THE OFFICIAL WEBPAGE
OF ROBERT D. WEST
The Illinois Railway Museum is located in Union, Illinois, and is the largest railroad museum in the United States, with over 375 pieces of equipment on 26 acres, with a mile long streetcar loop and a 5-mile mainline. The museum originally began in the 1950’s as the Illinois Electric Railway Museum to save a single historic interurban car. As more cars were added, the location the museum was using in North Chicago was quickly outgrown and the museum looked for a new home. As the museum searched for a new location, it also decided to expand its focus from only electric railroads to all railroads in March 1962, and the name was changed to the Illinois Railway Museum. In March 1964 the museum purchased the property in Union, Illinois, and by August 23, 1964, all the museum equipment had been moved to Union. On July 23, 1965, the first train ran at the museum. Since then the museum has become the impressive place it is today.
Steam Locomotives
Illinois Central #201
Illinois Central
#201 is a 2-4-4T built in by the Rogers Locomotive Works in May 1880 for
use on the Illinois Central’s commuter service between downtown Chicago
and the south suburbs. Originally built as Illinois Central #216, this
locomotive was renumbered to #213 in 1894 and again to #201 in 1890. In
1900, the locomotive was renumbered to #1401. The Illinois Central’s
commuter lines were electrified in the 1920s, and in 1928 the locomotive
was renumbered back to #201. This locomotive was displayed at the 1933
Chicago World’s Fair. In 1965, the locomotive was sold to Pete Vonachen’s Vonachens Junction, a railroad-themed restaurant in Peoria,
IL. In July 1975, Pete Vonachen sold the locomotive to Reuben
Kaplan of Owatonna, MN and the locomotive was eventually restored by the
Owatonna Tool Company. In December 2002, the fully restored
locomotive was donated to the Illinois Railroad Museum. The
commuter lines are still electrified and still carry commuters, though the service is now
operated by Chicago’s
Metra.
Illinois Central #3719
Illinois Central
#3719 is a 2-6-0 Mogul built in December 1900 by the Brooks Locomotive
Works. It was originally #560 but was renumbered #3719 in July 1937 and
renumbered again #3706. After retirement from Illinois Central, the
locomotive was sold to the Bevier & Southern in Missouri to be their
#109. In 1963 it was sold to a locomotive dealer and eventually found
its way to the Steamtown site in Bellows Falls, Vermont. Steamtown sold
the locomotive in March 1986 and in May it was purchased by the Illinois
Railway Museum. Interestingly, its tender wears the number 3039. The
reason for this remains a mystery (at least to me).
John Simakauskas has a picture of this locomotive on his Steamtown, Bellows Falls, Vermont, 1978 website. Check it out, and note that the tender has been numbered 3039 since at least 1978. If anybody has the answer to this minor mystery, let me know.
Toledo-Detroit #16
Toledo-Detroit #16
is a 4-4-0 American type locomotive built by the Baldwin Locomotive
Works in August 1914. It was originally built for the Midland
Pennsylvania Railroad as their #1, and was named T. E. Herrick. It was sold to the Toledo-Detroit Railroad in December 1915. In May
1916, the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton Railroad leased the Toledo-Detroit,
and the locomotive became the DT&I’s #16. Henry Ford purchased the
DT&I, and owned it until 1929, when he sold it to the Penn Road
Corporation, a subsidiary of the Pennsylvania Railroad. In 1930,
locomotive #16 was retired and donated to the Edison Institute of
Dearborn, Michigan. It would later appear on display in the
Henry Ford
Museum. The original Toledo-Detroit Railroad trackage was abandoned in
the 1960s. The DT&I was sold off as an independent railroad in 1970,
and was acquired by the Grand Trunk Western in 1980, and fully merged
into the GTW in 1984. In September 1983, the Illinois Railway Museum
traded another locomotive to the Henry Ford Museum in exchange for
Toledo-Detroit #16.
