Nebraska Zephyr on excursion (1 of 5)
The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Silver Pilot, the last surviving Electro-Motive E5 unit, passes under one of the few remaining classic CB&Q signal bridges on the Sunday morning run into Galesburg, Illinois. The 1940 locomotive pulls a 5-car, articulated trainset manufactured by the Budd Company in 1936 and known as the Train of the Goddesses. The cars are: Venus, power/baggage and once a bar/lounge that was replaced with coach seating in 1963; Vesta, 60-seat coach; Minerva, 60-seat coach; Ceres, 32-seat dining car; and Juno, 34-seat parlor-observation car.
On a rare excursion from its home at the Illinois Railroad Museum, this train is on old familiar rails here as it travels a portion of the former Burlington line that was home to the Nebraska Zephyr on its Chicago, Omaha, Lincoln run from 1947 to January 1968.
It was a bit heartbreaking, standing there waiting for this special train, to see a BNSF coal train pull up and stop with its last car blocking the leg of the signal bridge and to realize it was not going to move in time for the Zephyr. But I guess we just had to be thankful it wasn't on the other track or there'd have been no shot here at all! : )
I better confess right away that I messed with reality a bit here, something I don't normally like on train shots. The urge to accomplish, in my little snapshot world of that moment, what I can't accomplish in the real world got the best of me. Yes, I removed some unsightly objects, the PTC antenna and the evil hooded replacement signals that were installed and waiting to take over a ways down the line. Yep, I made them disappear, BAM!!! . . . and all I can tell you is . . . IT FELT REAL GOOD!!! ;-D
Nebraska Zephyr on excursion (1 of 5)
The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Silver Pilot, the last surviving Electro-Motive E5 unit, passes under one of the few remaining classic CB&Q signal bridges on the Sunday morning run into Galesburg, Illinois. The 1940 locomotive pulls a 5-car, articulated trainset manufactured by the Budd Company in 1936 and known as the Train of the Goddesses. The cars are: Venus, power/baggage and once a bar/lounge that was replaced with coach seating in 1963; Vesta, 60-seat coach; Minerva, 60-seat coach; Ceres, 32-seat dining car; and Juno, 34-seat parlor-observation car.
On a rare excursion from its home at the Illinois Railroad Museum, this train is on old familiar rails here as it travels a portion of the former Burlington line that was home to the Nebraska Zephyr on its Chicago, Omaha, Lincoln run from 1947 to January 1968.
It was a bit heartbreaking, standing there waiting for this special train, to see a BNSF coal train pull up and stop with its last car blocking the leg of the signal bridge and to realize it was not going to move in time for the Zephyr. But I guess we just had to be thankful it wasn't on the other track or there'd have been no shot here at all! : )
I better confess right away that I messed with reality a bit here, something I don't normally like on train shots. The urge to accomplish, in my little snapshot world of that moment, what I can't accomplish in the real world got the best of me. Yes, I removed some unsightly objects, the PTC antenna and the evil hooded replacement signals that were installed and waiting to take over a ways down the line. Yep, I made them disappear, BAM!!! . . . and all I can tell you is . . . IT FELT REAL GOOD!!! ;-D