| Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad NW2 9209 at Naperville, Illinois, Fred Huntley at the throttle, September 4, 1964, Ektachrome by Chuck Zeiler. Note the Kroehler factory whistle on the roof to the right of the telephone pole. This went off at 7:00 AM every work day with a short blast at 6:58 AM. I'm investigating the enclosure on the running board, the box on top of the hood, and the item attached to the lead journal of the truck under the cab. It appears to be ATS (Automatic Train Stop) equipment allowing this locomotive to operate on the C&NW to Sterling on the Agnew - Denrock Subdivision. Karl Rethwisch, a retired CB&Q Engineer, contributes the following information: Numbers 9208 and 9209, the assigned Rock Falls engines, were equipped with ATS, Automatic Train Stop. This equipment had been removed from C&NW steam power and applied to these engines in order to allow them to operate between Sterling and Agnew on the C&NW main line. The jobs, Train Number 92 and 93, worked between Sterling and Denrock. In the event of there being no ATS equipped engine for the jobs the Q paid a fine to the C&NW to operate non-ATS locomotives. In order for the 'blind' engine to use the C&NW main, the railroad (C&NW) had to hold all of their trains east of Sterling and west of Agnew until the Q train cleared the appropriate control point. This situation was occasioned by the lack of C&NW signals in the field. Without intermediate signals there was no indication of block conditions available to the CB&Q crews. |