Louisiana & Arkansas #99
Louisiana &
Arkansas #99 is a 2-8-0 Consolidation type locomotive built by Baldwin
in September 1919 for the Louisiana Railway & Navigation Company. The LR&N was merged into the Louisiana & Arkansas on May 8, 1929. The L&A
eventually expanded to connect to New Orleans, Shreveport and Dallas,
Texas. The Kansas City Southern acquired the L&A on October 20, 1939,
though the L&A continued to operate as a separate railroad for many
years. Locomotive #99 was sold in 1946 and had several owners in
Louisiana before being donated to the Illinois Railway Museum in March
1968. On July 6, 1992, the Louisiana & Arkansas was finally merged into
the Kansas City Southern.
Norfolk & Western #2050
Norfolk & Western
#2050 was built by Alco in March 1923. It is a Class Y3A 2-8-8-2
articulated. It was sold in 1959 to
Armco Steel Corporation of
Middletown, Ohio. It survived to be donated to the Illinois Railway
Museum, arriving in April 1978.
J. Neils Lumber Company #5
J. Neils Lumber
Company #5 is a 3-Truck Shay built in May 1929 for use at the J. Neils
Lumber Company in Libby, Montana. Shay locomotives were used often in
the timber and mining industries due to their ability to operate on poor
track and sharp curves. This was because, unlike most steam locomotives
that have drive wheels in a rigid frame connected by driving rods, Shays
featured geared drive trucks connected to a flexible drive shaft driven
by vertical pistons on the right side of the engine (not visible in the
picture) similar in a way to an auto or truck drive-train. This gave
Shays excellent pulling power, but limited speed, though in most of
their applications, speed was not a concern. In May 1939, the
locomotive was transferred to Klickitat, Washington. While in use at
Klickitat, the operations there became the Klickitat Log & Lumber
Company, part of the
St. Regis Paper Company. In May 1964, the
locomotive was sold to Ed Donnelley of Hill City, South Dakota, for use
on the Black Hills Central tourist railroad. In June 1965 the
locomotive moved to the
Mid-Continent Railroad Museum in North Freedom,
Wisconsin for a short time before coming to the Illinois Railway Museum
on July 23, 1965. The locomotive was the first operating steam
locomotive at IRM, with its first museum operations on December 29,
1967. In August 1969, the locomotive was formally donated to the
museum.
Grand Trunk Western #6323
Grand Trunk
Western #6323 was built in January 1942 by Alco. It is a Class U3b 4-8-4. It was retired by Grand Trunk Western and sold to Fred Crew of
Detroit, Michigan in November, 1961. Following Mr. Crew’s death in
October 1971, his estate sold the locomotive to Robert Johnson, also of
Detroit, in August, 1973. In August 1981, the locomotive was moved to
the Illinois Railway Museum.
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific (Milwaukee Road) #265
Milwaukee Road
#265 was built in July 1944 by Alco. #265 is an S3 class 4-8-4
locomotive, one of a group of 10 that were the last steam locomotives
delivered to the Milwaukee. The locomotive went into storage in 1954 as
the Milwaukee ended steam operations. In January 1957 the locomotive
was donated to the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where it remained until
the city donated it to the Illinois Railway Museum in March 1975. It
arrived in Union on April 12, 1975. #265 is one of only three Milwaukee
Road steam locomotives in existence, although one of the others is
sister S3 #261, which has been restored to operating condition and is
used on excursion trips.
Streetcars
Chicago Surface Lines #4021
This PCC Car was
built in 1936 by the St. Louis Car Co. It is 50 feet long and seats
61. In 1929, the presidents of several North American streetcar systems
formed the Electric Railway Presidents Conference Committee to design a
new standard modern streetcar to be used in cities across North
America. The result was the Presidents Conference Committee Car, or PCC
Car. The first of these cars were built in 1936, and by the time the
last were built in 1952, over 5000 had been produced. They were used in
many major cities throughout the United States and Canada, and many
remained in service for many years, some moving from city to city as
streetcar lines were replaced by buses. Chicago Surface Lines became
part of the Chicago Transit Authority in 1947, and the last streetcar
lines in Chicago were replaced with buses in 1958. #4021 is one of the
only surviving Chicago PCC cars, all of which are at IRM.
