Rock Island Railroad: Map, Pictures, Logo, History
Last revised: October 19, 2026
By: Adam Burns
The Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific was the Rock Island, a Midwestern granger whose map reached the Twin Cities, Denver, Tucumcari, Memphis, and the Gulf. Its slogan was Route of the Rockets. Reporting marks on the cars and locomotives included RI and CRIP. The first train ran from Chicago to Joliet on October 10, 1852, behind a 4-4-0 named Rocket. The company that left the 1915 receivership was still the Railway. The Railroad name returned with the conveyance of January 1, 1948. Directed-service revenue ended at 11:59 p.m. Central Time on March 23, 1980.
The railroad is remembered for those Rockets, for the Mississippi bridge that put Abraham Lincoln in front of a hung jury, and for a liquidation that handed the main lines to other operators.
F7A 110 in freight service at Northfield, Minnesota, on October 29, 1964. After the shutdown this trackage went to the Chicago & North Western. Photographer unknown. Rick Burn collection.
On this page: Charter · The bridge · Across Iowa · Golden State and Choctaw · At a glance · Rockets · Steam · Diesels · Commuters · Merger and strike · What remained · The song
Charter
Henry Farnam aimed the road at Chicago, where it could connect with the Michigan Southern. The Illinois General Assembly chartered the Rock Island and La Salle Rail Road Company by special act on February 27, 1847. A legislative amendment of February 7, 1851, allowed the name Chicago and Rock Island Rail Road Company. The directors accepted the amended charter on April 8, 1851, and that meeting ended the first company.
The first train, Chicago to Joliet, 40 miles, ran on October 10, 1852. Rails reached Geneseo in 1853 and Rock Island on February 22, 1854. The Iowa partner was the Mississippi and Missouri Rail Road Company, chartered under the general laws of Iowa on February 5, 1853. The Civil War slowed it. On the Illinois side the railroad was already a Chicago road, and LaSalle Street Station would be its passenger terminal for the rest of its life.
The Rock Island Railroad logo. Author’s work.
The bridge
The bridge at Rock Island was the first railroad bridge across the Mississippi. Its draw was operated for the first time on April 9, 1856. On April 21 the locomotive Des Moines crossed. The first scheduled train passed over on April 22, 1856.
On May 6, 1856, the steamboat Effie Afton struck the bridge and burned. Abraham Lincoln tried the owner’s suit, Hurd v. Rock Island Railroad Company, in the United States Circuit Court at Chicago in September 1857. Justice John McLean presided. The jury hung, reported nine to three for the bridge. The Supreme Court case that left the bridge standing was Mississippi and Missouri Railroad Co. v. Ward, decided January 30, 1863. The “Mr. Lincoln, of Ohio” recorded as counsel in that case was not Abraham Lincoln. A later admiralty libel against the bridge itself was dismissed in 1867.
F7A 112 at the Star Union Brewery on Pine Street in Peru, Illinois, in August 1960. The Illinois main line was the railroad’s oldest road. Rick Burn photo.
Across Iowa
The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Company was chartered in Iowa on June 12, 1866. The Mississippi and Missouri was sold to it on August 6, 1866. A consolidation agreement of August 20, 1866, filed in Illinois on October 4 and in Iowa on October 6, joined that company with the Chicago and Rock Island. The name of the consolidated railroad was the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad.
John Tracy and then Hugh Riddle pushed the line west. Rails reached Council Bluffs on May 11, 1869, the day after Promontory. The Chicago & North Western had been there since January 1867. A Burlington predecessor, the Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs, opened on November 25, 1869, and the Burlington & Missouri River completed a more direct link on January 3, 1870. The Rock Island’s interchange with the Union Pacific was never the one the North Western held. That fact sat under the merger fight a century later.
F7A 115, westbound at Lincoln, Nebraska, circa 1960. Trailers are riding in converted gondolas. American-Rails.com collection.
Branches filled in behind the main line across Iowa, among them the Keokuk & Des Moines. St. Louis was reached by way of Kansas City. On June 2, 1880, in Illinois, and on June 3 in Iowa, the Railroad and its subsidiaries filed articles that created the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway.
Golden State and Choctaw
The Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern was already a majority-owned property when the Rock Island took a 999-year lease of it on June 1, 1902. H. Roger Grant’s figure for that railroad is 1,367 miles, reaching Sioux Falls and Watertown, South Dakota. The Interstate Commerce Commission records the sale on June 15, 1903. The lease and the sale are two events.
