I spotted this photo at My link Page Fallen Flags.Org to the right of Your computer screen.

One of My all time favorite railroads that had served Chicago prior to 1970, was the old Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad.

The C,B & Q...or as some railfans called it the "Q", was a large railroad that served the midwest. The Burlington's subsidiary railroads Colorado & Southern, and the Fort Worth & Denver...served the States of Colorado and Texas.

The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy introduced streamlined stainless steel passenger train service in 1934, with an early shovel nosed streamliner train known as The Pioneer Zephyr. This train is preserved today at The Chicago Museum Of Science And Industry.

Like many North American Railroads, the C,B & Q wanted to rapidly modernize and dieselize their trains after World War 2 had ended. Although Post War modernization did take effect, the C,B & Q would also wind up being one of the last North American mainline railroads to use steam locomotives in daily operations. This lasted until the late 1950's. The Burlington also had ran many fantrip mainline steam locomotive powered excursions between 1955 and 1966. The C,B & Q also preserved several steam locomotives, donating them to many on line communities like Galesburg Illinois and Burlington Iowa at the end of the steam era.

The locomotive seen here, is a 1950's era EMD model GP 7 roadswitcher, painted in the Burlington's original "Blackbird" color scheme. This color scheme was replaced during the 1960's, with a bright red and gray color scheme with white stripes. This photo was taken at La Salle Illinois in 1962.

On March 2nd, 1970...The Chicagop, Burlington & Quincy, The Great Northern, The Northern Pacific, and The Spokane, Portland & Seatle Railroads merged and became the Burlington Northern Railroad.