Burlington
Route Historical Society
Burlington Bulletins
(scroll to bottom to see the current issue)
The Special Edition is a 52-page reprint of Bulletins #01 through #03 and is available for purchase. | |
Bulletin #04 GRAYBACKS AND 6100'S - Available as a reprint, contains 36 pages of history, photos, roster, diagrams, paint and lettering styles of the F-units photos and roster plus photos and diagrams of the 6100 series heavyweight coaches. | |
![]() 4 Out-of-print Bulletins on CD! |
No. 5 -- The Denver Shops
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Bulletin # 06 Expanded Edition CENTER CABS has been reprinted and expanded from 28 pages as printed in 1982, to 64 pages which include 41 color photos not in the original, period articles, advertisements plus much more! |
Bulletin #07 CLASS XM-32 STEEL BOXCARS - Available as a reprint, contains 28 pages of history, photos, roster, paint and lettering styles of the 1937 AAR design boxcar. | |
Bulletin #10 E-UNITS - Available as a reprint, contains 44 pages of history, photos, roster, paint and lettering styles of the EMD E-units. | |
Bulletin #11 CRESTON, IOWA - Available as a reprint, contains 40 pages of a comprehensive history and photos of the Central Iowa division point. | |
Bulletin #12 REEFERS - Available as a reprint, contains 52 pages of history, photos, roster, paint and lettering styles of the wood and steel ice refrigerator cars of the BREX and MNX. Includes mechanical reefers and insulated boxcars. | |
Bulletin #13 SHOVELNOSES - Available as a reprint, contains 48 pages of history, photos, roster, diagrams, of the early custom built, stainless steel articulated Zephyr trains and non-articulated Zephyr locomotives, #'s 9900 through 9908. | |
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Bulletin #14 AEOLUS - Available as a reprint, contains 40 pages of history, photos and diagrams of CB&Q's S-4-A Hudsons Nos. 4000 and 4001 by F. Hol Wagner, which featured streamlined shrouding for service as backup power for the early Zephyrs. Information about the locomotives before and after their stints as AEolus are included along with brief details on the Q's rebuilding and modernization of the S-4 class of locomotives (further covered in BB#33). A second article on the Q's Nebraska City Bridge by Michael M. Bartels is also included in this issue. |
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Bulletin #23 BURLINGTON, IOWA - Heart of the CB&Q, is available as a reprint. It contains 124 information packed pages of the history of the Burlington Railroad as it relates its namesake city, Burlington. Over 240 photos, along with trackage diagrams and drawings complete this comprehensive history. A MUST for any Burlington library! |
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Bulletin #27 THE O'NEIL BRANCH - Contains 68 pages of history and photos of the Nebraska branch line built as the Pacific Short Line. Also history, photos, drawings of railroad scales and the cars used to calibrate those scales. |
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Bulletin #29 Q CONSOLS - Contains 68 pages of history, roster, photos, diagrams of the Consolidation type steam locomotives. |
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Bulletin #33 THE S-4 HUDSONS - Contains 164 pages covering the entire roster of the 3000 and 4000 series S-4 and S-4A class locomotives with history, photos, roster, operations and details. |
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Bulletin #34 BURLINGTON'S MALLETS - Focused around the South Dakota area in conjunction with our 1998 Annual Meet in Deadwood. It includes 50 pages on the CB&Q Mallets locomotives, the T1, T2 and T3s; 20 pages on the Cambria Branch line by Mel McFarland; and a 20-page article on the Spearfish Combine. |
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Bulletin #35 THE Q IN THE COAL FIELDS OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS - One of our largest issues ever, contains 256 pages of information and photographs compiled by BRHS member John Mitchell. The issue is solely devoted to the portion of the Beardstown Division south of Centralia that served over 70 coal mines. It includes information on operations, motive power, rolling stock, structures, MOW equipment, people, mines served and a small section on the Paducah & Illinois and the Q's navy! |
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Bulletin #36 HAVELOCK BAGGAGE CARS, B. CORBIN REMEMBERED, WESTERN SPRINGS DEPOT - Contains 80 pages - History, photos and plans of the Havelock economy baggage cars, Bernard Corbin biography and photos, and photos and drawings of the Western Springs (Illinois) depot and elevated crossing gate tower. |
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Bulletin #37 BURLINGTON BOXES (CB&Q two and three story depot/division office buildings of the 20th century) - Contains 96 pages - CB&Q depot/division office buildings, covering the structures at Aurora, Galesburg, Davenport, North LaCrosse, Lincoln, McCook, Alliance, Sheridan, and Casper. Includes 140 photos, plus diagrams of each structure. |
