Group - Since it's a stormy afternoon in south Alabama and I can't do
any yard work, let me share a couple of inserted/attached images of CB&Q
Class O-5-A No. 5621 with Train No. 39, the Exposition Flyer. I had
very little information to go on with identifying both images, so I
contacted Group members Bill Barber, Bob Campbell and Hol Wagner.
All have all generously contributed to better identifying both
images:
<CBQ5621TrainNo.39ExpositionFlyerPrincetonIL1939.jpg>
CB&Q 5621 Train No. 39 Exposition Flyer
Princeton, IL 1939
<CBQ5621GalesburgILUndated-3.jpg>
CB&Q 5621 Train No. 39 Exposition Flyer
Galesburg, IL Undated
In Hol's words (slightly edited), "5621 (top image) is on No. 39, the
Exposition Limited, at Princeton, Ill., in the summer of 1939, showing that
the west bound train did indeed carry a 60-foot RPO car. And I believe
the power lines along the tracks at Galesburg (bottom image) were on
the south side, away from the depot, as shown in this photo. But No.
39 was due into Galesburg from Chicago at 3:10 p.m., and it seems to me that
would be pretty early for the sun to already be around far enough to
illuminate the north side of a west bound. But there were no other
west bounds due through Galesburg later in the afternoon/early evening
except No. 1, the DZ. I suppose it's possible No. 39 was running late
that day, perhaps held at Chicago for a late connection from the east.
Trains 39-40 ran through between Chicago and Denver as the first/last leg of
the Chicago-Oakland round trip -- the Expos was the predecessor of the
California Zephyr. And by 1939, the Q was running a single engine
through between Chicago and Denver on the passenger train, so 5621 would
have run through from CUS to Denver. The Exposition Flyer and all the known
information on this train appeared in the big 264-page Burlington Bulletin
devoted to them, researched and written by Bill Schultz and me and
published back in 2003. The Princeton photo turned up after
that time and thus is not included in the Bulletin."
In Bob's words (slightly edited), "Photo of the engineer's side is
definitely taken at Galesburg. It is westbound on Main #2.
Seminary St. Tower would be to the right of the 5621. There's a man
standing on the fireman's side, just behind the pilot of the 5621; his left
hand is in line with the Quincy Freight Main that ran behind the tower. With
regard to Hol's picture of train No. 39, with the 5621 on the point,
the location is MP 105, about .6 of mile west of the Princeton depot.
In the background, behind the train, you can see the overhead signal bridge
structure that was located at MP104.61. This absolute signal was
controlled by the main line dispatcher to protect the trailing point
hand-throw crossover located by the depot if a way freight was doing
station work at Princeton. When the crossover was removed from service
in the 1980's, so was this signal bridge. Just east of the depot, at
MP 103.61, is a corresponding "holding" signal, used for the same
purpose, that is still in service today."
From my own perspective, the Galesburg view is a great
in-station image of an O-5-A straining against its bridle as the engineer
looks back for the conductor's high ball. Note the pile of
clinker/ash below the ash pan on the ground. The dirty laborer
with his back to the engineer who looks to be dragging a clinker hook
probably just cleaned the O-5-A's ash pan saving a time consuming trip
to the roundhouse. Since there's plenty of coal in the tender, 5621 probably
coaled earlier at Mendota, IL, to the east. With its blower
cracked wide open, I bet 5621 was ready to RUN to points west when the
conductor gave the high ball.
Bill Barber and Bob Campbell both think the Galesburg image dates to
either just prior or early World War Two days as the ladder on the
valve gear hanger and spoked pilot wheels were removed from Class
O-5-A locomotives about that time. Also, 5621 looks to be a somewhat
"older" at Galesburg than at Princeton. A little amazing today in this
digital age that the Q trusted its Class O-5-A dual purpose 4-8-4's to
run through from CUS to Denver and back, a distance of over
800 miles. In the Princeton image dated 1939, 5621
was probably just about a year old, having been delivered new
from the Q's West Burlington, IA, Shops in July 1938. When 5621's
time eventually ran out, she was sold for scrap in April 1960
after rusting for several years in the Galesburg Dead Line. Both
images, to me, show the Q at its BEST - Louis
Louis Zadnichek II
Fairhope, AL