CB&Q E-7 #9917B, Naperville, IL, Oct. 10, 1965, photo by Chuck Zeiler

Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad E-7 #9917B, built November 1945 (c/n 2941), at Loomis Street, Naperville, Illinois, October 10, 1965, photo by Chuck Zeiler. This locomotive was wrecked at south Council Bluffs, IA 10/15/66, I have no further information. This locomotive displays mis-matched MU plug covers. Looking at the triangular shapes that are painted on either side of the upper headlight, you will notice that the one on the engineer's side has a black striped middle section. This is probably a replacement cover removed from a locomotive painted in the as-delivered black "whisker" paint scheme. When delivered, the E series locomotives were painted with black where the red is, on the front. The Burlington Route logo below the lower headlight was as you see it here, and the side stripes were red. It also displays lower than usual E-7 stainless steel model plates, seen here below the sand filler on the cab, but usually located above the sand filler. Trailing the 9917B is another E-7 from the second "phase" design from Electro-Motive, a SD-24 and a GP-20. All the locomotives are facing forward, or running “elephant style”, a Burlington preference, which I have yet to determine a reason for. It was unusual for the CB&Q to mix its freight and passenger motive power.

Here's a little CB&Q trivia: the reason for those triangular shapes painted on either side of the upper headlight was to mimic the air intakes of the original Pioneer Zephyr design. All CB&Q E units wore that design. Around the time of the Burlington Northern merger, it was dropped.

Although it looks like a freight train, I believe it belongs in the passenger train category. It appears in the CB&Q Chicago & Aurora Divisions Employees Timetable #11, effective Sunday October 31, 1965, as a first class train. Also published by the Burlington Route Historical Society in Zephyr #53 was a re-print of Timetable #10, which had the same listing. Due out of Aurora at 1:29 AM, it has two scheduled stops between Aurora and Chicago: Congress Park at 2:15 AM, and Cicero at 2:25 AM, before its arrival in Chicago at 3:25 AM. Note that the schedule was a little padded to cover setouts at Congress Park (Meat) and Cicero (Trailer On Flat Car - TOFC). I contacted Ed DeRouin of Pixels Publishing (he has written or published several articles and books with CB&Q content) to figure out what I had photographed, and here's his answer:

"You photographed a late running Number 14, which was a Lincoln - Chicago train scheduled to move express, later meat and packing house products in reefers and TOFC, with a 3:25 a.m arrival in Chicago. Engineers I spoke with decades ago shared that often the last cars were set out at Cicero and the motors ran light to 14th Street. This train carried no passengers. Although some storage mail was moved via 14, no RPO was operated. Since most mail and express was westbound, this train was also used to bring empty storage cars east."

It looks like they’re smoking it up, and I’ll bet they are. About 12 miles behind, Number 14 dropped down to about 20 mph to weave through the Aurora Depot and pass through downtown Aurora on elevated track, then at restricted speed to Eola Yard, then throttle up a bit, there’s a grade crossing at East Eola, another a couple miles down at River Road, one more, at Loomis Street (just behind me in this photo), then ten miles or so of no grade crossings. There was a lot of fast running between Naperville and Downers Grove, so my guess, he’s in Run 8.

One can only imagine the consternation of the Dispatcher finding this train in his morning rush hour lineup. Number 14 is on the middle track of a three track main and will have to cross over in front of suburban rush hour trains to do the setout at Congress Park. Bad plan probably, and if it were me, I guess I'd get it off the railroad as fast as I could; run it into Cicero yard, then send a switcher back with the Congress Park setout, about a five mile reverse move. Just my 2 cents.