At McCook, Nebraska in 1959. Steam had been gone from this part of the Burlington for about five years, but this engine came to Colorado for some excursions out of Denver in 1959. Returning east, it suffered some damage (broken eccentric, I think) and was later scrapped.http://abpr.railfan.net/abprphoto.cgi?m ... 6-8-59.jpg

Bob, Yes, she lost an eccentric shortly after she departed Denver with the eastward leg of the Illini Railroad Club's "Journey to Yesterday" in 1959. Can you imagine a trip today with a 4-8-4 operating from Chicago to Lincoln and being relieved by another 4-8-4 for the remainder of the trip to Denver? And then doing the same thing over again on the return trip - at least until #5626 was crippled. Ah, the "Q" knew how to do it.Don C.

Is that a MARS headlight.....?

It sure is a Mars light. Most of the CB&Q 4-6-4s, 4-8-4s and 2-10-4s got them in the early to mid 1950's. It might look ungainly but it sure was fun riding behind the #5632 after dark at what seemed to be warp-speed with that light sweeping across the right-of-way in a figure-eight pattern.Steam author Ron Ziel made mention of the Mars light in a paragraph about the #5632 in his "The Twilight of Steam Locomotives." It reads a follows.... "The finest performance given by 5632 was one witnessed by only a dozen fans in the baggage car long after sunset. After crossing the Missouri River, the engine encountered a steep grade leading up to Nebraska City. It had been raining and the driving wheels slipped on the wet rails. Like most oil-burners, the struggling locomotive shot flickering jets of flame out from her firebox. Her exhaust, which is normally deafening, became almost unbearable in the baggage car, as it echoed off the rock wall of the cut. The engine crew must have sensed the grandeur of the moment, for the whistle was screaming continually as the sharp light of the firebox illuminated the glistening rocks. When the summit was finally attained amid a crescendo of smoke and noise and swirling vapors, townspeople were standing in the drizzle, visible for a moment in the sweeping headlight beam. As the victorious Northern strutted past, they cheered her coming. In town, porch lights suddenly flicked on as families abandoned their cozy home to see the show, thrilled at the visitor from a bygone era. The whole spectacle left those in the baggage car speechless. Later attempts (such s this writing) to convey the emotions of the experience failed to do it justice."Thought I would share a paragraph that has stuck in my mind since I first read it in 1963.Don C.

And then some ignorant bast**ds cut her up for scrap without so much as a blink of the eye. Such a loss. So much lost. I have never seen a photograph of 5632 being cut up. Do any exist?

It’s funny you’d quote Ron Ziel. If it weren’t for “Twilight of Steam Locomotives,” and “Steam in the 60s,” I probably would know next to nothing about this engine to this day. I was always a fan of those books, even did something I never usually do. I tracked him down and wrote a letter letting him know how much a treasured his books and still do. I actually got a lengthy letter back from him. As for the description of being on that trip, that’s a lot like riding behind 1218 from Valdosta, GA to Jacksonville, Florida back in November of 1987. I was riding in the tool car, leaning out into a seriously frigid wind (and not minding a bit). You could clearly see the glow from 1218’s firebox and cab and see (and hear) the exhaust. A lot of house lights came on and people flew out of their houses as we passed the small communities along the main. That N&W hooter had probably never been heard there back in the day of steam. I’ll never forget that night as long as I live…

This reminds me of several things but mostly a night spent riding in the baggage door of the tool car on the Freedom Train. We left Cumberland, MD at the usual hour of 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning and 2101 went storming down the Potomac river valley on the B&O toward Hagerstown. When we would pass the little river camps along the Potomac lights would come on everywhere and people would be watching from the windows or streaming out onto their porches to see the train go by. One little and very old lady forgot herself and was standing in the window topless. It was quite a show to see the headlight cutting throught the night and watching all of those little lights come on beside the railroad.I also remember sittting at Big Spring, MD on the WM main the first night 614 ran under her own power after restoration. I had driven my truck and taken a few tools and a another volunteer to chase the engine and act as a defacto tool truck. We stopped in Big Spring beside the little train order office and made a couple of small repairs to a cylinder cock and possibly an air compressor lubricator. The little town was completely dark except for the pole light beside the office. When 614 whistled off and the cylinder cocks roared to life the whole town lite up. Suddenly it seemed the whole village was awake and watching the 614.John Bohon

When we start thinking back to the criminal nature of scrapping a steam locomotive in the '60s, '70's or '80s, I can't help but want to remind everyone of how effective the live steam hobby has been in preserving the memory, quite actively I must say, of many a class of steam locomotive never to be seen again. Some are gone forever, some just don't stand a chance of ever being restored to operating condition because of today's litigeous climate.I'm by no means an authority on what locomotives have or have not been built in live steam but I have a pretty good memory if I've seen photos of one or not. The CB&Q 4-8-4's are a class that I'm pretty sure has yet to be modeled in any miniature operating scale that I'm aware of.If the English can come so close to building a full size replica of a 4-6-2, how much more possible would it be for a small group (6-10 at the most) to pool their resources and build 2 or 3 CB&Q 5600 series engines in 7.5" gauge and 1.6" scale? This approach is utilized quite often in the live steam community for a team to capitalize on individual talents and strengths and then build multiple models simultaneously.Oh well, we can either talk about it over and over or we can get off our duffs and do something about it!Rob Gardner

I was on the 1959 trip and we only had steam from Chicago to Lincoln. From there to Dever/Alamosa it was diesel. The year before I believe 5629 powered the Lincoln to Denver portion and it may have had the failure referred to on the return. While disappointed that it wouldn't be steam all the way to Denver, most of that portion was at night and the reasoning was it made the trip less expensive. The 5632 did not disappoint.