I'm digitizing some Super 8 film of a GTW 5629 excursion from 1966. This scene shows the tender being loaded with coal prior to the trip at the C&WI roundhouse in Chicago. At first I thought that the tender next to the engine was one of Dick Jensen's other locomotives, but it appears it's just the tender and that it was used for storing coal as the crane in the background scooped up the coal from it to load in the 5629's tender. Perhaps this is the 5629's original GTW tender?

Sorry for the low quality, this is the best screenshot of the film I could get.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thomas

Thomas -

Can't quite see if the 5629 had the tender from the Soo Line 4-8-2 in your shot. But if so, then I'm pretty much in agreement that the other tender is the original from the 5629. There was nothing wrong with that tender. Jensen just wanted the great coal and water capacity from the larger Soo Line tender. I wonder what happened to that original tender? It was not on the 4-6-2 when Metra had the engine scrapped later at Blue Island. Maybe someone knows the story.

Les

Yes, it does have the Soo Line tender in the film. I would imagine that if this is the 5629's original tender that it was scrapped when Dick got evicted from the roundhouse.

Thomas

Thomas -

As I recall, the 5629 was in the old Rock Island roundhouse in Blue Island that was literally falling apart. The engine was then moved out and shoved to a remote area of the Rock Island's Blue Island yard. It was there that Metra eventually came along and said that the 4-6-2 had to be moved as they were going to build a maintenance building on that spot. Supposedly brass was removed from the bearings, preventing movement by rail. Eventually Metra had the engine scrapped, but interestingly enough, the maintenance building was never built and today Metra just uses it for outside storage of parts. The engine could have sat there with those parts around it. Or it could have been dragged a few hundred feet to get it from that remote location. As for the original tender, I don't believe it was ever in Blue Island, either at the roundhouse or the "remote area". I believe it disappeared some time before the move to Blue Island. Someone may be able to correct me if I am wrong on all this.

Les