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Burlington Route 4-8-4 No. 5621 on a westbound freight clatters across the Illinois Central diamonds at Mendota, Ill., as it slows for a coal and water stop in September 1954. Philip R. Hastings photo
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Remember that the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad bought eight 4-8-4 Northerns from the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1930. They were designated Class O-5 and given road numbers 5600 through 5607. These locomotives saw duty in both freight and passenger service.
CB&Q was very pleased with the Class O-5 and after some modification to the design began building its own. Between 1936 and 1940 it built 28 Class O-5a Northerns (road numbers 5608 through 5635) in its own shops in West Burlington, IA.
The steam loco #5621 in the photo has not survived to the present day.