Rapid Transit Cars
Chicago Transit Authority cars
This group of cars is from the Chicago Transit Authority. The cars on the right are #6655 & #6656, part of the 6000-series cars built by St. Louis Car Co. in 1957. On the right are #22, #30 & #41 (One is not visible behind the others. I don’t know which is which) from the 1-50-series built by St. Louis in 1959.
Interurban Cars
North Shore Line #604
North Shore Line
#604 is a line car used for maintenance. It was built by the North
Shore Line’s predecessor, the Chicago & Milwaukee Electric Railway, in
1914. It became a North Shore Line car when the C&MER was renamed the
Chicago, North Shore & Milwaukee Railroad in 1916. This car served
until the North Shore shut down in 1963, and may have been used in
dismantling the line.
North Shore Line #714
North Shore Line
#714 is a Coach Interurban Car built by the Cincinnati Car Company in
1926. It is one of 34 such cars built between 1923 and 1926. The North
Shore Line’s proper name was the Chicago, North Shore & Milwaukee
Railroad. As the name suggests, it ran between Chicago, IL and
Milwaukee, WI along the shore of Lake Michigan. The North Shore Line
shut down January 21, 1963. These cars served until the North Shore
Line ceased operation, and cars similar to this one were used in the
last North Shore Line trains.
North Shore Line #251 & 757
North Shore Line
#251 (right) is a combination Baggage-Coach Interurban Car, one of a
group of seven built by the Jewett Car Company in 1917. North Shore
Line #757 (left) is a Coach Interurban car, one of a group of 25 built
by the Standard Steel Car Company in 1930. These cars served until the
North Shore Line ceased operation, and #757 was part of the last
southbound North Shore Line train on January 21, 1963.
North Shore Line #801/802 Electroliner
The
Electroliners were two articulated bidirectional interurban trains
built for the North Shore Line in 1941 by the St. Louis Car Co. Despite
being inseparable, each train had two numbers, one for each cab. The
Electroliners were considered the fastest
way to travel between
Chicago and Milwaukee. They served the North Shore Line until it shut
down in 1963. The Electroliners were sold to the Philadelphia
Suburban Transportation Company (later
SEPTA) and moved to Pennsylvania
in November 1963. They were used on the Red Arrow Lines as Liberty
Liners. #801/802 was named Valley Forge and #803/804 was
named Independence Hall. After their retirement, both found
their way to museums in 1982. The Illinois Railway Museum received
#801/802, shown here, on May 4, 1982 while the #803/804 went to the
Rockhill
Trolley Museum in Pennsylvania. IRM began restoration of
#801/802 in 1998. Though the restoration is still in progress, it has
been returned to its original North Shore Line colors. The #803/804 in
Pennsylvania has yet to be restored.
Electric Locomotives
Commonwealth Edison #4
Commonwealth
Edison #4 was built by Alco and
General Electric in 1911. This style of
electric locomotive is called a steeplecab, because of the tall,
centered cab. Commonwealth Edison used the locomotive on a short
railroad it built to supply coal to a power plant in Chicago.
Commonwealth Edison purchased its last electric locomotive (used) in
1948. Shortly after that, Commonwealth Edison began buying diesel
locomotives.
Pennsylvania Railroad #4927
Pennsylvania #4927
is a GG1 built by the Pennsylvania Railroad at its own Juanita Shops in
Altoona, PA in 1942. 139 GG1s were built between 1934 and 1943, all for
the Pennsylvania Railroad. They were transferred to the Pennsylvania’s
successor Penn Central in 1968. 40 GG1s were eventually sold to
Amtrak,
including #4927 in 1976, when it became Amtrak #4939. The rest operated
on Penn Central’s successor Conrail until 1979. 13 of those were
acquired by New Jersey Transit. Amtrak retired the GG1s in 1981. The
last operating GG1s were retired from
New Jersey Transit in 1983. Today, only 16 of the 139 GG1s survive. #4927 is one of those few,
having found its way to IRM after its retirement in 1981. It was
restored to Pennsylvania colors in 1999.