What appears to be an FA-FB-FB-FA set near Medford, Minnesota, in February 1964, on the line that came out of the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern. Rick Burn photo.
Ransom Cable’s years were the years of the Chicago, Kansas & Nebraska. Kansas chartered that company on March 19, 1886, and a Nebraska company was chartered on April 1. Construction reached Caldwell by the end of 1887, Liberal in February 1888, and the Colorado line in 1888. The property passed to the Rock Island at foreclosure on June 10, 1891. From there the railroad had its own road toward Denver and a direct line from Omaha through Lincoln and Belleville.
U25Bs 235 and 237, westbound on the Kansas City Terminal past Sheffield tower, circa 1967. American-Rails.com collection.
GP38-2 4304, “The Loyal Shipper,” on the weekday local from Limon at Roswell Junction, Colorado Springs, in the 1970s. Bob Lenardson photo.
In 1901 Daniel G. Reid, W. H. Moore, J. H. Moore, and W. B. Leeds bought a large block of the stock. Leeds succeeded W. G. Purdy as president on December 12, 1901. The same syndicate took in the Chicago & Alton, the Chicago & Eastern Illinois, the Toledo, St. Louis & Western, and the St. Louis–San Francisco. The Rock Island Company of New Jersey, the holding company, was organized on July 31, 1902. A figure often given for 1907, 14,270 miles, is that wider control, including the Frisco and the Alton. It is not the mileage of the Rock Island railroad itself.
Two southwestern projects of those years are easy to fold together, and they were different railroads. The Golden State was the extension of the southwestern line from Liberal toward Santa Rosa, New Mexico, to meet the El Paso & Northeastern. The valuation record of construction finished in 1902 is Liberal to Texhoma, 56 miles. The Choctaw Route was the Choctaw, Oklahoma & Gulf, a Memphis–Amarillo line already in other hands. The Rock Island had stock control by about 1902. On March 24, 1904, the Choctaw leased its railroad to the Rock Island for 999 years and kept the coal properties out of the lease. The line from Amarillo west to Tucumcari was completed in 1910. After that, the California train used Tucumcari and the Southern Pacific. The Golden State story is on the Golden State page and the route page.
FP7s 408 and 409 with Train 21 at Shamrock, Texas, on the Choctaw Route, in August 1967. This part of the Choctaw was later abandoned. Tom Hoffman photo. Rick Burn collection.
Galveston was reached over the Burlington-Rock Island, the old Trinity & Brazos Valley, a property shared with the Burlington. South of Little Rock the syndicate’s line ended at Eunice, Louisiana, in interchange with the Missouri Pacific. That is as close as the railroad itself came to New Orleans.
The operating company went into receivership on April 20, 1915. Jacob M. Dickinson and Henry U. Mudge were the receivers. Walter C. Noyes had already been appointed receiver of the Iowa holding company, on January 18, 1915. William Edward Hayes dates the discharge of the operating receiver to midnight on June 24, 1917. The company that emerged was still the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway.
Federal control under the United States Railroad Administration began at noon on December 28, 1917, under Presidential Proclamation 1419. The railroads returned to private control on March 1, 1920. The Rock Island spent the 1920s with the traffic of that decade and with the same light rail, thin ballast, and roundabout lines it had carried for years. The petition for reorganization under section 77 was filed on June 7, 1933. Judge James H. Wilkerson approved it the same day. Joseph B. Fleming, James E. Gorman, and Frank O. Lowden took up as trustees on December 1, 1933. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation was a secured creditor of that case.
At a glance
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Chicago, Illinois |
| Charter | Rock Island and La Salle Rail Road Company, February 27, 1847 |
| Names | Chicago and Rock Island Rail Road, 1851. Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, 1866. Railway, 1880. Railroad again, January 1, 1948 |
| Dates | October 10, 1852 – March 23, 1980. First train, Chicago to Joliet. Directed-service revenue ended at 11:59 p.m. Central Time. The liquidation order was January 25, 1980 |
| Gauge | 4 feet 8½ inches |
| Marks | RI and CRIP. Equipment also carried CRI&P and ROCK |
| Slogan | Route of the Rockets |
| Miles | 7,923 miles operated in 1955. The 1979 strike shut down 7,200 miles. The trustee later spoke of 7,500 route miles |
| Main lines | Chicago–Council Bluffs. Omaha–Denver and Colorado Springs. Minneapolis–Kansas City. Memphis–Amarillo–Tucumcari, and Tucumcari toward Kansas City. Kansas City–St. Louis. Little Rock–Eunice. Peoria, and the Chicago commuter line to Joliet |
| Steam | 1,482 locomotives built or rebuilt since 1900, each frame once. Steam roster |
| Diesels | 1,029 frames, each once. Diesel roster |
| Successor | Liquidated. Main pieces went to Iowa Interstate, the Southern Pacific, the Katy’s Oklahoma, Kansas & Texas, the Chicago & North Western, and Metra |
An official 1966 system map of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific. Author’s collection.