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Bulletin #38 SNOWPLOWS - Contains 120 pages - History, photos and plans of Burlington (including C&S and FW&D) snowfighting equipment, including rotary and Jull plows, wedge pilot and push plows, flangers, spreaders, and the like. Extensive coverage of the Blizzard of 1949 and the plow re-building that followed. A dozen views in full color. |
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Bulletin #39 TRACK INSPECTION - Contains 84 pages - Covers track inspection vehicles: steam inspection locomotives, automotive inspection cars, and rail detector cars. With 155 photos, 43 in color, plans and extensive data on this progression of 20th Century vehicles. |
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Bulletin #40 THE COLE CREEK DISASTER - Contains 44 pages - all black and white, contains two articles, both related to the severe flooding that hit the Q's Casper Division mainline in Wyoming during summer and fall 1923. The first article covers the rebuilding and relocation of 20 miles of mainline between Bonneville and Lysite, while the second deals with the disastrous wreck of Denver-bound passenger train No. 30 which crashed through a flood-weakened bridge just east of Casper on Sept. 27, 1923. |
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Bulletin #41 Q 537 - Contains 92 pages - First 73 pages on CB&Q #537, the Burlington's best known narrow gauge 2-8-0, with information on the other Black Hills narrow gauge locomotives. Also, 14 pages on Ira Eigsti's Buda, Illinois, with 20 late 1940's, early 1950's photos in and around Buda, located on the Chicago-Galesburg mainline. |
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Bulletin #42 EXPOSITION FLYER - Contains 263 pages - Detailed history of the train by J.W. Schultz and Hol Wagner. Color and b&w photos/drawings. |
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Bulletin #43 9900 PIONEER ZEPHYR - Contains 48 pages - Includes a reprint of the 1934 Traffic World article. 60+ photos and illustrations. |
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Bulletin #44 B&MRR LOCOS - Contains 112 pages - Locomotives of the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad in Nebraska including assignments and tonnage ratings, complete all-time roster with renumberings and dispositions, data on B&MR shops and roundhouses, 128 photos, locomotive diagrams, roundhouse plans. |
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Bulletin #45 MODERN AMERICANS - Contains 95 pages - A comprehensive look at the Burlington's A-2 and A-6 class 4-4-0 locomotives by Hol Wagner. Also includes a look at the Burlington's exibition engines. Contains over 200 color/b&w photos/digrams and a complete class A-2 and A-6 roster. |
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Bulletin #46 AURORA TRACK ELEVATION - Contains 63 pages - Elevation of the Burlington mainline trackage through Aurora, Illinois by Jerry Hamsmith with input and assistance from Steven Holding. Also includes a look at the opening of the Cicero Automatic Classification Yard. |
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Bulletin #47 SPECIAL DUTY - BURLINGTON'S FLEET OF SD7s, SD9s and SD24s - Contains 88 pages - Part 1 of a comprehensive look at the Q/C&S's fleets of EMD SD7s, SD9s and SD24s by David Lotz and Hol Wagner. Also contains a short segment on Boy Scout Trains to the 1960 Jamboree outside of Colorado Springs. Contains over 170 color/b&w photos and diagrams. |
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Bulletin #48 SPECIAL DUTY - BURLINGTON'S FLEET OF SD7s, SD9s and SD24s - Contains 104 pages - Part 2 of a comprehensive look at the Q/C&S's fleets of EMD SD7s, SD9s and SD24s by David Lotz and Hol Wagner. Coverage also includes modifications made by the Q and the unit's subsequent service for the BN and BNSF. Full roster data and 2 fold-out paint diagrams are featured as well. Contains over 250 color/b&w photos and diagrams. |
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Bulletin #49 THE DRI LINE - Contains 114 pages - A comprehensive look at the Davenport, Rock Island and Northwestern Railway, a joint CB&Q and Milwaukee Road operation in what is now the Quad Cities. Coverage starts with the creation of the Davenport & Rock Island Railway Bridge Company in 1884 and goes to the merger of the line into the BN and CP in 1995. Full roster data is included along with track diagrams covering the entire line and a look at the industries served. Contains over 280 color/b&w photos and diagrams and 3 fold-outs. |
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Bulletin #50 -BRHS's
50th Burlington Bulletin
provides a comprehensive history and operations of the 1936 Denver
Zephyr, its predecessor the Advance
Denver Zephyrs and brief coverage of the trainsets use on
the Texas Zephyrs.
