| Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad Whitcomb 60-tonner 9120 (c/n 50007) at Rochelle, Illinois, March 1932. The following is excerpted from the Burlington Route Historical Society's Bulletin 6, CENTERCABS: The third chapter in Burlington's internal combustion motive power history dates to 1931, when an order was placed with the Whitcomb Locomotive Works of Rochelle, Illinois for a 60-ton center-cab gas-electric locomotive. Ordered as CB&Q 112, the locomotive was delivered in March 1932 as CB&Q 9120 and was simply an enlarged and improved version of the Porter 45-tonner of 1930 (previously ordered and placed in operation on the Q in 1930 as 9111). The 9120 was 40 feet 6 inches long, compared to the 9111's 32 feet 8 and one half inches. The Whitcomb was powered by a pair of inline eight-cylinder Climax Blue Streak gasoline engines. Horsepower totaled 400 for the Whitcomb, compared to the Porter's original 330 hp rating. Westinghouse electrical equipment was used throughout. The Whitcomb used trucks of a standard MCB (Master Car Builders) design with 36 diameter wheels and sported Fafnir-Melcher roller bearing journals. The 9120 weighed 120,000 pounds, had a 58:19 gear ratio, a starting tractive effort of 30,000 pounds, and a continuous tractive force of 7,200 pounds at 16.6 mph. By the time 9120 was delivered, in addition to having adopted 9000 series numbers, the Q found the rather somber Pullman green of the gas-electric motor cars and locomotives to be a bit of a problem. Crossing accidents became an all-too-common occurrence. The internal combustion power was quieter than steam power (and normally smoked less), and the green paint helped the units blend in with the surrounding vegetation. Consequently the motor cars got red and yellow front ends, and beginning with 9120, the locomotives were painted Pullman green, but with red cabs, with the cab corner posts and hood ends (radiator shutters) trimmed in yellow. For the first time, full color Burlington Route heralds were placed on the cab sides, and white Safety First emblems adorned the footboards. With these changes, the locomotive became a lot more noticeable. Porter 9111 was given the modified paint scheme. When 9120 was first delivered, it was tested at several locations before entering regular service. Perhaps the most interesting was in the Black Hills of South Dakota. On May 6, 1932, the unit made a round trip on the Deadwood-Spearfish mixed train 208 and 207. The next day the locomotive handled the Deadwood-Lead switching chores. The locomotive was transported both two and from Deadwood dead in a freight for these test runs. The 9120's first permanent assignment was on the Wymore Division, where the unit worked on a daily except Sunday basis, switching the Nebraska City yard and industrial trackage for eight hours, then spending the remainder of the day handling the mixed train on the 12-mile turn across the Missouri River to Payne, Iowa and back. Later, the locomotive worked various assignments in Iowa and Illinois. In July 1959, it was sold to shortline Illinois Midland (Millington to Newark, IL) to replace an 0-4-0T. The IM operated the unit until 1964, when both main generators burned up, and the locomotive was scrapped still wearing its Q paint and number. At some point between 1940 and 1953, the unit had been repainted in the (now-standard) CB&Q black and gray switcher paint scheme with stripes. |