Rockets
Edward M. Durham became chief executive in December 1935 and brought in John Dow Farrington as operating officer on May 16, 1936. Farrington had come off the Burlington Lines, where he had been general manager of the Fort Worth & Denver. Durham retired in July 1942, and Farrington became chief executive. His high-rail Ford was a familiar and unwelcome sight. The program under him was ties, ballast, bridges, heavier rail on the main lines, diesels, and more centralized traffic control. He became president of the new Railroad company when the property was conveyed on January 1, 1948. That conveyance also folded in the Chicago, Rock Island and Gulf. Downing B. Jenks later became chief executive, and Farrington chaired the board. After Jenks left, Farrington was interim president, and then R. Ellis Johnson. Johnson became executive vice president on February 1, 1961, and later chief executive.
The Rockets were the passenger advertisement of those years. The Texas Rocket, Fort Worth to Houston, began on August 29, 1937. The Peoria Rocket began on September 19, the Des Moines Rocket on September 25, and the Minneapolis–Kansas City Rocket on September 29. A Kansas City–Dallas Rocket followed on November 15, 1938, using equipment from the other assignments. The Rocky Mountain Rocket was inaugurated on November 12, 1939, Chicago to Denver, with a Colorado Springs section. The Twin Star Rocket was inaugurated on January 14, 1945. Six TA diesels, 601–606, were the first streamlined power. The streamliner Golden State, the Jet Rocket, and an Aerotrain assignment came later in the same family of trains.
E8A 644 on a late Rocket at Chicago in August 1973. Kevin Scanlon photo. American-Rails.com collection.
E8A 652 with train 17, the Twin Star Rocket, north of Northfield, Minnesota, in September 1962. Rick Burn photo.
E8A 649 with southbound train 19 at Owatonna, Minnesota, in February 1964. The train ran between Minneapolis and Manly. Rick Burn photo.
Rebuilt DL-109 621, named Christine, with Train 21 at Memphis on December 1, 1966, just serviced at the Illinois Central shops. William White, Jr. photo.
E7A 632 with the Corn Belt Rocket at Moline, Illinois, in May 1967. The train ran Chicago–Omaha. Rick Burn photo.
E7A 632 again, with train 10, the Corn Belt Rocket, at Moline in May 1967. Rick Burn photo.
E8A 653 with train 5, the Quad Cities Rocket, at Blue Island, Illinois, in May 1974. Rick Burn photo.
The Rock Island did not join Amtrak on May 1, 1971. Craig Sanders records a projected buy-in of $4.7 million against an expected deficit of about $1 million, the buy-in having been figured on 1969 passenger losses of $9 million. The Peoria Rocket and the Quad Cities Rocket ran through December 31, 1978.
E8A 652 in Independence paint with the eight-car Bicentennial Rocket at Ottawa, Illinois, on May 16, 1976. The 20th Century Railroad Club designed the scheme. George Strombeck photo. The same trip is the 652 page.
Steam
The post-1900 steam fleet is on the steam roster. Consolidations did the ordinary freight, 469 of them once the renumbered S-39s are counted with the engines they already were. Mikados were 234. The 35 Santa Fe type 2-10-2s were limited to 30 miles an hour. Pacifics, 175 of them, carried the passenger trains until 62 Mountains and 85 4-8-4s. No railroad in the United States had more 4-8-4s. Schenectady delivered 5000 in February 1929 and finished 5000–5064 in 1930. The twenty engines of 1944 and 1946, 5100–5119, included oil-burning 5100–5109, built the same month as the first FT diesels. None of the 85 was preserved. The last revenue appearance of steam was in July 1953. During floods in April 1954 an 0-8-0 substituted for diesel switchers at Des Moines.
4-8-4 5051 stored at Silvis, Illinois, circa 1952, with “Stored” on the smokebox. The railroad owned 85 4-8-4s. None was preserved. Photographer unknown.
Diesels
Silvis, across the river from Rock Island, was the shop and the hump that dieselization gathered around. The FT was the freight locomotive of the change. The later power, and every serial, is on the diesel roster. A renumber, an FA rebuilt with a 567C, and a GP7 rebuilt as a GP7R are the same frame.