The text was generously offered and compiled by John W. (Bill)
Schultz from chapters in his unpublished Burlington
Zephyr history. This perfect-bound issue is 148 pages in
length and contains 178 historical black and white and 14 color
photos, equipment roster, consists, schedules, floorplans, full-color
ephemera reproductions and more.
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Bulletin #51 RAILROADING IN AURORA - Author Leo Phillipp has crafted a series of articles about railroading in and around Aurora, Illinois, as experienced by the employees of the CB&Q. Beginning with a brief look at the Burlington's hometown, the Bulletin covers the Shabonna Milk Run, the history and details of the Irish Mail, as well as providing some interesting details about the Geneva Branch. Also covered are articles on the Alley Job (which could provide the basis for a dandy model railroad), the Aurora Storehouse and Aurora Freight House. A 4-page center fold-out carries a reduced scale Q engineering drawing of Aurora covering trackage from the Aurora Shops Coach Yards to the C&I / Mainline junction. The reverse side carries drawings of the Shabbona single stall enginehouse and the Standard CB&Q Motor Car Shed. This is 76 pages in length and contains 64 historical black and white and 48 color photos; 28 maps and 60 illustrations. | |
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Bulletin # 52 BURLINGTON GP30s - Burlington GHP30s - The comprehensive history of the Burlington GP30s from the EMD demonstrators, CB&Q promotion, service on the Q, GP30 locomotive pooling coverage, BN merger, the GP30E & GP30M rebuilds and ending with the Q units that are BNSF's GP39-2R locos. The issue contains 68 pages, with 79 color and 41 black and white photos, ephemera reproductions, CB&Q GP30 roster and scale drawings. |
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BULLETIN #53 - 3 ARTICLES ON VARIED TOPICS: First author Ronald Schmitt's "The Alton Bridge and the 'Q' connection" provides a history of the Alton (IL) Bridge and the Missouri & Illinois Bridge and Belt Line and its connections to and eventually ownership by CB&Q, Next Steve Holdings "O S BN", takes in-depth look at the entries on a June 29,1964 dispatchers' sheet from the Galesburg & Ottumwa subdivision,. Then, Rupert Gamlen's "Belmont-a Railway Town with a Tunnel", explores Nebraska's only railroad tunnel and explores the nearby towns. 76 pages including a four page Centerfold, 172 B&W and color images and 26 maps, diagrams and ephemera. |
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BULLETIN #54 - 3 ARTICLES ON VARIED TOPICS:: Featuring Rupert Gamlens "Disaster in the Suburbs" article covering three early 20th century wrecks at Western Springs. Next is Leo Phillipps "Sterling Motor Car" article examining the change from steam passenger operations to a motor car on the Sterling-Shabbona-Serena (Illinois) run. Bringing up the markers is a photo essay of four months in 1959 of the Q in Lincoln from the camera of Irv Fierstein. The photos are from the BRHS Archive and were captioned by Archive Committee member Jim Sandrin. The issue is 68 pages loaded with photos, maps, charts and other illustrations. |
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BULLETIN #55 -Denver Zephyr Act II - Overnight, Every Night - Burlington's 1956 Denver Zephyr: 196 pages, authored by J. W. Schultz. Picking up where Burlington Bulletin #50 left off, this issue of the Bulletin recounts the history of these last true American streamliners, 1956’s vista-dome Denver Zephyr, from their pre-service exhibitions in October 1956, through the March 1970 Burlington Northern merger, and up to their demise at the dawn of the National Railroad Passenger Corporation on May 1, 1971. |
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BULLETIN #56 - 4 ARTICLES ON VARIED TOPICS:: The first is from Leo Phillipp covering his first-hand accounts of working the Earlville Turn and the Montgomery Ill., Caterpillar plant. Rupert Gamlen then fills |