South Shore Line #803
The
Chicago, South
Shore & South Bend Railroad, also known as the South Shore Line, was the
equivalent of the North Shore Line on the other side of Chicago. The
South Shore Line ran from Chicago to South Bend, Indiana. Locomotive
#803 was originally one of 20 built by
General Electric in 1949 for the
Russian railway. While the locomotives were under construction, the
United States banned their shipment to the Soviet Union due to the
beginning of Cold War tension. Upon their completion, the locomotives
were offered for sale to other buyers. The South Shore was the first
buyer, acquiring 3 of the locomotives in 1949. The 5,120 horsepower
locomotives were used in freight service on the South Shore. Of the
remaining locomotives, 12 were purchased by the Milwaukee Road for its
electrified main lines in Montana and Washington, and 5 were purchased
by the Paulista Railway of Brazil. This entire group of locomotives, or
at least those that remained in America, were nicknamed Little Joes
after Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. The South Shore’s Little Joes were
retired in February 1981, and #803 arrived at IRM on July 19, 1981. In
addition to #803, other surviving Little Joes include South Shore #802
owned by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum of Baltimore, Maryland,
Milwaukee Road #E-70 on display in Deer Lodge, Montana, and presumably
all 5 of the Brazilian units in storage still in Brazil. The South
Shore Line itself still exists today, though its freight and passenger
operations have been split into separate companies. The passenger
operations are still electric and are considered to be America’s last
interurban, operated by the
Northern Indiana
Commuter Transportation District. The freight service is handled by diesel locomotives.
Internal Combustion Locomotives
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy E5A #9911A Silver Pilot
Silver Pilot
is an E5A built by General Motors’
Electro-Motive Division (EMD) in 1940
for general passenger service on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy (aka
the Burlington Route). It produces 2000 horsepower from two 12 cylinder
engines. E5 locomotives were purchased only by the Burlington, and were
notable for being the only EMD E-units with stainless steel fluting on
their sides. Later Burlington passenger locomotives had smooth
stainless sides. This locomotive was assigned to the Nebraska Zephyr
between Chicago and Lincoln, Nebraska at or shortly after the train’s
inception in December 1947. Though the locomotive’s assignment never
changed, reshuffling within the CB&Q led to Silver Pilot
being owned by Burlington subsidiary Fort Worth & Denver as their #9982A
and later becoming #9952A of the Colorado & Southern, another Burlington
subsidiary. Silver Pilot was donated to the Illinois Railway
Museum with the Nebraska Zephyr on September 21, 1968. Of 11
E5As and 5 cabless E5B boosters, Silver Pilot is the only
survivor.
Milwaukee Road #760
Milwaukee Road
#760 is an H10-44 built by
Fairbanks-Morse in August 1944 as Milwaukee
Road #1802. It is powered by a six-cylinder opposed-piston engine
producing 1200 horsepower. Fairbanks-Morse is an engine manufacturer
based in Beloit, Wisconsin. The company has existed since the 1870s and
still exists today. F-M is known for creating the first commercially
successful gasoline engine in 1893. Their main focus today is on
engines for power plants and navy vessels. In 1939, F-M started
development of railroad applications for their opposed-piston diesel
engine. Locomotive #760 was the first Fairbanks-Morse locomotive from
their Beloit plant. Fairbanks-Morse produced locomotives in the U.S.
until 1958, and stopped all locomotive production in 1963, choosing
instead to focus on other areas. Locomotive #760 was retired in May
1980 and was donated to the Illinois Railway Museum on December 23,
1981.
Minneapolis, Northfield & Southern #21
MNS #21 is a
DT-6-6-2000 built by Baldwin in 1948. It produces 2000 horsepower from
two diesel engines. It is the only surviving DT-6-6-2000 of 42 built,
of which the MNS owned five. The MNS was formed in 1918 and was absorbed
in 1982 by the Soo Line, now part of
Canadian Pacific.
Commonwealth Edison #15
Commonwealth
Edison #15 is a 600 horsepower SW-1 built by EMD in September 1950.
