CB&Q FT #110D, Naperville, IL, Dec. 28, 1963, photo by Chuck Zeiler

CB&Q FT #110D, Naperville, Illinois, December 28, 1963, photo by Chuck Zeiler. I contributed this image for use in the Burlington Route Historical Society's 1994 calendar, and here is how it was captioned by Ed DeRouin:

"Making The Connection - A westbound train, possible 67-A, a Cicero - Galesburg maid-of-all-work, has stopped at Naperville to make a connection with the East End Way Freight. The FT #110D&C have cut off their train east of the depot and are backing a 40 foot Canadian Pacific boxcar toward the waiting local. We may speculate that the car is a load of newsprint for delivery to a team track at Downers Grove or La Grange for use by a local newspaper publisher. We will never know if this move was fairly routine or a hot car movement due to a missed connection because of holiday traffic. The picture was taken December 28, 1963. Motors 110D&C are working their final miles. Built in June 1944, they will be traded in on new Chinese red high horsepower GP35's the following April."

I wasn't out there every day, so I can't say for sure if this was a common occurrence, but I did witness the same sort of move one other time. This time, a leased A-B set of Missouri Pacific F-7's dropped off a lone boxcar before the arrival of the East End Way Freight. This would save maybe a day or two on the delivery. The way freight's train was made up at Eola Yard, about 10 miles west of this location.

I probably could have framed this photo better, since the negative is slightly damaged on the right side, but I wanted to include Columbia St. bridge, in the middle right side of the frame. Number 110D's train is barely seen under the bridge, he had to cut off from his train that far in the distance because he needed to clear a grade crossing, Loomis St., and he left his head end brakeman behind to flag motorists across Loomis St. while this setout was taking place. There was much urgency during this setout as the automatic crossing gates were activated, so the way freight's rear brakeman is seen here helping with the setout. The rear brakeman, as a general rule, held the least seniority on the crew, so it fell to him to perform this duty. During this time frame, there were five crew members per freight train.