Nostalgia & History > "...The Rock Island line is a mighty good road..."

..."The Rock Island Line is a mighty good road
The Rock Island Line is the road to ride
The Rock Island Line is a mighty good road
If you want to ride you gotta ride it like you find it
Get your ticket at the station for the Rock Island Line"...*

(*Originally sung and recorded by the musician known as "Lead Belly" in the late 1930's.)

A scene replayed from my very youngest years, when my Mom would take me downtown with her for shopping marathons. We would usually board at the 103rd Street Station, on the "Suburban Line". I have a very faint memory of being walked up to the first cars' end vestibule, and watching the back end of one of these RS-3's, painted in this BEAUTIFUL scheme, bouncing around at speed, between stops.

The photo is a duplicate slide from one of the Al Chione Sets, that he sold back in the early 1980's; photographer unknown.

Thanks for looking,

Bob

ATSF100WEST......Out

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I am partial to the Johnny Cash version, myself...

Great picture, I had not seen that paint scheme in all it's glory before...

I'm sure I'm not the only one to do a double take on the Rock Island name on that unit...BTW Bob, thanks for sharing all these great shots thru the years!- Steve

the_expediter Wrote:
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> I'm sure I'm not the only one to do a double take
> on the Rock Island name on that unit...

I can confirm that....I also was a bit surprised at how it looked...

Lead Belly made famous or first recorded a few songs about trains, including "Midnight Special".

"Rock Island Line" is an interesting song. It actually predates the CRI&P. If you look at the older lyrics very closely, its actually an allegory for the Underground Railroad. Rock Island, IL was a town known as a safe haven for escaped slaves, and on one of the URR's "lines".

Great photo! A nice scheme that I've seen far too few pictures of.

Thanks!

Z

the_expediter Wrote:
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> I'm sure I'm not the only one to do a double take
> on the Rock Island name on that unit...BTW Bob,
> thanks for sharing all these great shots thru the
> years!- Steve

I dunno, maybe we should refer to it as the "got lucky" road....but none of my "luck" ever occured on the Rock. AA

Stanford White
Carmel Valley, CA

Very nice Bob, Alco makes for some really cool commuter train power indeed, can just imagine the sounds and sights from the action.

I've always felt that this RS-3 RI paint scheme ranked right up there with the Maroon, Black and Gold Stripe Minuteman paint scheme on Boston and Maine's RS-3's. Classics all! Thanks for posting this shot.

Bob Callahan
Monticello, IN

A great photo and a good railroad to learn railroading on as I did back in the 70's before heading west to the UP.

Bob Krieger
Cheyenne, WY

Did the Rock Island have their RS-3's short hood as the "front?" Most railroads at that time still designated the long hoods as the front. Santa Fe was an early adopter of the short hood leading the way and the N&W was one of the very last to go with the better visibility of having the short hood in front.