I was watching a railroad DVD with my buddy Alan and saw a bunch of footage of CB&Q 5632 pulling fan trips. I think I remember reading somewhere that she pulled a trip with a record number of passengers. Something to the tune of 2,000 or more in double decker commuter cars? Does this ring a bell with anyone?

Thanks,

Tom Gears

> I was watching a railroad DVD with my buddy
> Alan and saw a bunch of footage of CB&Q
> 5632 pulling fan trips. I think I remember
> reading somewhere that she pulled a trip
> with a record number of passengers.
> Something to the tune of 2,000 or more in
> double decker commuter cars? Does this ring
> a bell with anyone?

> Thanks,

> Tom Gears
The trip ran from Chicago to Aurora Ill. on saturday May 23,1964 to commemorate one hundred years of suburban passenger service.

> The trip ran from Chicago to Aurora Ill. on
> saturday May 23,1964 to commemorate one
> hundred years of suburban passenger service.
The fare was only $1.50 for the roundtrip. That's why, I think just about everybody and their uncle made that trip!

> The fare was only $1.50 for the roundtrip.
> That's why, I think just about everybody and
> their uncle made that trip!

I was not quite 13 years old at the time and wasn't able to ride but I did stand on the platform at Aurora and watch the '32 leave town that morning. The tracks are elevated through Aurora east of the old depot and are surrounded for several blocks by buildings up to eight or ten stories tall on each side. It made for a great echo chamber when the 4-8-4 departed eastbound with the 22 car train. Her legendary exhausted pounded the surrounding buildings and the structures threw the exhaust back at the locomotive. Quite an audio delight! 5632 was in gold paint for the occasion and if you have a copy of Mike Spoor's "Chicago Burlington and Quincy in Color" Volume 4, you can find two photos of the Northern on page 87 taken at Aurora on that fine spring morning.

That was a wonderful week for me in May of 1964. The "Q" ran their final doubleheader with 5632 and 4960 on Sunday, May 17. The 5632 pulled us from Chicago to Galesburg via the Denrock branch and the Peavine. 4960 was added ahead of 5632 at Galesburg for the run back to Chicago. On Wednesday, May 20, my grandparents took me to Aurora to see 5632 (in gold paint) arrive in the early evening with a low level stainless steel train that carried "Q" President Harry Murphy and other invited guests to a gala celebrating 100 years of the Chicago to Aurora mainline. And on Saturday, May 23, 5632, still in gold paint, handled the record setting suburban train. Can to see why I am an incurable "Q" steam fan?

Come ride with us on the Milwaukee Road 261 trips on October 4 and 5 between Minneapolis Jct and Winona/LaCrescent, MN. There will be other fans who remember the great "Q" trips who would be willing to share their experiences and tales with you, should you like. And you'll love the #261.

Don C.


http://www.261.com
milw261@sbcglobal.net

Thanks for the information, I am glad to confirm what I thought I read somewhere. Does anyone have the real number of passengers on that trip?

Thanks,

Tom

> Thanks for the information, I am glad to
> confirm what I thought I read somewhere.
> Does anyone have the real number of
> passengers on that trip?

> Thanks,

> Tom

Tom,
I believe that the train made all or most of the suburban stops that day so that anyone could ride. I doubt that there was a single count but I assume that the number of passengers handled was greater than the "official" count, whatever it really was. I suspect that the capacity of the total train was used to arrive at the final figure based on the fact that virtually every seat was occupied at one time. As I remember, equipment was added at Aurora to fill out the train due to the demand on the outbound trip from Chicago. Someone correct me if I am wrong on this.
Don C.

http://www.261.com
milw261@sbcglobal.net