Locomotives such as #15 replaced the electric locomotives on the
Commonwealth Edison line in Chicago. They served until the power plant
closed in the 1970s and the railroad shut down. The tracks remained
until the mid 1980s, but almost all have now been removed.
Grand Trunk Western #1951
Grand Trunk
Western #1951 is an Alco RS-1 built in 1957. It produces 1500
horsepower. It was the last RS-1 produced by Alco, the second of a
group of two delivered to Grand Trunk Western.
Southern Pacific #1518
Southern Pacific
#1518 was built May 3, 1951 by EMD. It was the first EMD six-axle
freight diesel, an SD7, and was originally numbered EMD #990 and used as
a demonstrator on many railroads. Southern Pacific purchased the
locomotive on October 10, 1952 after a major overhaul by EMD personnel,
and it became SP #5308. The locomotive was renumbered #2715 in 1965 and
renumbered again in 1973 as #1415. The locomotive was rebuilt by
Southern Pacific’s Sacramento Locomotive Works, emerging as SD7R #1518
on February 5, 1980. Union Pacific acquired the locomotive as part of
the 1996 merger with Southern Pacific. Recognizing the locomotive’s
historical significance, it was placed in their historical collection at
Cheyenne, Wyoming until being donated to the Illinois Railway Museum.
Illinois Terminal #1605
Illinois Terminal
#1605 is a GP7 built by EMD in 1953. It produces 1500 horsepower. It
was later renumbered #1505. Illinois Terminal was incorporated in 1895
when future U.S. President
William McKinley purchased a streetcar system
serving Urbana and Champaign, Illinois. The Illinois Terminal was
purchased by the Norfolk & Western in 1981. In 1982, the N&W merged
with the Southern Railway to form
Norfolk Southern. NS donated #1605 to
the Illinois Railway Museum on October 15, 1985.
Toledo, Peoria & Western #400
Toledo, Peoria &
Western #400 is an RS-11 built by Alco in November 1958. It produces
1800 horsepower. #400 came to the Illinois Railway Museum in November
1983. The Toledo, Peoria & Western has existed since the 1880s, and
still exists today, although since September 3, 1999 it has been part of
the RailAmerica family of short line railroads. The Toledo, Peoria &
Western today consists of about 300 miles of track in Illinois and
Indiana.
Green Bay & Western #2407
Green Bay &
Western #2407 is a 2400 horsepower RSD-15 built by Alco in May 1960 as
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe #841. Santa Fe renumbered it to #9841 in
October 1969. In 1975 it was sold to the Lake Superior & Ishpeming
where it became #2402. It was one of 6 LS&I RSD-15s acquired by the
Green Bay & Western in November 1989. It was retired August 27, 1993
when the GB&W was merged into the Wisconsin Central, and was sold to the
Illinois Railway Museum in October 1996. The other five GB&W RSD-15s
were scrapped by March 1996. The Wisconsin Central was merged into
Canadian National on October 9, 1999. The Green Bay & Western does
still exist as a company within CN, though only on paper.
Union Pacific #18
Union Pacific #18
is a Gas Turbine-Electric locomotive, built by
General Electric in
August 1960. Turbine locomotives are powered by a large, powerful
turbine rather than a diesel engine. #18 was capable of producing 8500
horsepower, while the most powerful diesel locomotives of the time
produced 2400 horsepower. At one time, Union Pacific owned 55 turbine
locomotives for freight service between Council Bluffs, Iowa and Ogden,
Utah. The first 10, #51-60, were built in 1952 and produced 4500
horsepower. An additional 15 4500 horsepower units, #61-75, were built
in 1954. Finally, 30 8500 horsepower locomotives, #1-30, were built
from 1958 to 1961. This last group was made up of three units each: the
first unit had the control cab and a Cooper-Bessemer diesel engine for
slow speed yard work, the second unit contained the 8500 horsepower
turbine itself, and the third unit was a tender carrying 24384 gallons
of fuel. The last turbines ran in December 1969, victims of rising fuel
costs and more efficient diesel locomotives, though even today a single
diesel locomotive cannot produce as much horsepower as the last group of
turbines. #18 is one of only two surviving turbines, both from the last
group. The other is #26, on display in Ogden. Union Pacific sold #18
to Continental Leasing in September 1971. It then went to the
Intercontinental Engineering scrapyard in North Kansas City.
