| Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad E7 9924B eastbound at Naperville, Illinois on June 12, 1965, Kodachrome by Chuck Zeiler. Built in November 1945 (c/n 2955), sold for scrap in February 1968, it is seen here on an eastbound Dinky. I shot this same locomotive the previous day (Friday) heading east on a passenger train from the Twin Cities. That being the case, I surmise that 9924B was serviced, turned, and sent out to Aurora on a Dinky (commuter train). June 12 was a Saturday, and the Burlington would run its E units back to Chicago during the weekend lull. They would be serviced and rotated into Zephyr service and the E's that were in Zephyr service would be assigned to suburban service. Generally, on Friday evening, the extra E's in Aurora would be ganged up (4-5 per train) on a single car Dinky for the return to Chicago, but sometimes on Saturday there would be a few stragglers left to send back, as seen here. This locomotive was among the first group of E7's acquired by the CB&Q, and were the "Phase 1" design with small numberboards and retractable front couplers. Part of the retractable coupler mechanizm included the buffer plate, the item above the coupler allowing footing when walking between coupled locomotives. There was air-operated apparatus in the nose of the early E7's that extended the coupler and buffer plate, or retracted same, as needed. It soon became apparent that simply leaving the coupler and buffer plate in the extended position simplified maintenance. |