FTs on a manifest at Ottawa, Illinois, on June 10, 1962. Roger Puta photo.
FA-1s at Denver, circa 1965, with 129 closest to the camera. Sixteen A units, 145–160, were sent to Electro-Motive in the mid-1950s, re-engined with 567Cs, and renumbered. Some received Blomberg trucks from trade-in FTs. American-Rails.com collection.
GP40 4713 at the Silvis hump. The date was not recorded. Mike Bledsoe photo. American-Rails.com collection.
F9Am 4158, circa 1975. Union Pacific rebuilt F3A 1416-A, later 1522, to F9 specifications as 522 and sold it to the Rock Island in 1972. The lettering was painted over the portholes. American-Rails.com collection.
GP7R 4491 in the summer of 1975. The place was not listed. Built as Wabash GP7 471 and acquired from Precision National. American-Rails.com collection.
GP7R 4444 at Salt Lake City on April 24, 1975, on the way home from a Morrison-Knudsen rebuild at Boise. Ken Ardinger photo. American-Rails.com collection.
U25B 228 at the Inver Grove engine house, St. Paul, in the summer of 1977. American-Rails.com collection.
Westbound at the Joliet diamond on April 2, 1977. Only U25B 236 and GP40 4700 were working. RS2u 452 and 453, re-engined with 567Cs and wearing EMD hoods, were dead in tow. Doug Kroll photo.
U28B 263 and U33B 289 at the 12th Street, Roosevelt Road, piggyback yard in Chicago on April 25, 1977. This was the primary downtown intermodal facility in the later years, on the site of the old 12th Street coach and freight house, between the passenger tracks into LaSalle and the parallel B&OCT tracks. Trailers were loaded circus-style. Marty Bernard photo.
SD40-2 4798 on a westbound transfer at Hoffman Avenue interlocking, St. Paul, circa 1976. American-Rails.com collection.
GP38-2s about a year old at Little Rock on December 10, 1977. J. Harlan Wilson photo. Warren Calloway collection.
GP7R 4422, GP7 1257, and another GP7R at Tower 55, Fort Worth, circa 1979. Mike Bledsoe photo. American-Rails.com collection.
Commuters
Chicago suburban trains outlasted the intercity Rockets. On March 28, 1975, the Regional Transportation Authority approved an $840,000 emergency grant to keep them running. The trustee later sold Chicago–Joliet to that authority. The operator today is Metra. The Beverly Branch and Blue Island, Vermont Street, were the south-side landmarks, beside the Illinois Central’s electrified suburban track.
RS3 494 on a morning commuter at Brainerd Station, on the Beverly Branch, December 31, 1964. Rick Burn photo.
Outbound commuters at Blue Island, Illinois, in September 1967. Illinois Central electrified track is at the right.
E9A 663, built as Union Pacific 901, on a commuter train between Joliet and New Lenox along U.S. 30 in December 1975. Rick Burn photo.
F7A 675 pushing an inbound commuter at New Lenox on April 16, 1975. Karl Miller photo.
E6A 630 at Silvis, circa 1973, in Gold Wing paint for Electro-Motive’s fiftieth anniversary, 1922–1972. It worked commuters until intercity service ended in 1978 and was stored at Silvis. It is now at the Manly Junction Railroad Museum with 652. American-Rails.com collection.
The same E6A, weathered, at Vermont Street Station, Blue Island, on June 24, 1977. Marty Bernard photo.
F7A 676 with Chicago & North Western gallery cars at Vermont Street, Blue Island, on June 24, 1977. The cars were on loan. A blue AMC Gremlin is at the right. Marty Bernard photo.
E6A 630 and E8A 652 are in the museum building at Manly. The Iowa Northern roster still lists 652 on display. The locomotive page is 652.
Merger and strike
Henry Crown was the financial force who brought Jervis Langdon Jr. onto the property. Langdon resigned in July 1970. On September 14, 1970, William J. Dixon was named president, Theodore E. Desch vice chairman and chief executive, and Peter Kiewit acting chairman. John W. Ingram was president when the next collapse arrived.
In 1964 Ben W. Heineman proposed a combination of the Chicago & North Western, the Rock Island, and the Milwaukee Road. Union Pacific answered with a merger of its own. The Interstate Commerce Commission approved that merger on November 8, 1974, with conditions. The Southern Pacific could buy Kansas City–Tucumcari. The Omaha–Colorado Springs line would go to the Denver & Rio Grande Western. The Santa Fe could buy the Memphis–Amarillo Choctaw only if it absorbed the Katy. Union Pacific withdrew the offer on August 4, 1975. The Commission dismissed the case on July 10, 1976.
