THE CGW RAILROAD

[NP Eddie]

This post is about the CGW and the six or so F-units they ran on 200 car trains. 

Stagner's "Chicago Great Western, in Color" shows a number of photographs of very long trains on various points on the CGW.

The run with those long trains must have been close to the 16 hour hours of service.

Also, it seems like the CGW should have run two 100 car trains instead of one 200 car train. That would have been more efficient, especially in the winter when air was a problem. I do know that the BN had to reduce train length in very cold weather. Another factor was the damage to lading due to buff forces in a long train.

Ed Burns

Retired NP-BN-BNSF Clerk from Minneapolis 

[FlyingCrow]

BUT...Ed...you only have ONE crew at a time....even 150 cars back.   This was a Bill Deramus III (or 3D as some of us call him) specialty.      And the  notable  fact covered in the book "Six Units to Sycamore" by Bob Olmstead.   

Progress was slow...sometimes it seemed the CGW meant to take forever so as actually appear to be backing from Oelwein to Chicago.   

[rcdrye]

The CGWs main west from Chicago was about as flat as it gets with just a little up and down near the Mississippi.  Most of the CGW's long trains were in the 7-9000 ton range, so 1 HP per ton was OK for drag freights.  The replacement power bought in the 1960s (and quickly transferred to ex-C&NW mains in 1967) were 8 GP30s used in 4-unit 9000 HP sets and 9 SD40s used in 3-unit 3000 HP sets.

Add to that that CGW's fleet of Fs were already 15+ years old in the 1960s.  A few still survive as parts of executive F-Unit fleets.

[O5 Hopeful]

I believe the route between East Dubuque and Stockton would be considered more than a little up and down.

[jrbernier]

  Going both ways out of Dubuque was helper district operation in steam days..  The line east also was not 'flat' - lots of small hills.

  Basic road freight power out of St Paul for those Chicago bound trains was 9,000 hp.  This usually meant matched sets of 6 F's, 4 GP30's or 3 SD40's up until the merger with the C&NW.  When I was a teenager I used to watch these 'mortgage lifters' pick up the Swift & Armour reefers and head south.  Real big trains, and lots of 'hill & dale' running to Oelwein.  I got to ride on one of those trains once.  something like 14 hours to Oelwein.  This was over a 200 mile run, with pick ups/set outs at multiple locations -(Randolf/Hayfield/McIntire/New Hampton).  My grandfather worked for the CGW in the 20's and 30's until he was laid off in the depths of the depression.

Jim

[daveklepper]

Can you tell us the whole story about that ride, as much detail as you can remember?

[aricat]

The C&NW leased CGW F units even before its merger with CGW in 1968. I remember seeing them on the ex-M&StL between Cedar lake and Albert Lea. One train I remember seeing was powered by a C&NW GP7 and 4 CGW B units. CGW SD40's found their way to other parts of the C&NW after the merger. F units were still seen on both the ex-CGW line between the Twin Cities and Oelwein and on the ex-M&StL well into the 1970's.

[wjstix]

NP Eddie

This post is about the CGW and the six or so F-units they ran on 200 car trains. 

Stagner's "Chicago Great Western, in Color" shows a number of photographs of very long trains on various points on the CGW.

The run with those long trains must have been close to the 16 hour hours of service.

 

Ya but that's why they had 5-6 engines up front. It's possible say 4 engines could have pulled the train, but it may have been very slow. That much additional power allowed them to not just pull the train, but pull it fast enough to get there on time.

[gbrewer]

My story about the CGW: Remembering the Chicago Great Western, Big 2-10-4s in the flatlands

Glen Brewer

RailroadGloryDays.com

[daveklepper]

thanks, a good report.