| Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad 2-8-2 Class O-1-A 4960 eastbound at Naperville, Illinois on December 5, 1964, Kodachrome by Chuck Zeiler. About a mile behind this scene to the west was River Road. At the time of this photo, River Road was not heavily traveled, and warranted only crossbucks to protect motorists. All trains would signal the usual two longs - one short - one long, crossing signal, giving me a moment to decide if I should grab my camera. Of course, a steam whistle instead of a horn is reason enough to get the camera and get out in the cold. Here is 4960 running light eastbound, likely heading for a fantrip assignment out of Chicago. I have no information about that trip, although I have a flyer for the trip the following week, December 13, a Santa Claus Special from Chicago to "Santa Claus Land" and return. I have no idea where Santa Claus Land was, but it was two hours out of Aurora, and would have been a place where the train (or at least, the locomotive) could have been turned. However, on this day the CB&Q gave me an early Christmas present, my very own personal photo runby. |