Having
just finished reading 'Bud' Linroth's nearly 300 page "History of the CB&Q Peoria Branch",
I found this to be the most difficult book review I've ever written. After looking at the Table of Contents a second time, I realized why: it's actually 3 books & 3 booklets in one volume. It also varies from a colorful pictorial, to a corporate history
text and then a "Granger Country- like" illustrated commentary with a focus on coal mining plus a history of the aptly named "Fulton County Narrow Gauge" (FCNG) thrown in. Indeed, there is something for every Burlington railroad history appetite from 1851
to 2021, a span of 170 years. Best of all, while Mr. Linroth was not an experienced author, he 'lived' the book for the past half century by working on the line from the last year of CB&Q ownership thru BNSF.
The three "books" encompass the Q's Peoria and
Buda/Rushville branches & Peoria yard
ops. The "booklet's" are the many Peoria connections,
post-BN ops and the old FCNG. Thus my recommendation is to begin with which ever "book/booklet" you prefer one evening and later choose another section. The writing & composition vary so you will have a variety of reader experiences. You might also keep
BB#35 handy - John Mitchell's opus: The Burlington in the Coal Fields. The Q/BN served as many as 15 mines in the Peoria area
alone thru 1984. (thus the many open hoppers the Q owned!)
Overall I counted better than 220 b/w photos ranging from beautiful duotones to snapshots, over 165 illustrations (b/w & color) ranging from timetables, train orders and Sanborn maps to old postcards
and over 180 color photos. These again range from professional grade to snapshots but the net result is a "you are there" effect. Note: about 37 photos whether b/w or color, are depots - something we all enjoy along with motive power.
I spent considerable time in the 1970's in Peoria albeit
with C&NW and found that outside Chicago & Kansas City, no other place had the variety of railroads or traffic ranging from "Cat" bulldozers to Hiram Walker whiskey. The book shares this as you also see locos from 9 other roads that either served Peoria or
were private coal mine power. The importance of Peoria is further witnessed by the M&StL’s slogan:
The Peoria Gateway and NYC’s ownership of the Peoria & Eastern.
Another unique feature given the author's immersion as a brakeman, are his shared perceptions of operating "May alley",
analysis of a terrible fatal head-on that claimed four lives (the book is dedicated to their memory) and the mundane aspects of being a railroader. For the modelers there are unique views of a loaded "well" car, a small train of cement mixers , a MoW bunk
correctly located at the back of a freight consist, a steam piledriver in use in 1910, a center cab and gas-electrics, a handcar shed with handcar & the Q's famous two-unit track inspection car. (Not to mention circuses!)
Photo quality varies due to original sources but the best names are also represented with full page bleeds of motive power. For
the purely historian audience there is the 11 pages of FCNG history with many photos from 3' to standard gauge.
All in all, it makes a very good addition to any railfan or modeler's library. If really into the coal industry, branch lines
and/or big city operations, this book is a must! AND a postscript: among the 1,100 books in my personal railroad library, this book has something truly unique. For virtually every town featured, MP by MP, there are actual CB&Q card tickets illustrated on
their respective pages! Even obscure hamlets like Ipava - neat!
Thanks “Bud”.
_._,_._,_
Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#61997) | Reply To Group | Reply To Sender | Mute This Topic | New Topic
Your Subscription | Contact Group Owner | Unsubscribe [archives@nauer.org]
_._,_._,_
|