The ill-fated Burlington 4-8-4 toward the end of its excursion career. Don't know who the yellow passenger car belonged to, but I'll bet most of what is in this photo except the track is now gone, including probably some of the people:http://abpr.railfan.net/abprphoto.cgi?january04/01-14-04/5632_Westbound_at_Downers_Grove_October_1964.jpg

That "yellow" car is probably the Chief Illini, a 10-section obs Pullman that was used on many early CB&Q trips. It was painted orange; the photo repro is a bit off. I think it's now inside a carbarn at IRM, in Pullman Green.

Bingo. While the film has shifted the orange to yellow, the blue window sash are still quite evident, as is the open obs. platform facing the tender.

I believe that the car is lettered "Chief Illini" on one side and "Inglehome" on the other. The trip was very late in 5632's career; this was the "24th Birthday" trip from Chicago to the West Burlington shops and return. She steamed back to Galesburg and then down to Kansas City for a final gold paint job for trips that celebrated the 50th anniversary of the opening of Union Station. She steamed back to Galesburg and that was it for her under steam. 5632 was towed dead to W. Burlington for the rebuild that was never completed. She left the "Q" after purchase by Dick Jensen and most of us know "the rest of the story". The link below will take you to the IRM site. Scroll down and you can see work that has been performed to the "Chief".http://www.irm.org/railwire/rw154.htmlDon C.

I belive that at the present the car is Pullman green, but unlettered; repainted after both body repair and movie work. When the car arrived at IRM in the spring of '71, I was responsible for the first patch and paint job. As the car came it was a garish orange with blue trim and silver roof (University of Illinois colors) and lettered "ILLINI RAILROAD CLUB" in sign painter's circus font on the letter board. The decision was made to put the car back into Pullman green, as this was to be our representative Pullman car. However, the membership decided to retain the name CHIEF ILLINI to honor the heritage as the club's car. Typical of IRM in those days, The car was lettered on the side that faced the depot first. As I recall, it was our very own Bob Kutella who traced the existing lettering showing as ridges through the paint, and composed the CHIEF ILLINI name in the Pullman font. By the time we got to lettering the other side of the car, membership opinion had changed, and that side was given the proper name INGLEHOME. I imagine that when the car is lettered again, it will wear INGLEHOME on both sides.

She steamed back to Galesburg and that was it for her under steam. 5632 was towed dead to W. Burlington for the rebuild that was never completed. She left the "Q" after purchase by Dick Jensen and most of us know "the rest of the story".forgive my ignorance, and I fear the worst, but what happened to the 5632?

Scrapped in the 70s, also happened to his ex GTW engine, which happened in the 80s. Somone else will know the details. Both involved property rights if I remember correctly.JKB

OK, the little light just came on. I saw pics somewhere on the net showing the remains. I am just amazed how much steam was lost so recently. Thanks

I think the signal bridge is still there, too. (^_^)That photo illustrates some of the problems that were almost chronic to the Chicagoland excursions of the late 1950s and early 1960s--note the guy standing between two rather high-speed tracks (not far from where a video I've seen was shot of a commuter dashing into the path of a Metra train and being struck and killed). Occurrences like this and people climbing from the passenger cars up to the top rear of the tender for a joy ride were barely tolerated back then; these photos and others would be Exhibits A through Infinity for why a railroad would refuse a mainline steam excursion today, or only permit the typical excursions of today--"just sit in your little hermetically sealed box, stay in your seat, etc."Maybe we main line steam fanatics need our own Neverland.

This webpage from Wes Barri's www.steamlocomotive.com website describes the sad history of this incident well, with yet more pictures: http://www.steamlocomotive.com/union/jensen.shtml-James Hefner Hebrews 10:20a Surviving World Steam Project

Thanks for the prop on the letterring, Dennis. I still like doing the lettering the old fashioned way by mostly hand painting. But I suppose in a few years all we will be able to manage will be vinyl stick ons. (I do not seem to have any 'apprentices' coming up through the system.)I ran across another car painting reference recently that said car paint jobs (mid 1940's) were redone every 3 years or so in one midwest city and the final step was two coats of varnish. Do any preservation groups add this finishing touch, or merely omit it and expect restorations to last 20 years out of doors?Bob Kutella

Gee, Bob, If you remember, we gave the CNS&M 251 Silverliner paint job a total overcoat of clear Ditzler enamel, to better seal in the feathered edges of the shadow lining. I suppose that counts as varnish, but can't report on how well it holds up; shortly after that job was done IRM was nice enough to keep it inside.I rather enjoyed doing lettering by hand the few times I did it, and always wanted to try gold leaf. However, most of the restoration jobs that went by when I was active required replicating the North Shore's metallic gold water slide decals, and spray application of metallic gold automotive paint was the best way to get a matching metal flake effect. I just happened to take a look at Chicago & Milwaukee Electric 354 when I was out at IRM Saturday, and it also looks good after almost thirty years.The moral of all this; it ain't saved until it's under roof.

We have varnished several of our cars, both a dark olive passenger car, and a wooden box car. In both cases it was to rejuvenate the paint. We have found that varnish brings a faded or grayed out paint job back to new appearance. It also changes the way the car body reflects light, in a way that is difficult to describe, but which is similar to the reflections in old photos.

You are correct, Dennis about the importance of getting equipment under roof. Back on topic -We used a clear epoxy topcoat on our CNW wood caboose job and it has yellowed over time and so the carefully and laboriously matched base color is a little 'different'. Or is it?? If the railroads did this our perception of the 'original' color may be off as well.I did do a lot of the gold leaf work on the FW&WV 504 and I believe this car got two coats of varnish afterward. The gold leafing is an interesting process - almost more of an art than skill and seemingly dependent on temperature and humidity more than lettering with paint. After applying the base varnish, you have to wait for just the right "tack" and then lay on the leaf, and burnish. Also helps to add some tint to that varnish so you can see where you are putting it as you are basically hand painting the lettering in that step. A pale yellow tint does not seem to show through the leaf.Bob Kutella