| Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad F3 164C westbound at Naperville, Illinois on July 15, 1964, Ektachrome by Chuck Zeiler. Built as CB&Q F3 137D in October 1948 (c/n 7011) on EMD Order E957A, it was traded in as credit for a SD45 during February 1969. As delivered, it was the rear cab of a four-unit F3 A/B/B/A semi-permanently coupled locomotive (or motor, as a locomotive was known on the CB&Q) number 137. In 1950, the CB&Q ordered 10 F7A's and three F7B's. Four of the F7A's were mated with two F3's from the 137 and 138 motors. In this case, F3's 137D and 137C were semi-permanently coupled to a new F7 to become motor 164. Suffix letters were applied to the locomotives for maintenance purposes, but it was not until the motors were broken up into individual units in the mid-1960's that the suffix letter finally appeared in the numberboard and was painted on the nose where the reflective number plate appears in this photo. Seen here backing toward his (or her, if you prefer) train, on this particular day this train set out a boxcar at Naperville for the East End Way Freight. Although the switch for the siding was about a quarter mile forward of this location, they had to break the train here to clear Loomis Street in Naperville while they made the setout. They left a man on the street to flag motorists across the tracks as the automatic gates were activated while the train occupied the circuit. By law they were only allowed to block the street for 10 minutes, so as soon as they are coupled up, they will quickly pump up the air and leave town in a hurry. It was my good fortune to live in the blue-grey house to the right of the nose of 164 for four years (1962-1966), a circumstance that probably influenced me to photograph trains. |