Intercontinental donated it to the Kansas City Railroad Museum on May 6,
1977. It since was moved to the Illinois Railway Museum.
Union Pacific #6930
Union Pacific
#6930 is a DDA40X built by EMD in 1970. There were a total of 45 of
these locomotives built between 1969 and 1971, and Union Pacific was the
only owner of them. They were called Centennials, due to their
introduction 100 years after the completion of the first
transcontinental railroad. A Centennial is nearly 100 feet
long, and is powered by two 20 cylinder engines producing a total of
6600 horsepower. Centennials are still the largest and most powerful diesel
locomotives in the world. #6930 made its last trip on March 12, 1985,
and was donated to the Smokey Hill Railway & Historical Society of
Shawnee Mission, Kansas in August 1985. In October 1991 it was traded
to the Illinois Railway Museum. #6930 is one of 14 surviving
Centennials; one other survivor, #6936, is still owned by Union Pacific
and is operated on special occasions.
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe #92
Santa Fe #92 is an
FP45 built by EMD in December 1967 as Santa Fe #102. It is one of 9
FP45s built for passenger service on the Santa Fe. It is powered by a
20 cylinder engine producing 3600 horsepower. In 1970, #102 was
renumbered to #5942. It was rebuilt in October 1982 and was renumbered
to #5992. In 1989 it was renumbered to #101 and in 1990 was renumbered
again to #92. It was retired in January 1997 and donated to the
Illinois Railway Museum. Though two of the Santa Fe’s FP45s were
destroyed in accidents, the other seven all survive today.
Burlington Northern BN-1 & BN-2
Burlington
Northern locomotives BN-1 and BN-2 (not visible behind BN-1) were the
locomotives assigned to Burlington Northern’s Executive Service in the
1990’s. BN-1 and BN-2 were originally Northern Pacific F-9A #6700A and
F-9B #7002C, built by EMD in February 1954 and August 1954
respectively. They became Burlington Northern #9800 and #809 after the
merger of May 5, 1970. After the creation of Amtrak, #9800, originally
a passenger unit, was assigned to freight service and renumbered #766.
In the 1980s, the locomotives became rotary snow plow power supply units
#972567 and #972574. In September 1990 they were rebuilt by Burlington Northern’s West Burlington Shops in Burlington, Iowa into F9-2s BN-1 and
BN-2. The rebuild included replacing the original 1500 horsepower
engine with a new 2000 horsepower 16 cylinder engine. They were retired
after the
Burlington Northern-Santa
Fe merger of 1996 and were donated
to the Illinois Railway Museum.
Burlington Northern BN-3
BN-3 was
originally built as Chicago, Burlington & Quincy E9A #9989A by EMD in
January 1956. It became Burlington Northern #9989 after the merger of
May 5, 1970. In April 1973 it was rebuilt for Chicago commuter service
and became E9AM #9919, the Joseph F. Coyle. At this point, the
locomotive technically was owned by Chicago’s West Suburban Mass Transit
District and leased to Burlington Northern. The rebuilt E-units were
retired from Chicago commuter service in July 1992, and in August #9919
was transferred back to Burlington Northern. It was sent to be repainted
and emerged on January 6, 1993 as BN-3. It joined BN-1 and BN-2 in
Executive Service until the 1996
BNSF merger, after
which it was donated to the Illinois Railway Museum.
Burlington Northern #5383
Burlington
Northern #5383 is a 3000 horsepower U30C built by
General Electric
in Erie, Pennsylvania in November 1974, one of an order of 50. General
Electric built a total of 596 U30C locomotives between 1966 and 1976,
when the model was replaced by the new C30-7. Burlington Northern was
the largest owner of U30Cs, eventually owning 181 of the locomotives.