On March 17, 1975, the company filed for reorganization and said it would stop after March 31. The Friday before that filing, the United States Railway Association turned down a request for a federal loan of at least $30 million. On March 28 Judge Frank J. McGarr appointed William M. Gibbons trustee and ordered operations continued at least through May 15. The railroad did not shut down on March 31, 1975.
Former Union Pacific E8s in freight service at Joliet in June 1972. Short of cash and short of locomotives, the Rock Island bought aging power wherever it could, including these. Roger Puta photo.
The clerks struck at 7 a.m. on August 28, 1979. About 1,700 members of the Brotherhood of Railway and Airline Clerks walked out, and the strike shut down 7,200 miles. The United Transportation Union joined within two days. On September 26, 1979, the Interstate Commerce Commission issued Directed Service Order No. 1398 and put the Kansas City Terminal Railway in charge of operations. Directed-service revenue ran through 11:59 p.m. Central Time on March 23, 1980. Clean-up ran through 11:59 p.m. on March 31.
On January 25, 1980, Judge McGarr ordered the trustee to prepare and file a preliminary plan of liquidation. The Commission’s advisory report of May 27, 1980, concluded that abandonment was required. On June 2, 1980, McGarr authorized complete abandonment and held that no labor-protection arrangements could be imposed on the estate. Two days earlier the president had signed the Rock Island Railroad Transition and Employee Assistance Act.
What remained
The company was liquidated. The routes were not all pulled up. Heartland Rail Corporation purchased 553 miles from Council Bluffs to Bureau for $31 million on October 10, 1984, and Iowa Interstate moved its first train on April 29, 1985. The largest sale in the trustee’s account was about 1,000 miles from Tucumcari to Kansas City and St. Louis, bought by the Southern Pacific.
On August 26, 1982, Governor George Nigh signed an agreement covering 350.9 miles in Oklahoma, part of a plan, with the Katy, to buy former Rock Island track in Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas. Judge McGarr approved the sale of 650 miles in those three states. The operator was the Oklahoma, Kansas & Texas. The Spine Line, about 720 miles from Minneapolis–St. Paul to Kansas City, went to the Chicago & North Western. The sale was approved in June 1983 after the bid rose to $93 million, over the Soo Line. The Northfield photograph at the top of this page is that trackage. The Choctaw through route from Memphis to Amarillo was not kept. Chicago–Joliet became Metra’s Rock Island District.
The song
On December 3, 1929, at the Arch Street Missionary Baptist Church in Little Rock, the Rock Island Colored Booster Quartet sang a piece written by Clarence Wilson, an engine wiper at the Biddle Shops. With him were Jake Mason, Walter Dennis, and Phil Garrett. Stephen Wade’s title for that piece is “Buy Your Ticket over Rock Island Lines.” The words are known, and they are largely different from the later hit.
John A. Lomax made the first audio recording at the Tucker, Arkansas, prison farm on September 29, 1934. A second session, in October 1934 at Cummins State Farm, was led by Kelly Pace. Those are two recordings. Lead Belly made his own Library of Congress recording in 1937. Lonnie Donegan recorded his version in July 1954, and it was released late in 1955. Johnny Cash’s record is the Sun session of 1957, issued on With His Hot and Blue Guitar, Sun SLP 1220. A 1970 single is a reissue of that recording. The railroad’s own line toward the Gulf ended at Eunice.
Related reading on American-Rails.com
- Steam roster · Diesel roster · 1952 timetables
- Golden State · Rocky Mountain Rocket · Peoria Rocket · Quad Cities Rocket
- Jet Rocket · TA diesels · E8A 652
- Iowa Interstate · Metra · LaSalle Street Station
- Fallen Flags
Sources
- Interstate Commerce Commission, Valuation Docket No. 152, Valuation Reports, vol. 24. Charter of the Rock Island and La Salle Rail Road Company, February 27, 1847. Name change, February 7, 1851. Mississippi and Missouri, February 5, 1853. Sale, August 6, 1866. Iowa charter of the Railroad, June 12, 1866. Consolidation agreement, August 20, 1866. Railway articles filed in Illinois on June 2, 1880, and in Iowa on June 3. Chicago, Kansas & Nebraska charters, March 19 and April 1, 1886, and the foreclosure of June 10, 1891. Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern sale, June 15, 1903. Construction segments, including Liberal to Texhoma in 1902.
