Wow, that's not a subtle bend, either! The Rock Island had a knack for choosing typeface. Very good shot.
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Ah, RIP, CRI&P. You're now a dozen railroads or more. The DeCRIPit line. Such a shame; everyone knew the Rock Island. Bad luck, mismanagement, changing world... It had them all.
Working the Frisco in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas, it seemed that everywhere we went there were also the CRI&P and the Santa Fe. We all shared each other's switch keys, so intertwined were our tracks. AT&SF was the first-class railroad. CRI&P was on its last rails. We fit somewhere in between, but we hauled some of Santa Fe's crack freights on route between LA and Chicago. It took good track for that. I'm not sure the Rock Island had any good track left.
Finally, its time was up. The big mergers had not come, but after it failed they arrived to pick at the bones. They carved up what suited them and left the rest for the fledgling short lines, or all too often, bike trails or weeds. Frisco folded into the BN, later joined by the AT&SF. The CRI&P is mostly a memory now. Good memories of summer days when railroading was very different.
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