Nostalgia & History > My small tribute to a Mighty Fine Line

40 years ago today, the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific shut down. I missed the Rock Island by 20 years. However, this doesn't mean that I haven't seen traces of the old Rock Island still around.

I was in Clifton Forge visiting the Chesapeake & Ohio Historial Society Center last summer. While I was there, I took a peek into the Clifton Forge yard only to this beauty. The "Route Rock" name appeared in the last two years of the railroad and was only applied to a limited number of hoppers, boxcars, and truck trailers. It was never applied to locomotives. I took the photo with my phone camera since I didn't want to get out the actual camera and set it up.



 

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I also have some other items related to the Rock Island. A lionel 60ft boxcar. A 1949 local timetable from Kansas. Gregory L. Schneider's amazing book covering the collapse of the Rock Island.

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