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Cathedral of Steel An Intimate Look Inside Galesburg’s Roundhouse Frankey Signed
Cathedral of Steel An Intimate Look Inside Galesburgs Roundhouse by William A. Franckey
Signed by author
Softcover 117 pages
Copyright 1999
Table of Contents
introductionpage ix
by W.A. Franckey,
author, Cathedral of Steel
chapter 1 Brick Sidewalkspage 1
Elm Trees...the Yard Office...Peoria
Mainline
chapter 2 Realm of Thunderpage 7
the Roundhouse...Women Engine Wipers... Roundhouse Runaway....
chapter 3 Forging Thunderboltspage 15
End of steam...Douglas School...August Sandburg... Blacksmith Shop...incident on South Seminary... Shop accident...Power Plant...Hatfields Sundries...
chapter 4 Aurora, City of Lightspage 25
A railroad family...Aurora Shops...Steam Excursions... Added Perspective...
chapter 5 Galesburgpage 29
Back to the "burg"...the Depot and Seminary Tower Reporting to the Roundhouse Foreman...the new Roundhouse laborer...Davis Street Roundhouse... the Wooden Coal Chute...Diesel Pit...Night shift at the Roundhouse...
chapter 6 Twilight of Laborpage 55
Running the Turntable...the "move" on the Pit... Late night at the Depot...Additional power for No.4... the Huskie and Swede Show...the Cleaning Track... Merger colors...
chapter 7 Prior Experiencepage 69
Unwritten Rules...Hostling at Galesburg...Flour Car Railroading...Holes in the Roundhouse... Hostling at Aurora...
chapter 8 the 1970'spage 75
a bad start out of Galesburg...Roundhouse Life... Scavenging parts...the Galesburg Railroad Museum and the Pullman Parlor Car, Meath...
chapter 9 A Moment to Reflectpage 89
the Swinging Shovel...Frost Manufacturing...
the End of Steam...Friction bearings on the Mainline...
Major Changes...the Old Guard passes...
Servicing Systems...Soviet Agent inspects Galesburg...
the Art of Valve Setting...
chapter 10 Ghosts In The Darkpage 107
End of the Galesburg Roundhouse...Malm's Flower Garden...the Grandest of Storage Sheds... the Museum obtains Shop Graffitti...Roundhouse Lathe...Nels Nelson reports on a snake...Spirit of Galesburg's Roundhouse...
epilogue page 115
bibliographypage 117
Introduction
Galesburg, Illinois is recognized as having one Burlington Railroad, but many a small boy knew there to be two. The first was easy to find and see, along side of South Seminary Street. The other was located in George Donaldson's basement. I was luckier than most as I knew both worlds. Donaldson, a Burlington Engineer, modeled what he knew from real life. In the basement of his home, located on the southeast corner of Berrien and Whitesboro Streets by Lombard School, was the recreation of the Burlington Railroad. Many a Galesburg child was allowed, on special nights, to watch the trains run from room to room. The giant layout was arranged in a way that groups of Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, or other organizations could view a condensed version of what operated just a few city blocks away. As a child, there was no separation between the two different scales, although never could one confuse 256 tons of locomotive with micro-railroading.
Cathedral of Steel started out in a curious way, owing much to Elmo Calkins of Galesburg and Knox College. In 1997, while working as a locomotive engineer in Galesburg, I never missed an opportunity to view the open expanse of ground, that was at one time the C.B.&Q. roundhouse and facilities. One particular day in fall, I happened to notice the discoloration of grasses and weeds in a circular orientation. This area was what would have been the location of the "Little Roundhouse", long since razed. I had heard people speak of it but this was my first direct connection with that roundhouse. I hoped that with a little information, I could recreate a scale model of the general area around the roundhouses and shops, as Calkins did of Galesburg.
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