I know that in 1960 (or thereabouts) Great Northern combined the Western Star and the Fast Mail between the Twin Cities and Seattle. This often lead to the Western Star having 20+ cars, usually 2/3rds of which were baggage, RPO, express or other 'head end' cars. I was wondering, did the CB&Q run the whole train like that to and from Chicago, or did they break it up into two trains? I always assumed they just took the whole train, but I know the Burlington had a fast mail between the Twin Cities and Chicago for many years, so it could have been they separated the head end cars from the 'regular' people-carrying cars.
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Western Star / Fast Mail on CB&Q
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I'm not familiar with any CB&Q "Fast Mail" train between Chicago and the Twin Cities. The mail cars to and from the GN Fast Mail at St. Paul arrived and departed on Milwaukee Road Trains 56 and 57, the "Fast Mail," which handled the cars to and from Chicago.