Jim
I think that, as soon as the court judgment was received by CB&Q officials, the decision was made to stop the service immediately, irrespective of where the train was at that time. Had the decision been made any earlier, the train could have been stopped at
Alliance. Any later and it could have been stopped at Crawford but the sooner the service stopped, the harder it would be for opponents to get a court injunction to continue the service. Once the passengers were removed from the train, it was no longer a passenger
service. Seven of the passengers, perhaps locals, managed to get transport to Crawford rather than wait for the bus.
Rupert Gamlen
Auckland NZ
From: CBQ@groups.io <CBQ@groups.io>
On Behalf Of jim cunningham
Sent: Thursday, 22 October 2020 5:36 am
To: CBQ@groups.io
Subject: Re: [CBQ] [PassengerCarList] Montana train discontinuance
The passenger train was terminated at Hemmingford Nebr. As stated in this post but the strange part is that the passengers were bussed to their final destinations and the train continused to it’s
final stopping point. I know this because my father was the one who was tasked with writing the orders to stop and terminate the train and all the officers that should have done this all went out to inspect the territory during this incident and could not
be contacted. As far as why the Burlington stopped the passenger trains was because the postal service pulled the mail off the RR and started trucking it and when they did that the RR was losing money on passenger service!
Thanks
There’s a full report in Bulletin 53 on the Belmont Tunnel.
The quick answer is that the CB&Q tried in 1967 to discontinue service between Alliance and Billings, but the ICC ruled against it.
On 6 August 1968, the company again gave a month’s notice to the ICC of its intention to discontinue
trains 42 and 43, this time between Omaha and Billings. Again the
ICC ordered the company to continue the service for four months pending the outcome of an investigation. After various investigations and hearings, a judgment was issued on 13 August 1969 that the service could be stopped. First thing on the next day,
train 41 stopped at Hemingford and the 33 passengers were required to alight. Eventually a bus was provided to take them to their destination. Later that day, a 10 day stay was ordered by the Supreme Court but was lifted on 24 August and the passenger service
was stopped.
It was suggested that Glenn Cunningham, a Nebraskan Congressman and a member of the House Commerce Committee’s Transportation Subcommittee, was involved in the Supreme Court action.
It is unclear if he had been one of the passengers on the train, although later reports said he was in Crawford and intending to use the service to return home after his vacation.
Rupert Gamlen
Auckland NZ
As I recall, there was a congressman or senator riding the train when this happened. I believe the incident resulted in the Q having to reinstate the train for a short time and legislation requiring discontinued trains
to complete their last trip.
I have cross-posted this reply to the CB&Q group to see if anyone there remembers the incident
L&N also pulled that kind of shenanigan when it discontinued the southbound Hummingbird en route in Birmingham on January 9, 1969. Supposedly the passengers were bussed to their destinations.
Jason P
I believe the train was terminated in Wyoming on the way to Billings, MT and was a CB&Q rather than a BN train. Still it was a chicken "manure" move. Hopefully the official responsible for this dumb decision was called
on the carpet for tarnishing the Burlington's public image.
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