Chicago, Burlington And Quincy 5632

Chicago, Burlington and Quincy 5632 was a O-5b class 4-8-4 “Northern” built in the CB&Q's shops in September 1940. It was used to pull mainline passenger and freight trains before it eventually became famous for pulling a plethora of excursion trains for the CB&Q’s steam excursion program. By the time the program ended in 1966, No. 5632 was disassembled for an unfinished overhaul, and was subsequently sold to locomotive caretaker Richard Jensen. The locomotive was stored inside a roundhouse waiting for restoration until 1969, when it was illegally moved to a scrapyard. The locomotive derailed on a switch in 1972, resulting in its scrapping and a subsequent lawsuit between the scrapyard and Jensen.

History

Revenue service

No. 5632 was one of eleven O-5A class 4-8-4 locomotives that were built by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad’s (CB&Q) West Burlington, Iowa shops. The O-5A locomotives were upgrades to the O-5 locomotives built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in the early 1930s. No. 5632 was initially assigned to pull heavy passenger trains and heavy freight trains throughout the Western portion of the CB&Q system; mostly throughout the states of Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Colorado. At some point in the early 1950s, No. 5632 became one of six O-5A’s to be converted to burn oil, as opposed to coal, and it was reclassified as an O-5B. The locomotive pulled its final revenue trains in 1956 before it was retired from the CB&Q’s active roster.

Preservation

On November 2, 1958, the CB&Q brought No. 5632 out of retirement to pull a series of excursion fan trips, beginning with a reenactment of the ''Aristocrat'' between Chicago and Galesburg, Illinois. On September 6, 1959, CB&Q 2-10-4 “Colorado” type No. 6315 was used to pull a fan trip before it broke down, and No. 5632 was brought to the scene to push No. 6315 and pull the 18-car train for the remainder of the fan trip’s journey to Galesburg. A plethora of steam locomotives were used to pull excursion trains for the CB&Q throughout the 1950s, but by 1961, only two of them were still operational; the CB&Q’s president at the time, Harry C. Murphy, authorized for locomotives No. 5632 and O-1A class 2-8-2 “Mikado” No. 4960 to remain on the railroad’s roster to take part in their steam program. Fellow O-5B No. 5620 also remained under CB&Q ownership as a spare parts provider for No. 5632.

The No. 5632 locomotive would pull additional excursion trains throughout the states of Illinois, Wisconsin, and Missouri, as well as across its former stomping grounds in Iowa, Nebraska, and Wyoming. It would also perform some occasional doubleheaders with No. 4960. In 1963, No. 5632 took part in that year’s National Railway Historical Society (NRHS) Convention, which was being held in Denver, Colorado. The locomotive pulled a series of excursion runs throughout Colorado and Wyoming, and it stopped in Longmont for a brief photo session with Great Western 2-10-0 “Decapod” No. 90. The following year, 1964, No. 5632 was painted in an all-brass livery in commemoration of the centennial of the CB&Q’s suburban mainline between Chicago and Aurora, Illinois. The brass livery earned No. 5632 the title of the World’s Largest Brass Model. The locomotive pulled a commemorative train on May 23 that consisted of 22 passenger cars, and over 3,500 passengers were on board that day. No. 5632 retained the brass livery for the 50th anniversary of the opening of Kansas City’s Union Station in late October and early November.

The locomotive pulled its last excursion train on November 1, when it arrived in Galesburg, before its flue time was due to expire. Crews began performing a class 3 overhaul on No. 5632 inside the West Burlington shops. Flues, tubes, and fire bricks were removed to be reworked. Harry Murphy retired from the CB&Q in October 1965, and one of his final orders as president was for No. 5632’s overhaul to proceed. However, the CB&Q struggled to hire the fourteen workers that were required to bring the locomotive back under steam. Harry Murphy’s successor, Louis W. Menk, ordered for the steam program to be shut down after the 1966 operating season and for No. 5632’s overhaul to come to a halt. Menk also ordered for several steam locomotives that remained under CB&Q ownership by then to be sent to Galesburg for scrapping, but he allowed a few locomotives to be preserved; Chicago area railfan Richard “Dick” Jensen negotiated with Menk and other railroad management, and he succeeded to purchase No. 5632 in disassembled condition along with several boxcars full of spare parts directly from the CB&Q.

