Nostalgia & History > Joint Burlington - Rock Island Passenger operations

Althought they were arch compeditors, the CBQ and RI participated in two joint passenger operations.

My question is if CBQ and RI diesels were ever mu'ed together in these services, and if so, what kinds.

One operation was the Zephry Rocket between St Louis and the Twin Cities. I know cars were mixed, but the few articles I've seen on this operation covered the later years when the train was short enough to require only one unit, either a CBQ or RI usually an EMD E unit of various types. Presumably in the 50s this train was long enuf for two or more units. Were they ever mixed?

The second operation was the joint Burlington - Rock Island between dallas and Houston. I know that at times CBQ used one of the early Zephyr sets for one of the runs, which would exclude mixing diesels, But after they left or for the other trains on the line were CBQ and RI passenger diesels ever mixed?

The B-RI was also a freight operation, here I assume each railroad ran their own trains with home units but i could be wrong.

tp117 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Althought they were arch compeditors, the CBQ and
> RI participated in two joint passenger
> operations.
>
> My question is if CBQ and RI diesels were ever
> mu'ed together in these services, and if so, what
> kinds.
>
> One operation was the Zephry Rocket between St
> Louis and the Twin Cities. I know cars were mixed,
> but the few articles I've seen on this operation
> covered the later years when the train was short
> enough to require only one unit, either a CBQ or
> RI usually an EMD E unit of various types.
> Presumably in the 50s this train was long enuf for
> two or more units. Were they ever mixed?

The Zephyr Rocket usually had a short four or five car consist and was a relatively low speed operation without significant grades along the route. Therefore, one unit was sufficient for most of the train's existence. In single unit days, either a CB&Q or Rock E-7 or E-8 would cover the entire trip TC-STL. I'm sure that at some point, multiple unit consists from each road must have been used but I doubt if it was a common occurence. Bob

Interesting. I was not aware of this train, the Zephyr Rocket.

What route did it take into the Twin Cities?

In St Paul, it would have to use the St Paul Union Depot, but in Minneapolis, the Q used the GN depot while the Rock used the Milwaukees depot. The Q coach yard was nearby the GN depot, but the CRIP coach yard was in South Minneapolis adjacent to the Milwaukees Garden lead.

Tell me more!!!

The Zephyr-Rocket was a RI operation between the Twin Cities and Burlington, Iowa. The Q operated it from Burlington to St. Louis. Being a RI operation, it arrived/departed from the Milwaukee staion in Mpls and was stored in the RI's "coach yard".

On the RI it ran on the Mid-Continent (Spine line) route to Manly, Iowa and then via Waterloo and Cedar Rapids to Burlington. As it changed direction at Manly from South/North to East/West it also changed train numbers. In later years and up to its dicontinuence, it ran as No. 19 TC to Manly and 190 from Manly to Burlington. The West/North train was No. 201/20. I don't recall the Q's numbers.
Dave

According to a December 1965 Official Guide the Burlington numbers were 8-15. Train 8 was the train from Burlington-St Louis while train 15 was the St Louis-Burlington-Mpls train.

According to my records the train name was dropped in 1962 and the train was discontinued on April 7 1967. All the pictures that I have seen over the years show a short train with only one unit but anything is possible.

The Rock island dropped out of the Ft Worth to Houston market on September 15 1964 when it discontinued the Twinstar Rocket south of Ft Worth. The Ft Worth and Denver discontinued its Dallas to Houston train, the Sam Houston Zephyr, in 1966.

If I remember the story right,Burlington and Rock Island split the freight duties every five years. Rock Island was trying to dieselize,but the Q ran steam to Houston until 1957 or 1958.I'm almost sure they were the last Class One operating steam in South Texas.

If I recall correctly, CB&Q 9914 (an E5) was built for use on the "Zephyr Rocket"
with the CRI&P providing one E6 for the pool. As was mentioned, in later years,
an E7 or E8 provided power for the short train. Oh to have that one back, it
was not a really fast train, but it was a classy little streamliner...

from the RITS list website, a BCRN timetable from the 1800's...

http://www.simpson.edu/~RITS/histories/BCRNTT/index.html