Hol,
Thanks for sharing the photos of the passenger F's in service in their
original colors, particularly pulling the CZ. Seeing them brings up a question
that I have never seen accurately answered. Were those three CZ F3 consists
coupled with drawbars between each unit or did they have couplers? Along the
same lines, were the four unit FTs coupled with drawbars between each unit or
were there couplers between the two B units? What other Q F unit
consists had drawbars? Finally, did the Q convert some units to couplers in
later years. I don't recall seeing any definitive discussion about drawbars in
the old F unit Bulletin.
Bill Barber
Gravois Mills, MO
Wed
Mar 18, 2015 9:01 am (PDT) . Posted by:
I
was just sorting through some images after scanning a black-and-white view
of 9961-C at Aurora that I didn't recall seeing before, and as I found
several views of the Q's passenger F3s in the silver passenger paint scheme
that I've always liked on those units, so I thought I'd post a few shots of
them in passenger service, or at least passenger colors. The Dick Rumbolz
photo of the 9961 set in freight service at Lincoln during the summer of
1956 was taken during a period when a bumper wheat crop had so increased
traffic on the Q that a large number of steam locomotives that had been
sitting idle were put back in service to handle the business and O-5s could
be seen for one last time in freight service on the mainline between Lincoln
and Chicago. By fall the rush was over and the steam power was put back in
storage, most of it never to run again. The passenger F3s had been regeared
for freight service in 1955 but for some reason unknown today were not
repainted into freight colors at that time, so now, a year later, one set
was hard at work out of Lincoln during a very busy summer.
Hol