THE 199 5 OVERLAND LIMITE D W. Gay Photo RIDE THE MAGNIFICENT UNION PACIFIC STREAMLINER ON THE LEGENDARY OVERLAND ROUTE AUGUST 11TH &AUGUST 12TH: CHICAGO - CLINTON - CHICAGO Two Round-Trip Excursions with Mississippi Riverboat Option FOR INFORMATION, CALL OR WRITE: Chicago Chapter - National Railway Historical Society Post Office Box 53, Oak Park, Illinois 60303 - (708) 637-1914 • al 1995 No. 379 June FEATURES 18 C&NW Remembered A scrapbook of memories, paying homage to Chicago & North Western as it disappears into the Union Pacific after 136 years as an independent carrier. A Boy on a Bike Mike Blaszak • Wisconsin Glory Days William D. Middleton • Riding North Western Rails Jim Scribbins • Commuters: The 1950s Turnaround William D. Middleton • The Very Best Way to Go Mike Abalos • Barnstorming Richard Gruber • The Baraboo Agent John Gruber Sean Graham-White • Powder River: The Final Frontier Mike Abalos • Kate Shelley Memories Don Gulbrandsen • The Alco Line Steve Glischinski • The Spine Line Steve Glischinski • English Stagecoach Yellow Ted Rose DEPARTMENTS • A Wisconsin Jewel Jen Hampton • The Siren Song of the North Bob Baker • Of Gold and Cowboys Rick W. Mills • The Oelwein Shops Paul Swanson 4 Editorial 5 PRN Letters o Expediter 40 10 Santa Fe C&NW Images 12 Transit A gallery of everything North We stem-the locomotives and landmarks that endeared 14 Union Pacific one of Ametica's most unique railroads to generations of photographers 10 Chicago 8&North western Contributing photographers 52 Kansas City Southern John Gruber 54 Short Lines 50 CP Rail System 58 Burlington Northern 00 Southern Pacific Lines 02 The Information Super Railroad 04 The Last Word 00 PRN Classifieds 00 PRN Advertising Index ABOVE: Sign of the times on C&NW: GP38-2 No. 4809. Classic North western steamer 1385 crosses the LB1: Wisconsin River near Merrimac, Wis., Aug. 19, 1984. COVER: a watercolor by noted artist Ted Gpangep, Rose, recalls the North Western as a railroad of Geeps and grain elevators and farm country branch lines. PACIFIC R,\lLNEWS (lSSN 8750-8486) is published monlhly by Penlrex. Inc .. 2652 E. Walnut. Pasadena. CA 91107. Second-class postage paid at Pasadena. CA 91109 and additional mailing onices . POSTMASTER: Send address changes 10: PAcmc RAILNEWS, P.O. Box 94911. Pasadena. CA 91109. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $30 (U.S.) for 12 issues, $58 for 24 issues. Foreign add $6 for each 12 issues. Single copy $S postpaid from Pasadena orrice (subject to change without notice). CHANGE OF ADDRESS: The Post Orrice docs not regularly forward 2nd Class Mail and PACIFIC RAILNEWS is not responsible for copics not fonvarded or destroyed by the Post Office. Replacement copies/P.O. notificalions will be billed. Please allow us at least four weeks for any address change. ADVERTISING RATES: Contact PACIFIC RAILNEWS, P.O. Box 379, Waukesha, WI 53187; (414) 542-4900. MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE: For all subscription problems and inquiries call: (800) 210-2211 or outside U.S. (818) 793-3400. EDITORIAL PACIFIC RAILNEWS and PACIFIC NEWS The Ultimate Stealth Merger are registered trademarks of PentTex, Inc. PUBLISHER: Michael W. Clayton Takes Us By Surprise EDITOR: Don Gulbrandsen ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Brian Solomon ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Carl Swanson age in the rail press. Thus, EDITORIAL CONSULTA NT: Mac Sebree we were shocked at the CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Mike Abalos, tremendous num bel' of Greg Brown, Elrond G. Lawrence. Wayne Monger, Dick Stephenson Chicago & North Western photos that poured into ART DIRECTOR: Tom Danneman our office when word got ADVERTISING MANAGER: Richard Gruber out that we were putting together this issue. Clearly, this was a popular railroad. What you see on these pages is just a fraction of the great images sent to us; RAILROAD COLUMNISTS I'm sorry we didn't have AMTRAK/PASSENGER-Dick Stephenson room to run more photos. 444 Piedmont Ave. #128, Glendale. CA 91206 We also wanted to pre­ AT&SF-Elson Rush P.O. Box 379, Waukesha. WI 53187 sent a sort of C&NW mem­ BURLINGTON NORTHERN-Karl Rasmussen ory album; we asked sever­ The classic North Western: Eastbound train ITPRAin Wisconsin 11449 Goldenrod St. NW, Coon Rapids, MN 55448 al people who hold the rail­ CN NORTH AMERICA-Mike Cleary farm country near Friesland in July 1994. Jeff Hampton photo road near and dear to their 1395 W. lessamine #206, St. Paul, MN 55108 hearts to write short vi­ C&NW-Michael W. Blaszak 211 South Leitch Ave. Grange, 60 t's official: Union Pacific has acquired gnettes about C&NW subjects. I was over­ Lit IL 525 CP RAIL SYSTEM-Karl Rasmussen the Chicago & Nort h Western. How whelmed at the high quality of writing on 11449 Goldenrod St. NW, Coon Rapids, MN 55448 could a development of this magnitude such short notice-and of the heartFelt re­ ILLINOIS CENTRAL-Greg Sieren