- William Edward Hayes, Iron Road to Empire (1953). The charter style, the directors’ acceptance on April 8, 1851, the discharge of the receiver at midnight on June 24, 1917, and the conveyance machinery set for January 1, 1948. The 1917 company remained the Railway.
- H. Roger Grant, A Mighty Fine Road (Indiana University Press, 2020). The Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern lease of June 1, 1902, at 1,367 miles. Farrington’s start on May 16, 1936. 7,923 miles operated in 1955. Henry Crown and the later presidents, as cited in the text.
- George H. Drury, “Rock Island history remembered,” Trains, republished May 6, 2024. First train, October 10, 1852, and the locomotive Rocket. Opened to Rock Island, February 22, 1854. Council Bluffs, May 11, 1869. The 1902 Golden State extension from Liberal toward Santa Rosa. Reid-Moore and the 1964 merger proposal. ICC approval, November 8, 1974. Union Pacific’s withdrawal, August 4, 1975. Dismissal, July 10, 1976.
- Commercial and Financial Chronicle, October 22, 1904. Choctaw, Oklahoma & Gulf lease of March 24, 1904, 999 years, coal properties excluded. George C. Werner, Handbook of Texas. Merger of the Railway and the Chicago, Rock Island and Gulf into the Railroad on January 1, 1948. Amarillo–Tucumcari completed in 1910.
- Continental Illinois National Bank & Trust Co. v. Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Ry., 294 U.S. 648 (1935). Section 77 petition, June 7, 1933. Trustees from December 1, 1933. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation appears there as a creditor of the 1930s.
- Presidential Proclamation 1419. Possession at noon on December 28, 1917. Return to private control, March 1, 1920, under the Transportation Act of February 28, 1920.
- New York Times, March 18 and March 29, 1975. The filing, the stated March 31 shutdown, the United States Railway Association loan, Judge McGarr’s order, and William M. Gibbons. New York Times, September 15, 1970, for Langdon’s resignation and the September 14 officers. New York Times, August 29 and August 30, 1979, for the clerks’ strike and the United Transportation Union. Emergency Board No. 191 dates the UTU walkout two days after August 28.
- Directed Service Order No. 1398, Kansas City Terminal Ry. Co.—Operate—Chicago, R.I. & P., 360 I.C.C. 289 (1979), 44 Fed. Reg. 56,343. Revenue operation through 11:59 p.m. Central Time, March 23, 1980. Clean-up through March 31, 1980. John Paul Stevens, Railway Labor Executives’ Association v. Gibbons, 448 U.S. 1301 (1980). Liquidation order, January 25, 1980. Abandonment order, June 2, 1980. Rock Island Railroad Transition and Employee Assistance Act, Pub. L. 96-254, May 31, 1980.
- Iowa Interstate’s own history. Heartland Rail Corporation, 553 miles, Council Bluffs to Bureau, $31 million, October 10, 1984. First train, April 29, 1985. United Press International, October 21, 1982. The Tucumcari sale to the Southern Pacific, the 650 miles in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas, and Gibbons’s 7,500 route miles. The Oklahoman, August 27, 1982, for Governor Nigh’s agreement of August 26. Annals of Iowa, for the Spine Line sale to the Chicago & North Western, approved June 1983 at $93 million, and for the Chicago–Joliet sale to the Regional Transportation Authority.
- Craig Sanders, “Rock Island’s Rockets,” in Amtrak in the Heartland. The buy-in comparison, and the last Rockets on December 31, 1978. Trains, “Rock Island Rocket passenger trains,” November 19, 2025, for the 1937 inaugurations, the Rocky Mountain Rocket on November 12, 1939, and the Twin Star Rocket on January 14, 1945. Rock Island Technical Society consist notes for September 29, 1937, and November 15, 1938.
- George H. Drury, Guide to North American Steam Locomotives, the Rock Island chapter, pp. 140–144. The 1,482 frames, the 85 4-8-4s, July 1953, and the April 1954 flood engine. The class grid is on the steam roster. David A. Pfeiffer, “Bridging the Mississippi,” Prologue (Summer 2004), and STRUCTURE, “Rock Island Bridge 1856,” for April 9, April 21, and April 22, 1856, and for Hurd. Mississippi and Missouri Railroad Co. v. Ward, 67 U.S. 485 (1863).
- Stephen Wade, The Beautiful Music All Around Us. Clarence Wilson and the December 3, 1929, performance. Lomax’s Tucker recording of September 29, 1934, and the separate Cummins session of October 1934 led by Kelly Pace. Lead Belly’s 1937 Library of Congress recording. Donegan’s July 1954 session. Johnny Cash, With His Hot and Blue Guitar, Sun SLP 1220 (1957). No lyrics are printed here.