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BULLETIN #57 - “Homage to the E5”, by noted author and historian, J.W. (Bill) Schultz, expands the coverage of the Burlington’s fleet of eleven E5A and five E5B units (the only cabless E-units ever owned by the Q). The issue begins with a brief look at the Electro-Motive diesels that led to the E5 and its contemporaries, helping place the E5's life and times in context with those of the other 186 pre-war E-units. Comprehensive coverage, both in text and photos, of the E5 careers on the Q, C&S and FW&DC are the bulk of the issue. It closes with a brief look at it repatriation at the Illinois Railway Museum and off-ground excursions. This is a perfect-bound, 100-page issue, with 141 B&W images, 21 color images, 6 scale drawings (as built and 1960s versions), ephemera and an updated roster is a must for Burlington, locomotive or passenger fans |
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BULLETIN #58 - The BRHS is celebrating its 40th anniversary along with the 170th anniversary of the Burlington Route Railroad. This special anniversary edition of the Burlington Bulletin takes us back to "where it all began" as we visit the original Burlington shops in Aurora, Illinois, from the beginning of the shops in 1849 up until 1899. (The shops post-1899 is scheduled for a future issue.) This issue also includes an article on various anniversary celebrations that the Q held over the years. |
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BULLETIN #59 - 3 ARTICLES ON VARIED TOPICS: First author Al Hoffman writes about "Early Train Safety Lighting on the Q." Rupert Gamlen describes the Burlington's recycling efforts in his artivel "Parsimonious - From Scrap to Stock. Then, from the BRHS Archives, another pictorial article using the photography of Irv Fierstein and text byu Jim Sandrin. 44 pages with over 70 photos, drawings, diagrams and ephemera. |
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BULLETIN #60 - This issue is Duncan Cameron’s treatise on “Keokuk,Iowa, the K of the K-Line.“ It is a 106-page issue covering all the lines that started from, and ran through Keokuk. Included are photos, maps, timetable psges and first-hand accounts of riding those lines. Included is a four-page gatefold showing thd rails through Keokuk from the Des Moines River bridge to the lock and dam. |
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Bulletin # 61 - Co-authors Leo Phillipp and David Lotz have assembled a 116-page, single topic Bulletin entitled “Aurora and its Shops – 1900-1974.” This is part 2 of the Aurora Shop story started in Bulletin No.58 published last year. |
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This issue is a product of the BRHS Archives and features Irv Fierstein’s photos of Grand Island, Nebraska that were donated to the Archives. The Archives Volunteers and several others collaborated to assemble a comprehensive coverage of the Burlington in this important connection with the Union Pacific. It is a 60-page issue that includes Irv’s photos, maps, timetable pages, operating data sheets and many other items pertinent to the Q’s operations in and through Grand Island. |
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Burlington Bulletin 63 is a 76-page three-article Bulletin. “Wymore: Bastion of Burlington Branch Lines, Wymore Division Train Registers, Student Ice Capades Excursions – 1960” cover price $25.00. Pete Hedgpeth recalls his experiences as a summer employee on the Wymore Division in 1958 with illustrations provided by the BRHS Archives. In the second article, Pete takes several of the 1959 Q Train Registers from the Archives and gives us an insight into the trains, operations and crews on them. The last article also is a result of the material in the archives covering special trains to the Ice Capades in Lincoln. |
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Burlington Bulletin No. 64 is a three-article issue, the first “I Am a Burlington Man – C. J. Miller,” where Earl Currie shares with us the career of Burlington’s retired Aurora Division Superintendent. The second, “Presidential Travel Everywhere West” reports on presidential (and candidate’s) travel over the Burlington by Richard Anderson. The last article, written by BRHS editor, David Lotz, “Music and the Q” presents how music was written for and performed by the Zephyr Chorus, Burlington shop bands, and drum & bugle corps. |
