[Attachment(s) from LZadnichek@aol.com included
below]
August 18, 2016
Group - A thread some time ago discussed steam locomotives being
able to run through high water over flooded tracks verses diesel
locomotives that could not because their traction motors would
short out. I just came across the inserted/attached image that
graphically shows such an occasion many years ago:
The unidentified image shows CB&Q Class P-5 No. 2569 "tip
toeing" over flooded tracks with a local passenger train. I first shared
this image with Hol Wagner who commented that 2569 had
been a Lines East locomotive and that the scene really could be
anywhere in Iowa or Missouri. The 2569 was assigned to the Ottumwa
Division in the 1920s and the Hannibal Division in the 1930s. Plus, I
have another undated image of 2569 taken in Kansas City. From the
forward bell position behind its stack, 2569 also had at some
earlier time been used in Chicago Suburban Service.
If you enlarge the attached image, 2569 is pushing a wave in
front and water is splashing down from the main rod. The man riding
the pilot as a lookout could be either the head end brakeman
or a member of the section gang responsible for patrolling the flooded
right-of-way. With the bare trees, flat gray sky and what appears to be
a heavy coat on the man riding the pilot, the image was likely taken in
late winter or early spring. No. 2569 must've been a "good" locomotive
as it enjoyed a long service life on the Q and wasn't retired until
October 1953, some 48 years after being built by Baldwin in
1905.
This is only one of a handful of images I've ever seen of a Q steam
locomotive powering a train over flooded tracks. Does any Group member
have another such image to share? Best Regards - Louis
Louis Zadnichek II
Fairhope, AL