- E6A 630 and E8A 652 at the Manly Junction Railroad Museum, as of January 31, 2026, on the 652 page. The Bicentennial Rocket at Ottawa on May 16, 1976.
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Draft EA Reviews Norfolk Southern Track in London, Ohio
Nov 07, 26 11:35 AM
The Surface Transportation Board environmental office issued a draft assessment on November 6, 2026, for about 0.96 miles of Norfolk Southern track in London, Ohio. Comments are due November 20. -
Metrolink Lines Will Not Run on Three Routes November 7
Nov 07, 26 10:53 AM
Metrolink will not run the Ventura County, Orange County, or Inland Empire-Orange County lines on November 7 and 8, 2026. The advisory says no substitute transportation will be provided. -
Hartford Line Adds a Weekday Round Trip on November 16
Nov 07, 26 10:48 AM
Connecticut said the Hartford Line adds a weekday New Haven-Hartford round trip on November 16, starts a morning train in Springfield, and extends weekend stops to Windsor and Windsor Locks. -
Board Issues a Policy Statement on Rail Preemption
Nov 07, 26 10:44 AM
The Surface Transportation Board placed a policy statement on public inspection for the November 9 Federal Register. It reviews existing preemption precedent and says it makes no binding determination… -
NJ Transit Restores Lines After the Newark Drawbridge Stop
Nov 07, 26 10:37 AM
NJ Transit said Morris and Essex service between Hackettstown and Dover, and Montclair-Boonton service between Hackettstown and Montclair State University, resumed after the Newark Drawbridge stop. -
EMD "SD35" Locomotives: Data Sheet, Specs, Roster
Nov 06, 26 10:35 PM
EMD SD35, 2,500 horsepower, 16-cylinder 567D3A, built June 1964 through January 1966. 360 locomotives. Specifications and the production roster by owner, serial, and order. -
EMD "SDP35" Locomotives: Data Sheet, Specs, Roster
Nov 06, 26 10:32 PM
EMD SDP35, the steam-generator SD35. 35 locomotives, July 1964 through September 1965. Seaboard Air Line 1100-1119, Atlantic Coast Line 550, Louisville and Nashville 1700-1703, Union Pacific 1400-1409… -
RJ Corman Will Be Replaced on Part of the Luzerne Lines
Nov 06, 26 01:34 PM
A November 6, 2026 notice says Wilkes-Barre Terminal Railway would acquire about 59.65 miles in Luzerne County and replace R.J. Corman as operator on part of the line. The earliest date is November 22… -
NS Names a Student Hub at the University of Georgia
Nov 06, 26 12:03 PM
Norfolk Southern said a 100,000 dollar gift named a student-organization hub in Driftmier Engineering Center. The University of Georgia marked the naming on October 26. The space is for 23 clubs. -
Union Pacific Filed Its Vena Recording Certification
Nov 06, 26 11:56 AM
Union Pacific filed a November 5, 2026 verified statement that the confidential label is off the March 17 Vena recording and that parties of record received a copy at 3:30 p.m. Eastern. -
OmniTRAX Adds Tenants at Its Blue Island Hub
Nov 06, 26 10:26 AM
OmniTRAX has signed new construction-company leases at its 90-acre Blue Island, Illinois, hub and is planning a second phase. -
Veterans and Active-Duty Members Exceed 16 Percent of Norfolk Southern
Nov 06, 26 10:14 AM
Norfolk Southern said on November 5, 2026, that more than 3,000 veterans and active-duty service members are more than 16 percent of its workforce. This year grants are $100,000 and $50,000. -
BNSF: Merger Would Put Half of U.S. Rail Shipments Under One Railroad
Nov 06, 26 10:00 AM
BNSF chief marketing officer Tom G. Williams told customers on November 3, 2026, that a Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger would put about half of U.S. rail shipments under one railroad. Nothing is… -
Amtrak Opens a Winter Fare Sale
Nov 06, 26 09:28 AM
Amtrak opened a Winter Wanderlust sale on November 5, 2026. Book by November 12 for travel from December 1, 2026, through March 14, 2027. Blackout dates apply. Coach and Acela Business only. -
CN and CPKC Report October Grain Records
Nov 06, 26 08:50 AM
CPKC reported October 2026 grain records in Canada and the United States. CN reported 3.54 million metric tonnes across Canada. The releases do not print a combined total. -
New Brunswick Transload Gets CN Rail Service
Nov 06, 26 08:49 AM
CN said on November 4, 2026, that it has started serving AD Gagnon Transload Services near Grand Falls, New Brunswick. The site is three kilometres from the Trans-Canada Highway and lists room for 106… -
