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Re: [CBQ] Q Steam Being Scrapped At NWS&W

To: "CBQ@yahoogroups.com" <CBQ@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: Re: [CBQ] Q Steam Being Scrapped At NWS&W
From: "qutlx1@aol.com [CBQ]" <CBQ@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Mon, 19 Oct 2015 16:44:58 -0500
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And to think, these stalwarts of  the industry were turned into nails,screws and fencing ! 
A friend of mine, now deceased, worked as a torchman at NS&W after WWII and had many stories of cutting up rail equipment. Including having his pants set on fire by another burner working too close

Leo Phillipp

On Oct 19, 2015, at 1:31 PM, LZadnichek@aol.com [CBQ] <CBQ@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

 

October 19, 2015
 
Hol - Only a hand few of us in this Group have had any first hand exposure to the deadline of Q and GTW steam locomotives at Northwestern Steel & Wire in Sterling, IL during the early 1960s. The yard tracks holding the scrap locomotives were within the steel mill complex and strictly off limits to visiting rail fan photographers. Trespassers were roughly ejected with a stern warning not to come back. If they did, then they would be arrested. And don't even think about trying to remove a builder's plate or other "souvenir." Just walking along the busy CNW right-of-way that bordered the deadline had its risks from pesky CNW gumshoes and frequent freight and passenger trains. Whereas NWS&W did issue photography permits, they were only to be used on public roads and right-of-ways to shoot photos of their GTW 0-8-0's that switched the mill. The mill itself and adjacent company property holding the deadline were largely inaccessible. Very fortunately, since my Dad was a Q operating official and knew Mr. Dillion, NWS&W president, Dad and I were allowed entrance on two occasions that I remember to visit the deadline. And, fellow rail fan friend and Group member Bob Campbell and I made one "unauthorized" visit deep into the heart of the deadline on a freezing cold winter day, but that's a post for another day. That being said, it's still difficult to describe the large number and variety of scrap steam locomotives there awaiting dismantling in 1963. There were locomotives of all sizes and descriptions, branch line 4-6-0's to main line 2-10-4's, dirty freight 2-8-2's to beautiful semi-streamlined passenger 4-8-4's, some locomotives decently painted, others covered with rust, some locomotives with tenders appearing to be in serviceable condition, others near-wrecks missing tenders and coupled cab-to-cab, an expanse of sad, derelict locomotives whose time had come. And tenders, yes tenders..... NWS&W burners had "gutted" many large tenders turning them into scrap yard gondolas, still with the locomotive's road number or company herald on their sides. I also saw coal bunker portions of Vanderbuilt tenders that had been turned into large hoppers for overhead gantry cranes to move scrap around the yard. By that date, many of the Q locomotives delivered earlier had already been cut-up. The Q had purged themselves of the Lincoln and Galesburg deadlines during 1961, with the exception of those locomotives saved for donating to on-line communities for display. The purged locomotives all were sold to NWS&W to be scrapped. When the attached aerial image was taken of the NWS&W dead line in 1961, all, or nearly all, of the Lincoln and Galesburg dead line locomotives had arrived there along with a large number of GTW scrap locomotives. You might say it was their last great "reunion." I tried counting how many locomotives are shown in the image and I'd say there are at least 50. Over the years, I've heard estimates of  1,400 (+/-) steam locomotives off the CNW, IC, NYC, NPK, Q and GTW that were fed to the furnaces at NWS&W over a 20 year period. Some 0-6-0 switchers off the CNW, IC and Q were used to switch the mill until they failed and were ultimately replaced by the GTW 0-8-0's that some of us in this Group still fondly remember. Now being nearly age 70, I can reflect back on how sad it made my Dad to see the many Q steam locomotives there at the time. It represented to him a tremendous visible change in culture and technology over what he had been accustomed to up to that point in his career. The Q and railroading in general of the 1940s and 50s that he had grown-up and matured in as an operating officer was dying right there along side those scrap steam locomotives and would never be the same again. Best Regards - Louis                     



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Posted by: qutlx1@aol.com



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