Encyclopedia Dubuque
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Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
CHICAGO, BURLINGTON & QUINCY RAILROAD
CHICAGO, BURLINGTON & QUINCY RAILROAD. The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (reporting mark CBQ) was a Class I railroad that operated in the Midwestern United States. Commonly referred to as "The Burlington" or "Q," the Burlington Route served a large area, including the states of Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Wyoming, and New Mexico and Texas by way of subsidiary railroads. Its primary connections included Chicago, Minneapolis–Saint Paul, St. Louis, Kansas City and Denver.
The Burlington Zephyr, the first American diesel-electric powered streamlined passenger train, made its noted "dawn-to-dusk" run from Denver, Colorado, to Chicago, Illinois, on May 26, 1934. M. T. Kilty, traffic agent of the line, made arrangements with WKBB to broadcast from the station when the new "Zephyr" passenger train arrived in Dubuque on June 2, 1934. On November 11, 1934, the train was put into regularly scheduled service between Lincoln, Nebraska, and Kansas City, Missouri. Although the distinctive, stainless steel trains were well known, they did not attract passengers back to the rails; the last one was retired from revenue service with the start of Amtrak. Several railroad officials gave vivid interviews about the train that could travel at 107 miles per hour, seated 72 people in three cars, and was designed for daytime travel only. (1)
In the 1960s the Burlington's Zephyr ran through East Dubuque between Chicago and Minneapolis-St. Paul. Buses were used to shuttle passengers between the Burlington passenger depot (reconstructed to become a restaurant for the NATIONAL MISSISSIPPI RIVER MUSEUM AND AQUARIUM and the small Illinois Central/Burlington depot in East Dubuque. (2)
Because of this extensive trackage in the midwestern and mountain states, the railroad used the advertising slogans "Everywhere West", "Way of the Zephyrs", and "The Way West". It merged with the Great Northern, Northern Pacific, and the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway railroads on March 2, 1970, to form the Burlington Northern (26 years later, the BN and Santa Fe Railroads merged to become BNSF). (3)
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Source:
1. Kruse, Len. Unforgettable Radio, Dubuque: Union-Hoermann Press, 1993, p. 171
2. Meyer, Jeffrey J. "Clear the Track!" Julien's Journal, March 2010, p. 36
3. "Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad." Wikipedia. Online: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago,_Burlington_and_Quincy_Railroad
