Many railroads sold passenger accommodations for freight trains. Passengers rode in the caboose with the conductor. Or if it was a mixed train, there was a coach or combine for passengers.
Fast Freight may be a misnomer. Your date 1897, anything faster than a walk might be considered a fast freight. If a stock train, no doubt it was picking up livestock, ie cattle, at each stop. Livestock was a top priority commodity. A dedicated stock train would probably not handle any other freight, so only made one stop in each town, at the stockpens.
Here is a 1930s photo of more sedate cowboys riding inside a CBQ caboose. https://cdm17097.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/CB/id/978/rec/25
Photo taken in Cody Wyoming after looking cattle. Nice selection of photos of the stockyards, loading process, etc. in this collection.
Doug Harding
www.iowacentralrr.org
From: CBQ@groups.io <CBQ@groups.io> On Behalf Of Dave Burk
Sent: Friday, January 22, 2021 7:14 AM
To: cbq@groups.io
Subject: [CBQ] 1897 Chalco incident
Hello,
I have two questions about an incident that happened in Chalco, Neb. In late June of 1897. A passenger on a train referred to in news articles as the Burlington fast freight (sometimes called a stock train but that definitely had at least some boxcars) was shot during an attempted robbery as he got off the train.
Here are my questions:
- If a person had a pass to ride a freight train, where would he or she ride? Would a freight train have a specific place for passengers?
- For a train called a fast freight, this particular train stopped in Lincoln, then again in Ashland, and again in Chalco, then in Omaha. Why so many stops? I would have thought a fast freight would have been straight through to a destination.
Thanks for any help. I’m pretty ignorant about trains—working on true crime. Thanks!
DB
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