#5383 was placed in storage in April 1994, and was donated to the
Illinois Railway Museum on September 24, 1994.
Other Equipment
Union Pacific #900075
Union Pacific
#900075 is a steam-powered rotary snow plow, built in December 1949 by
Lima-Hamilton as Union Pacific #079. Rotary snow plows are still used
today, though almost all are now powered by diesel engines. Rotary snow
plows are used to clear tracks after the most severe winter storms.
Their large rotating blades are capable of clearing snow higher than the
plow itself, and throwing the snow one hundred feet from the track. This plow was retired in April 1979. It was originally donated to the
Smokey Hills Chapter of the
National Railroad Historical Society and was
displayed at a railroad museum in Kansas City. It came to the Illinois
Railroad Museum sometime later.
Union Pacific #907149
Union Pacific
#907149 was built in 1939 by the railroad as #9195, one of 100 cars for
the railroad’s new Challenger Merchandise Service. Challenger Service
trains carried “Less-Than-Carload” (LCL) Merchandise Shipments and
provided overnight service between several pairs of cities across the
Union Pacific system. The U. S. entering World War II forced the
service to end in 1942, and the cars, including 30 more built in early
1941, were assigned to carrying express freight in Union Pacific
passenger trains until
Amtrak’s creation in 1971. Some of the cars
found further use in maintenance service, including #9195, which became
storage car #907149 until its retirement.
DOTX #3
This car, formerly
owned by the United States Department of Transportation, was originally
an express refrigerator car owned by the Railway Express Agency. It was
built in 1957 by General American Transportation. It was part of the
Railway Express Agency’s REX 7400-7899 series of cars.
BFIX #520
BFIX #520 is a
6000 gallon milk car built by Merchants Dispatch Company in 1935, consisting of two 3000 gallon glass-lined tanks. Cars like this carried and distributed milk mainly in the northeastern part of the
country and were known as “Butter Dish Cars” due to their shape,
which resembles a butter dish.
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Nebraska Zephyr Trainset
The Nebraska
Zephyr trainset was one of two sets built by the Budd Company in
1936. The two sets were originally built as the second Twin Zephyrs,
replacing the original 1935 equipment of the service between Chicago and
Minneapolis, Minnesota which had been quickly outgrown. These new
Twin Zephyrs entered service on December 18, 1936. On November 16,
1947, as new Twin Zephyr equipment entered service, the old
trains were reassigned to a new service between Chicago and Lincoln,
Nebraska called the Nebraska Zephyr. The original 1800
horsepower shovelnose diesels were replaced with 2000 horsepower E5s
like Silver Pilot. The trains were retired in February 1968,
though the Nebraska Zephyr service would continue with different
equipment until 1971. This set came to the Illinois Railway Museum on
September 21, 1968 with Silver Pilot. The other Nebraska
Zephyr train was acquired by the Royal Saudi Railroad and is in
storage in Saudi Arabia.
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy #13572
Chicago,
Burlington & Quincy caboose #13572 was built by the Burlington Route in
1960 at their shops in Havelock, Nebraska. It became Burlington
Northern #10343 after the merger on May 5, 1970.
Milwaukee Road #01984
Milwaukee Road caboose #01984 was built by the railroad’s Milwaukee, Wisconsin shops in 1946. It was later renumbered #991984. The Milwaukee Road was the only railroad to have cabooses with ribbed sided such as this one.
IRM Links
Also See:
PLACES - Stevens Pass, Washington
PLACES - San Francisco, California
PLACES - Antique Powerland, Brooks, Oregon
Steam on the Chelatchie Prairie
California Short Lines & Museums
Miscellaneous Railroad Pictures
All website content, including graphics and pictures are © Robert D. West unless otherwise noted. Content is not to be used out of the context of this webpage without expressed permission. Any opinions expressed herein are mine and are not necessarily shared by the Milwaukee School of Engineering, or anyone else.
Questions? Comments? Critiques? Corrections? Concerns? Email me at westr@msoe.edu.