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Hello Bryan, Bill, and All - Our long departed friend, Jim Neubauer, set this trip up for the Railroad Club of Chicago. He tried for unusual routes and equipment, like Santa Fe from Chicago to Peoria. I made a highway trip with Jim to scout runby locations for this trip. Although a 'Burlington' trip it departed from and returned to the C&NW station in Chicago. It appears the Q conductor took a CNW scoot out to West Chicago where the train had been set over on the Aurora branch. Yes, it did operate 'around the horn' thru Denrock and it was dark by the time the train was handed back to the NorthWestern at Agnew. I took numerous photos, both b&w and color, while on this trip. PAW Philip A. Weibler, 122 Ingalton Ave., West Chicago, IL 60185 (630) 231-8727 pawnbaw@sbcglobal.net
On Monday, September 21, 2020, 07:08:18 AM CDT, Bryan Howell via groups.io <tubaman21=yahoo.com@groups.io> wrote:
Bill, Thanks for passing this along. This really fills in the details for the trip and I've added a summary of the trip to the photo caption. If we could unearth additional photos of this trip, I think it would make an interesting article for the Bulletin or Zephyr. Were there any other joint trips like this? Thanks! Bryan J. Howell Superior, WI
On Sunday, September 20, 2020, 12:23:02 PM CDT, William Barber <clipperw@gmail.com> wrote:
Bryan, I thought I might have the flyer from that trip, but if I do have it, I can’t locate it. I did not ride this trip, but chased it in the central Illinois area. Attached are three more photos from the trip. The first and third photo locations are unidentified, but the second one has been identified as Walnut, IL. The photo that you referenced from the BRHS photo file is not Sterling, IL, but rather, Tampico, IL per Bob Campbell who has worked that line.. With those locations, 4960 took the train from Aurora to Mendota and then up the branch to Denrock via Walnut and Tampico. My recollection is that the train went on to Sterling, but I don’t know where it went from there. However, per the following correspondence from late 2018, the train was turned back over to the C&NW at Agnew, IL and then returned to Chicago via Sterling. This subject has been by several of us in the past. Her is correspondence from Don at milwaukee261@gmail.com and Bob Campbell. In a message dated 12/18/2018 7:05:44 PM Central Standard Time, milwaukee261@gmail.com writes:
And a response from Bob, Sent: 12/20/2018 12:26:54 AM Central Standard Time Subject: January 27, 1962 Excursion/was Christmas Giggles Hi Don - Regarding the January 27, 1962 CNW/Q 4960 excursion sponsored by the Railroad Club of Chicago from Chicago to Sterling and return via C&NW, I did not ride the trip but I'm pretty darn certain of the routing and handling of the trip. Based on photographs taken by Bill Barber, who paced part of the trip, I'm positive the route 4960 took with the C&NW train, was via the 10th Subdivision, Mendota - Denrock, as you had originally assumed. After sending this reply, I will forward to you the correspondence, (with Bill's photos) that him and I had exchanged earlier this year. Your description of how the train was handled from Northwestern Station, Chicago to W. Chicago and onto Aurora with "Q" E-units concurs with what I have heard of the trip. When 4960 arrived at Denrock, it is my guess they took the whole train south on the wye to join the "pea vine" (5th Subdivision) towards Barstow, then, back-up the whole train on the "pea vine", west of the Denrock depot on that sharp, sweeping curve, past the Denrock depot, then pull east, back on the 10th Sub a short distance until they could line the facing point switch to Agnew on the 6th Subdivision for the short, 16.5 mile ride to Agnew. At Agnew, I would imagine the 4960 would stop short of the elevator switch, cut-off the train and head, light, into the elevator track. I would again, assume that the C&NW would have sent the same unit (steam generator equipped SD9) and T&E crew that brought the train out to West Chicago, on west to Agnew to wait for 4960's arrival. I recall someone telling me that 4960 backed to Denrock, out on the "pea vine" and headed south, engine lite, to Galesburg. It would be interesting to see how the T&E crews were handled on this excursion. West Chicago to Denrock would be Aurora Division enginemen and uniformed trainmen - no problem, but upon arrival at Denrock and the movement to Agnew belonged to Galesburg Division crews. These were the days before crews were hauled by van. One can only speculate how it went. Walnut, IL Hwy 92 1-27-62   From: Bryan Howell Date: Sun, 20 Sep 2020 00:35:13 PDT [Edited Message Follows] All, Yesterday's photo of the day on the BRHS website is of the Iron Horse 400. I'm trying to find out more about the trip so I can update the caption, but I keep coming up with conflicting information. Does anyone know the routing of this trip? It appears that it departed Chicago on the CNW behind diesel power (CNW?) then went down the Aurora Branch at West Chicago to Aurora, where the 4960 replaced the diesels. Pat Dorin states the trip returned to Chicago from here, which can't be correct as there are photos along the Mendota-Denrock line and this photo in Sterling. This seems like a pretty interesting trip, but information seems rather sparse. Thanks! Bryan J. Howell Superior, WI _._,_._,_ Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#60412) | Reply To Group | Reply To Sender | Mute This Topic | New Topic _._,_._,_
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