Nostalgia & History > What About CB&Q 5631 and 5633

In June 1961 Roger Puta and I drove from our suburban Chicago homes to Galesburg, IL to photograph CB&Q steam engines on the scrap line. Among my photos are ones of CB&Q's Queen of Fan Trips nearest sisters, 5631 and 5633. Little did we know both would be donated to towns in Wyoming and exist today less than 200 miles apart. We thought they would be cut up, probably at Northwestern Steel & Wire in Sterling, IL.

1. 5631 was a Northern 4-8-4, CB&Q Class O5A, built by the CB&Q at the West Burlington (Iowa) Shops in July 1940. She was offically retired in February 1962, photographed by Marty Bernard in June 1961, and donated to Sheridan, WY.

2. 5633 was a Northern 4-8-4, CB&Q Class O5A, built by the CB&Q at the West Burlington (Iowa) Shops in August 1940. She was offically retired in May 1962, photographed by Marty Bernard in June 1961, and donated to Douglas, WY.


Enjoy,
Marty Bernard



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/02/18 17:02 by MartyBernard.

---

---

Always interested me that they were donated to towns where they probably never ran.

Tom

Interesting that the Q, along with UP and some other roads, didn't use steam after the late 50's, but didn't finally "pull the plug" and retire and scrap their best remaining steam locomotives until the early 60's. I suppose, like today, they wanted a reserve fleet of power if traffic increased unexpectedly.
In any event, holding on to these locomotives probably saved some of them.

I've still got to get to St. Joe, MO and see 5614. BSB