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Burlington Bulletin # 65 is a multi-topic issue begins with a tribute to the late Al Holck, a Burlington author, historian, photographer, genealogist, and consummate gentlemen. This issue’s first article provides the most comprehensive coverage of the tragic head-on collision at Montgomery, Illinois, September 27, 1964, with photos, diagrams, and documents from the CB&Q files. The second article is another in the “I am a Burlington Man” series, it is about M. L. Zadnichek who rose through the ranks of CB&Q management from 1936 until he left the Q in 1969. This two-part article was written by his son Louis Zadnichek and Earl Currie, who recalls his experiences with Zadnichek who was a mentor. The last article covers the events around turning the 5632 for the 100th Anniversary of the completion of the Q’s own Aurora to Chicago line where the 5632 was painted gold. |
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Bulletin #66 This 52-page, multi-topic issue begins with a tribute to the late Earl J. Currie, BRHS member and author of two Bulletin articles, past officer of the CB&Q, BN and Soo Line railroads. Then an article on the joint Houston Subdivision of the Ft. Worth and Denver Texas Division. It continues covering the operations and facilities on the subdivision in the 1960’s and 1970’s. The second article is titled “Honeymoon on the Q”, sharing some of the railroad-related keepsakes of a couple who arranged their July 1947 Colorado honeymoon with a travel agent of the Burlington. They traveled on the Denver Zephyr round-trip between Chicago and Denver And on to Colorado Springs. The final article, “What’s THAT?” is a result of the archives. |
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Burlington Bulletin No. 67, "Q and the Military – Part 1 – Army Camps, Q Wartime Ads, Etc." is an 84-page issue that covers the Army camps that were served by the CB&Q and the Q's wartime advertisements and other printed material. A second pictorial article shows images and CB&Q publications of the 1944 radio tests between the locomotive and waycar as well as Chicago area yard offices and yard locomotives. |
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Leo Phillipp has authored an interesting account of his and others’ experiences working on the East End for the Burlington and its “Northern” successor in the 68-page Burlington Bulletin 68. Working with a host of contributors including the Archives volunteers, there was a plethora of material to sort through and make the hard decisions of what to include and unfortunately omit. We hope this 68-page Bulletin will give you, the reader, an insight into the operations at the least recognized, yet very busy locations on the Burlington, Congress Park. The Bulletin begins with a brief overview of Congress Park and its history, then delves into the business of traffic and transfers at “The Park” and the “Park Job” AKA the “Congo.” |
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Burlington Bulletin 69 is a 68-page issue containing two articles. The primary article is Rupert Gamlen’s “The Grant Locomotive Works and the Burlington’s Part in its Downfall.” This article provides a history of The Grant Works from its origins in Patterson, New Jersey, to its move to Cicero, Illinois, and the events that led to the company’s demise with the Burlington’s part in that. Many photos of early steam are included (including Grant-built narrow-gauge locomotives for the associated Burlington Lines), along with diagrams, drawings, maps showing the Cicero factory site, correspondence and advertising. As a bonus, two short biographies of the wealthiest women in the world in 1890 and CB&Q President, George B. Harris are included along with a few surprises. The second, shorter article is “A Tale of Two Bridges,” where BRHS member John Marvig tells of his interest in bridges and shares a brief account of three CB&Q bridges. Two CB&Q Bridge Record drawings and a page from the ICC valuation with bridge information are included. |