Thank you for this great documentary on the C.B.&Q and Galesburg! I still remember the old station I thought it was crazy to tear it down when I was young it was full of great craftsmanship with the marble and wood work but in a way it shows us at one time Galesburg was a booming town to now a former shadow of itself to a ticket booth. Just looking back that old station would be the perfect building to house the RR museum. I still have the original pamphlet for when my mother took us on the last run of the old steam engine that sets outside of the old depot, when I was a kid we use sneak under the fence to play on it acting like we was the engineer till they run us off 😊
3/11/2023 Stories like this are vastly important. The history of the USA is not wrapped up in wars and politics, but in the stories of its people, towns, and businesses. As I remember, the CB&Q became the Burlington Northern and finally6 the BNSF, "B" standing for Burlington. Therefore, The CB&Q is the central railroad, I would guess. Great video history. ;-)
Very good , the Soul of America , as we grew .... I pray we never forget , or have not forgotten , the men women and children that are and were : AMERICA ..
Great retrospective on the C,B&Q. Of course, the Burlington is the lead entity in the current BurlingtonNorthern SantaFe Railroad, so the Burlington lives on in an amalgamation of the Burlington Route, Northern Pacific, Great Northern, Santa Fe, Spokane, Portland and Seattle, Frisco, Colorado and Southern and a few other smaller roads. I remember the "Q" for being innovative. Thank you.
Great piece of historical work on one of the West's great trunklines, told very poignantly from a nostalgic point of view. Congratulations on an excellent piece of documentary journalism!
What a great look at Galesburg and the CB&Q! I come from a long line of CB&Q employees although only one worked in Galesburg. Back in the early 70s, he gave me an unofficial tour of the massive hump yard.
I was born in Burlington. Also from a long line of Q employees. My dad was the roundhouse foreman at Galesburg in the late 1950’s. Riding the Zephyrs from Aurora back to Burlington took right through Galesburg. Great memories.
I was a railfan in Galesburg in the 60s and 70s. Hardy recognize the place! The building should have been saved was the ancient stone back shop! Anyone have pix of Davis st roundhouse?
Very good railroad history. I remember my childhood HO circle track set had a Burlington boxcar. The nation's RR workforce went from over 3 million in 1950 to about 120,000 today. It is probable that the corporations plan to phase out almost all of them in a future of unmanned trains, if they can get away with it.
Is that early Edwardian footage really Galesburg? It's CBD looks too big for it then and now. And in any case, now versus then it certainly has gone downhill and continues to do so. So sad and tragic.
