| CB&Q Class NE-10 13515 westbound at Naperville, Illinois on November 15, 1963, photo by Chuck Zeiler. Sorry about the motion blur, this one caught me off-guard. The NE-10's were the CB&Q's first all steel waycars (caboose) , a group of 25 (#'s 13500-13524) were built at the Burlington's Aurora, Illinois car shops, the last waycars built at Aurora. All previous waycars were of steel underframe, wood body construction. These were the only steel waycars to see extensive use with steam power. This particular waycar was built in March, 1930 and became BN 11460. Around 1945, some of the NE-10's received electric generators (axle-powered), lights, and radios. As seen here, a wagon wheel radio antenna has been installed on the roof, and a battery box is carried below the floor. When built, the NE-10's were painted in the standard mineral red paint scheme. Later, some NE-10's were painted in CB&Q's MOW Orange paint, as seen here, and later still, some were painted in the silver paint scheme. These waycars replaced many of the assigned waycars in Chicago - Denver freight service. Many of the wood waycars were assigned to specific conductors, and this explains this waycar's position between freight cars on this train. Upon arrival at Galesburg (crew change point), the cars behind this waycar and the wood waycar at the end wil be removed and the train will continue with this waycar carrying the markers. The wood waycar will be set off on the Galesburg caboose track until its assigned conductor marks up for a return trip. That's an interesting trailer ahead of the waycar, a Bessemer open top, and the canvas cover is stecilled B&LE, barely visible between the ladder rungs of the waycar. |