During the late 50's and into the early 60's, the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy was responsible for one of the earliest steam programs in the steam preservation era. For this program the CB&Q used two locomotives: #5632, and #4960. Both of these locomotives hauled numerous excursions in and Chicago between 1958 and 1966, even double heading on several occasions. 4960 #4960 is an O-1a 2-8-2 Mikado built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1923. In revenue service it saw use on freight trains throughout the CB&Q's system. It was equipped with 64 inch drivers, Walschaerts valve gear, a top speed of 75 MPH, a maximum boiler pressure of 200 PSI, and a tractive effort of around 58,000 lbs. The locomotive was retired from regular service in the mid 50's but was brought out of retirement in 1958 to be a part of the CB&Q's steam program. While participating in the program, it ran many trips along the CB&Q's system, as mentioned above (As a side note, these trips were extremely laid back, passengers were allowed to climb infrastructure, stand on active tracks, etc. to get a good camera angle during photo runbys. They even allowed people to ride in a literal gondola car!). 4960 was then retired after the steam program was ended in 1966. After spending some time on display at a couple of museums, 4960 was restored to running condition to operate on the Bristol & Northwestern Railroad in Bristol, VA. This was a relatively short-lived tenure, however, as the railroad closed in 1984. In 1993, the locomotive was sold to the Grand Canyon Railway in Williams, AZ and returned to operation in 1995 to head up daily trips to the south rim of the Grand Canyon. Today the locomotive still operates on the Grand Canyon Railway on select Saturdays throughout the year. 5632 #5632 was an O-5a 4-8-4 Northern built by the CB&Q in Burlington, IA. The locomotive saw use on both passenger and freight trains while in revenue service. The locomotive was equipped with 74 inch drivers, Baker valve gear, a top speed of 85 MPH, a maximum boiler pressure of 250 PSI, and a tractive effort of about 68,000 pounds. After being retired, the locomotive was stored servicable in the deadlines in Galesburg, IL. Like 4960, 5632 was restored and entered excursion service in 1958, going on to pull many trips along the CB&Q system throughout the late 50's and mid 60's. Unlike 4960, however, 5632 does not have a happy ending. The locomotive ended up in the hands of Richard Jenson, who intended to use the locomotive on excursions throughout the Chicago area. Jenson intended on finishing the overhaul that the CB&Q started, however while the work was still being completed, Richard recieved an eviction notice from the Chicago & Western Indiana railroad, who had been leasing out space to him in a roundhouse. They had not given him much time for him to pack up and leave, and didn't give much help either. As a result, the C&WI had began moving the 5632 and the rest of his stuff to a local scrap yard in Chicago. While moving 5632 into the yard, the locomotive derailed. The crews moving her had no means to re-rail it and then scrapped the 5632 right where she was. Another one of Jenson's locomotives, GTW 5629, would suffer a similar fate years later. While there isn't a steam era CB&Q route for these locomotives to be used on, they could certainly be used on the Chicago Racetrack route (That is, if we ever get some first generation CB&Q diesels) for excursion scenarios. What do you guys think? Would this be a good idea?
Why keep it down to two specific locos when you could just make it their respective classes with any special paint schemes put on 4960 and 5632 being in the pack as separate reskins? Plus auxiliary tenders and appropriate rolling stock of course.
Fun fact, from what I can gather, the Grand Canyon Railway may still have 4960's original tender lying around, albeit rusty. Granted, my information on it isn't the most up to date, so if anything's changed feel free to correct me. ANYWAYS, let's have some video:
I can agree with you and maybe they can add the Burlington Zephyr after all it was retired in 1960 and it still survives at the Chicago Science and Industry museum.
