at about 1:50 mark.
A bit more about those loud-mouthed Burlington O5's.
As a kid, I grew up in Hinsdale, IL, which is on the triple-track Burlington Chicago-Aurora mainline. In the Fall of 1956, steam blossomed out again, with about half the freights being steam-powered. 1956 was a good year, generally, for the US economy and Fall always produced the wheat and sugar beet rush on the Burlington, which overwhelmed the "motors" (as Burlington men referred to diesels), forcing a return to stored steam locomotives. About 10 O5 4-8-4's were fired up for Lines East service.
That Fall I attended the old Junior High School which was just up the hill from the business district of town. The school was charmingly old (1893), un-air-conditioned and had quite large windows, which were open and admitting the beautiful golden sun and cool temperatures of that season. I was seated in Mr. Wagner's math class, contemplating the logic of decimals and percentages........when suddenly, an astounding, booming exhaust came from the RR tracks! Apparently, an O5 powered freight had caught a red board just west of downtown and was putting it's heavy train back in motion. The exhaust was so loud and commanding, that THE ENTIRE CLASS LEAPED TO THEIR FEET and bolted to the open windows to see what the heck was going on!! Coal smoke wafted over the roofs of the downtown. Eventually the bellowing O5 and train cleared town, and the kids drifted back to their seats. Mr. Wagner, somewhat perturbed by the interuption to his lesson, commented, "What's the big deal; it's just an old steam engine"!! Possibly one of the last most of those kids would witness, in regular service!