Icatch us by surprise? But that is exactly sponse that the writers displayed. I want to 6117 S. 31St. Apt. 12, Milwaukee, WI 53221 what happened. Everyone seems stunned thank the writers for each sharing their lit­ KANSAS CITY SOUTHERN-Michael Hasbargen 1718 King Eider Drive, West Lafayette,lN 47906 that there was no big build-up, no tle piece of the North Westernwith us. MEXICO-Clifford R. Prather farewell tours, nothing but a quiet trans­ P.O. Box 925, Santa Ana, CA 92702 action to mark the end of a railroad that WITH TI·IIS ON-LINE COORDINATOR-David C. Wamer SPECIAL ISSUE, T was pleased to first appeared in 1859. get Ted Rose involved with PACIFIC RAIL­ 70672.3 I [email protected] Let's be honest-this merger has been NEWS for the first time. Ted is a highly [email protected] on the horizon for years, but we lost inter­ skilled artist; his watercolors have appeared REGIONALS-Dave Kroeger 5720 lohnson Ave. SW, Cedar Rapids,IA 52404 est because it took so long to get here. Dis­ in several rail magazines, including our sis­ SHORT LINES WEST-Wayne Monger tracted by the loud and unruly BN/AT& SF/ ter publications LOCOMOTIVE & RAILWAY 14091illman St., Suisun City, CA 94585 UP merger battle, by the legions of new lo­ PRESERVATION and PASSENGER TRAIN JOUR­ SHORT LINES MIDWEST-Bob Thompson comotives roaming the rails, by floods and NAL. Te d, though he now lives in New Mex­ Route 6, Box 207, Paris, TX 75462 storms and rumors of even bigger mergers ico, is a Midwestern boy, having grown up SP/SSW-)oseph A. Strapac P.O. Box 1539, Bellflower. CA 90707 and widespread change in in Milwaukee; I thought SP (D&RGW}-Richard C. Farewell railroading, people hardly that he'd enjoy getting in­ 9729 W. 76th Ave.,An'ada, CO 80005 raised an eyebrow to UP's volved in this C&NW trib­ TRANSIT-Mac Sebree application to the ICC to No big build-up, ute. I was right, and I'm 11111 NW 191h Ave., Vancouver, WA 98685 "control" C&NW. But sud­ glad I asked him. UNION PACIFIC-Wayne Monger 14091illman St., Suisun City, CA 94585 denly, the ultimate stealth The cover painting, no tarewell CompuServe 73563,2652 merger was complete; we Granger, emerged from SUBMISSIONS: Articles, news i1ems and photographs are blinked and it was done. our phone conversations, welcome and should be sent to OUf \Visconsin editorial of· At PACIFIC RAILNEWS, tours, nothing and represents nowhere in fice. \Vhen submitting material for consideration, include re­ it's not our style to get particular, but everywhere turn envelope and postage if you wish it returned. PACIFIC RAILNEWS does not assume responsibility for the safe return weepy, or stuck in the past; but a quiet on the North Western-a of material. Payment is made upon publication. rather we try to provide in­ landscape of Geeps and EDITORIAL ADDRESS: Submit all photos, article submis­ depth coverage of what is transaction grain elevators. The center­ sions and editorial correspondence to: spread Ode to Hostler is PACtFtC ILmNElVs, P.O. Box 379, Waukesha, WI 53187 important today-and the a (414) 542·4900, FAX: (414) 542·7595 end of the C&NW is big marked the end pulled from Ted's memo­ CompuServc: 76307,1175 news. With this issue, we ries hanging around Chase America Online: Pentrex want to explore the things A venue roundhouse in Mil­ Submissions sent via UPS, FedEx or similar courier: 223 Wisconsin Ave., Waukesha, WI 53 t 86 that made C&NW unique. waukee. The accompany­ PACIFIC RAILNEWS, In part, we want to capture the outpouring ing essay proves that Ted is as talented a Magazine Subscription Service: Address all conespondence re­ garding subscriptions (i ncluding new orders and renewals) to: of emotions as people say good-bye to one writer as he is a painter. of the country's longest-lasting indepen­ Ted does not offer prints of his works, Pacific RailNews dent railroads, but we also want our read­ but his originals are available for sale. For P,O, Box North Hollywood, CA17108 ers who are less-familiar with the C&NW more information, write to Ted Rose at 91615-7108 to gain some perspective on the railroad­ P. O. Box 266, Santa Fe, NM 87504 or call For all subscription problems and inquiries call: where it ran, what it did. (505) 983-948 1. outside(800) the U.S. 210-2211 (818) 793-3400 Compared to other Class is , North Western has received relatively little cover- Don Gulbrandsen © 1995 Pentrex, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. 4-June 1995 READERS RESPOND Letters Railfanning the Net: Pro and Con World Wide Web. The Internet is moving Am I barking up the wrong tree? [ would quickly toward multi-media environments, so I like to learn more about railroading-is PRN I wasn't sure what I was getting into when I would encourage you to move the series of ar­ intended for people who already know all obtained direct access to the Internet, but it ticles on specific services like CompuServe about it? If so, perhaps you could suggest an­ has aided my railfanning immensely.