
photographed at North Kansas
City on October 19, 1947. Still
there is the big Sunbeam
headlight, though now without a
visor. And there's a
rectangular fire hose box
between the tender trucks in
both views.
Strangely, though I have
multiple views of all the other
800s in use on the Q, I have
nothing showing the 804 while on
lease. A check of the Otto
Perry photos at the Denver
Public Library finds that Otto
photographed the 804 in Denver
during 1931, in between lease
periods to the Q (
http://cdm16079.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/43074/rec/4)
and again in 1948, shortly after
its return from the LaCrosse
Division (
http://cdm16079.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/43638/rec/8
and
http://cdm16079.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/43641/rec/5)
but nothing of the engine on the
Q. Here's a link to a 1919 view
by Otto that shows how the 800s
looked in their early years,
complete with rolltop tenders:
http://cdm16079.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/43641/rec/5.
Two more quick views of C&S
power on the Q.
I missed this one earlier when I
was covering the Ten-Wheelers.
During 1929 C&S C-3H No. 326
was leased and assigned to the
Chicago Division, where it was
used in suburban service,
outfitted with the huge
turbo-generators that were then
used to supply electricity to
the open platform coaches of
suburban trains. This was at a
time when the Q was looking to
replace the K-2 Ten-Wheelers
then being used in this service,
and S-1 and S-2 Pacifics would
ultimately be chosen as the
replacements. But apparently
the Q decided to try at least
this one heavier 4-6-0 to see if
it could meet the demands of the
service. And obviously it did
not. This view finds the 326
departing Chicago Union Station
with a dinky in the summer of
1929.
This one I can't explain. It
shows C&S F-3B heavy Pacific
No. 371 -- an oil-burner --
taking water as it makes the
eastbound station stop at
Aurora, Ill., in November 1949.
Why was it on the Q? I have no
idea. This was a time when
steam was rapidly being phased
out of mainline passenger
service, and heavy Pacifics were
either being retired or
relegated to freight service,
mostly out of Lincoln. Why,
then, was an oil-burning heavy
Pacific at the helm of a
scheduled passenger train
(there's a baggage-RPO car
behind the wooden baggage car)
nearing Chicago?
Next, as time allows, I'll cover
the Q locomotives leased to the
C&S over the years.
