[CBQ] Around the Horn Operations

["Tom Mack via groups.io" <thommack=yahoo.com@groups.io>]

On Mon, May 18, 2026 at 08:42 AM, Roger Kujawa wrote:

This was also in the FOBNR archives...

https://fobnr.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/sample2.pdf

 

On Tue, Jan 7, 2025 at 09:33 AM, Leo Phillipp wrote:

The oral history I've heard from Aurora Div.Q men was ore trains headed toward Chicago area traversed the C&I. I’ve never heard of an ore train nor coal train going around the horn. Not saying it didn’t ever happen.

 

In parts 1 & 2 of working the C&I pool articles in Friends of the BN, I discuss taking unit potash trains around the horn.

 

 

While the original thread for this new message was from Roger Kujawa regarding an abandoned train on the MILW, what really caught my eye and was much appreciated was Earl Currie's article in the 2007 BN Expediter "'Round the Horn: A Valuable Piece of Railroad". Under the "History and background" section, Earl said the Mendota-Denrock line was used for "eastbound unit trains of taconite and potash" as well as "westbound trains of empty cars being returned to loading points west of the Twin Cities". He clarifies the westbound moves later in this section saying "The alternate route was also used for westbound trains of empty cars being returned to loading points west of the Twin Cities. Often, a single GP30, 35 or 40 locomotive was used on a train of 100 to as many as 180 empties. This practice kept such slow-moving trains off the C&I, and avoided the problem of sidings being too short for such long trains to meet opposing trains on a single-track line."

 

I recall some discussions of how the Q got all the GN and NP boxcars carrying lumber, etc. from the PNW to points east back to the GN and NP in the Twin Cities. It was noted that many times the Q brought all these cars to Cicero where they were combined into a single long Extra to return an entire empty train back the GN and NP (with I'm sure SP&S thrown in as well). From my wheel report studies this makes a lot of sense since a huge percentage of the eastbound loaded boxcar traffic, especially lumber and other wood derived products, came through in Hill Road GN and NP box cars. Since Earl (whose 2022 obituary was in BB66) is no longer with us, I wonder if the FOBNR would let the BRHS reprint this article? It has some great information that I think will be helpful to CB&Q modelers and historians. 

 

Special note to Leo: It appeared to me that Earl's section on the "History and background" is based on Q history and operations (including special notes on ore, taconite, and empty westbound Extras) because his next section is "Operating post-merger (1970)". Unfortunately, Earl is no longer around to expound on this. I'd like your take on this based on what you said in 2025. I highly respect your experience. I'm thinking that based on what you heard, maybe ore trains ended up on the C&I as often as they went Around the Horn. Maybe it was just a dispatcher's prerogative or depended on other external factors (weather and related locomotive adhesion issues - don't want to stall an ore train with wheel slip) whether to send the train from Savanna down the C&I or Around the Horn? 

 

--

Tom Mack
Cincinnati, OH
Modeling Chicago-Mpls/StP 1965-merger

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