He moved them to the Chicago and Western Indiana Railroad (C&WI) 47th Street Roundhouse outside of Dearborn Station in Chicago. Jensen had leased some stalls in the roundhouse from the C&WI to store his equipment, since he had become close friends with the C&WI’s president, Robert McMillan. Jensen had planned to continue where CB&Q crews had left off at rebuilding No. 5632 to return it to service, but he also planned to replace its tender with one from Illinois Central 4-8-2 “Mountain” type No. 2613.{{Cite web , last=admin , date=2021-04-15 , title=A Passion for Steam - Part Two , url=http://thetracksidephotographer.com/2021/04/15/a-passion-for-steam-2/ , access-date=2022-10-09 , website=The Trackside Photographer , language=en-US He relied on ticket sales from excursion trains hauled by Grand Trunk Western (GTW) 4-6-2 “Pacific” No. 5629 to fund the overhaul. However, in 1968, McMillan had unexpectedly retired from the C&WI, and the new owners of the railroad began to consider demolishing the slowly-deteriorating 47th Street Roundhouse.

On February 27, 1969, the new owners of the C&WI sent Jensen a notice that stated he had until March 29 to vacate the roundhouse, but subsequent negotiations moved the deadline to June 1. While various people scrambled to remove all of their things from the roundhouse, Jensen and his crew were searching for a location to store No. 5632, as well as CB&Q 2-8-2 No. 4963, and considerations to move both locomotives to the Illinois Railway Museum (IRM) had came and went. In August 1969, the C&WI had No. 5632 moved with No. 4963 and all of Jensen’s boxcars full of locomotive parts and tools to the nearby 88th Street yard. Jensen had asked both the Chicago and North Western (C&NW) and the Chicago West Pullman and Southern (CWP&S) Railroads if an inspection was being performed on his locomotives and rolling stock, but their response was that the C&WI never allowed an inspection to take place.

The following month, on September 25, the C&WI had illegally sold No. 5632, No. 4963, and the boxcars to the Erman-Howell division of the Luria Brothers Scrap Company for $5,800, and they were all moved to their 83rd Street scrapyard for storage. Jensen thereafter made an offer to re-purchase Numbers 5632 and 4963 from the company for their scrap value, but it was declined. In November 1972, No. 5632 was relocated within the yard, but in the process, the locomotive derailed as a switch it was on was traversed. The crews at Erman-Howell had no easy way to perform the task of re-railing the locomotive, so they torched it right where it stood, and its remains were subsequently hauled to a nearby facility to be smelted down.

When Jensen found out about No. 5632’s scrapping, he quickly filed a lawsuit against both Erman-Howell and the C&WI in early 1973. Several court sessions followed, one of which included Erman-Howell being required to bring several locomotive parts and tools from the boxcars to court. The C&WI later offered Jensen $6,000 of lost scrap value, but Jensen declined and asked for more. A subsequent offer of $150,000 was also declined. In 1981, eleven years after the illegal sale of No. 5632, and nine years after its scrapping, the court had ruled in Jensen’s favor and ordered the C&WI and Erman-Howell to pay Jensen $1.7 million, but for various reasons, he never received the full amount.

As of 2022, the legacy of No. 5632 lives on with two CB&Q O-5A’s and two O-5B’s being preserved and on static display throughout certain parts of the United States.

See Also

* Chicago, Burlington and Quincy 4000
* Union Pacific 844
* Milwaukee Road 261
* Grand Trunk Western 4070

References

Chicago, Burlington and Quincy locomotives
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad
Scrapped locomotives
Individual locomotives of the United States
4-8-4 locomotives
Standard gauge locomotives of the United States