Together, Freight and Passenger Rail Can Grow, Union Pacific Says
Nov 06, 26 08:47 AM
Union Pacific said on November 5, 2026, that passenger obligations would remain if it combines with Norfolk Southern. The capacity claim is a Union Pacific analysis, not a Surface Transportation Board… -
FM "C-Liner" Locomotives: Specs, Roster, Photos
Nov 05, 26 11:19 PM
Fairbanks-Morse Consolidation Line cab units, the C-Liners. 165 locomotives, Beloit and Kingston, March 1950 through February 1955. Models, specs, and production rosters. -
Atlanta, Birmingham & Coast Railroad: Map, History, Roster
Nov 05, 26 12:03 PM
Atlanta, Birmingham & Coast, from Brunswick and Waycross to Atlanta and Birmingham. Atlantic Coast Line control at the close of 1926. Merged in January 1946 as the Western Division. Steam roster of th… -
El Paso & Southwestern Railroad: Map, History, Logo
Nov 05, 26 12:00 PM
The El Paso & Southwestern, the Phelps Dodge copper railroad from Tucson to the Rock Island at Tucumcari. Southern Pacific control on October 31, 1924. -
Brightline Says Orlando Service Has Resumed
Nov 05, 26 11:55 AM
Brightline said on November 5, 2026, that trains to and from Orlando have resumed after weather suspensions in Brevard County. Later that morning the departures page still showed the Orlando segment s… -
Metra Customers Must Sign Up Again
Nov 05, 26 11:43 AM
Metra says customers who want service alerts must sign up again at metratracker.com. The November 2 story says the new system has launched and the old email list is shut down. A notice on the same pag… -
Norfolk Southern Packs Six Projects Into One Window
Nov 05, 26 11:38 AM
Norfolk Southern used one 26-hour window on the W Line for six projects in Indiana and Kentucky, including three bridge replacements. The October 27 account does not give the calendar day of the work. -
CSX: More Time to Comment on an Inspection Waiver
Nov 05, 26 11:29 AM
The Federal Railroad Administration extended comments on a CSX petition for relief from some qualified mechanical inspector rules until December 2, 2026. The November 2 notice does not grant the waive… -
Brightline Expects Orlando Service on Thursday
Nov 05, 26 09:21 AM
Brightline said on November 4, 2026, that it expects trains to and from Orlando to resume on Thursday, November 5. South Florida stations kept running. The departures page still showed the Orlando seg… -
Union Pacific: More Time to Comment on an Inspection Waiver
Nov 05, 26 09:15 AM
The Federal Railroad Administration extended comments on a Union Pacific petition for relief from some qualified mechanical inspector rules until December 2, 2026. The November 2 notice does not grant… -
Wisconsin Opens Comments on the 2027 Freight Plan
Nov 05, 26 09:03 AM
WisDOT opened the draft 2027 State Freight Plan for comment through December 1, 2026. The plan covers freight rail with highways, harbors, aviation, and intermodal links. Completion is expected in sum… -
U.S. Rail Traffic Rose 3.5 Percent in the Week Ending October 31
Nov 05, 26 08:52 AM
U.S. railroads moved 514,080 carloads and intermodal units in the week ending October 31, 2026, up 3.5 percent from a year earlier, the Association of American Railroads said on November 4. -
Muni and Bay Area Transit Measures Pass
Nov 05, 26 08:49 AM
San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency said on November 4, 2026 that Proposition H and a regional transit measure passed. Proposition H is about 160 million dollars a year for Muni. The regiona… -
Ground Rules Set for Responsive Applications
Nov 05, 26 08:47 AM
Decision No. 46, served November 4, 2026, denies a request to add Walsenburg to the Union Pacific interchange list and sets what CPKC and CN must include in responsive applications. Four CPKC proposal… -
Video of the Vena Address Must Be Released
Nov 05, 26 08:42 AM
The Surface Transportation Board on November 4, 2026 denied the Union Pacific appeal and ordered the March 17 shipper-conference recording released to the parties by 5:00 p.m. Eastern on November 5. C… -
Chicago & North Western Iron Ore C628s
Nov 04, 26 11:47 PM
Chicago and North Western C628s 6701-6730, the ex-Norfolk and Western high-hoods, in Upper Peninsula iron-ore service from the mid-1970s until December 21, 1986, and what happened to each unit.
