Re: [CBQ] Burning Up The Ballast At Altona

["Louis Zadnichek via groups.io" <LZadnichek=aol.com@groups.io>]

October 30, 2020

Ricky - No such thing as a dumb question.  Asking questions is how you get an answer.  I, for one, do not think it was just ice in those refrigerator cars, other than the ice used to keep whatever perishable cargo it was cool until the train reached its destination - Louis

Louis Zadnichek II

Fairhope, AL

-----Original Message-----
From: Rick Keil <rkeil6721@hotmail.com>
To: CBQ@groups.io <CBQ@groups.io>
Sent: Fri, Oct 30, 2020 9:32 am
Subject: Re: [CBQ] Burning Up The Ballast At Altona

Maybe a dumb question, but could it just be ice?  The Burlington had a line to Memphis Lake, NE where ice was harvested and stored.  Could this simply be ice being moved for use in passenger car cooling or other reefer icing facilities?

Ricky Keil

St Louis, MO

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From: CBQ@groups.io <CBQ@groups.io> on behalf of Louis Zadnichek via groups.io <LZadnichek=aol.com@groups.io>
Sent: Wednesday, October 28, 2020 4:19 PM
To: cbq@groups.io <cbq@groups.io>
Subject: [CBQ] Burning Up The Ballast At Altona

 

October 28, 2020

Group - The "flying" locomotive burning up the ballast at Altona, IL, in the attached image is a nearly new Class S-1 passenger 4-6-2 type.  Note that it's powering an express train of refrigerator cars.  No doubt the hottest train on the division that long ago day in 1908!  May be the cars were loaded with apples from Washington State or some other very valuable perishable freight requiring passenger train speeds to get it to market in time. I don't think the cargo was silk as that was handled in baggage cars. Look closely and you can see the head brakeman standing-up on the tender facing backwards on the engineer's side to check his train for hot boxes or other problems. 

Plus, you can just barely see the elevated crossing guard shack at far left that has a bell.  No doubt it's ringing loudly to warn of the fast approaching reefer express. An "exciting" action image, even some 112 years later. I imagine that the hogger had just about slung out the journal box oil on all the reefer trucks from the high speed run. This is the only photograph I've ever seen of a Class S-1 powering a reefer express. This image and nearly 27,500 others can now be found on the BRHS Website Members Only Section in the Flickr Section. Also just posted are a wide selection of 4960/5632 fan trip fliers from the late 1950s and into the mid-1960s. Have a look!  - Louis

Louis Zadnichek II

Fairhope, AL 

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