Only a month after it's demotion to a no-name train, Rock Island's train #7 gets ready to depart for Council Bluffs/Omaha. The photographer grabs a shot at the platforms of the depot in Davenport ... (more)

The last remnant of Rocky Mountain/Corn Belt Rockets, a month after being demoted to nameless train #7, departs Council Bluffs for the Omaha side of the river. The announced loss of it's primary ... (more)

Most probably the Golden State. A Roger Puta Photograph

In its day, Train 8, the Rocky Mountain Rocket, was a class operation, not as fast as its Union Pacific and Burlington competitors but a luxurious and comfortable. ride from Denver to Chicago. But... (more)

The semaphore blade is just starting to drop as Southern Pacific Train 3, the Golden State, speeds south near Vaughn, New Mexico. Rock Island handed off command of the train for the remainder of i... (more)

The Golden State and its predecessor the Golden State Limited have been plying these rails since 1902, but by July 28,1967, the end is less than seven months away. The joint SP-CRI&P Chicago-Los A... (more)

The Cornhusker was either on the first or second say of its operation. The late Roger Puta's slide was scanned and posted by Marty Bernard.

The Rocky Mountain Rocket, almost exactly halfway on its 91-mile journey across the old Kansas Pacific from Denver to Limon, Colorado, passes beneath a cluster of cottonwoods, those ancient sentin... (more)

A little past 1 p.m. on a perfect May Day, 1965, the Rocky Mountain Rocket turns its back on the Rockies and heads east out of Denver behind two 2250-hp E8As. Though there are only five cars in th... (more)

Rock Island E8 and train is headed out of the station on a hot hazy summer day. Kodachrome II film.

There’s not much revenue on Rock Island’s eastbound Train 10, Corn Belt Rocket, originating across the river at Omaha, Nebr. and now leaving Council Bluffs, Iowa with only two coaches and an empty... (more)

The dwarf signal tells us that we are alongside Kansas City Terminal Railway tracks at Union Station, where nameless Train 15, formerly the Kansas City Rocket, is just rolling in from Minneapolis-... (more)

You wouldn’t know it to see it today, but Train 39, westbound near Herington, Kansas, was once the Imperial, a secondary but important passenger run between Chicago and Southern California. But on... (more)

A baggage-express car, a coach and a snack-lounge behind a lone E-unit: This is all that’s left of the once-great Rocky Mountain Rocket by late September, 1966. Hard-pressed Rock Island lopped off... (more)

Rock Island Train 18, "Twin Star Rocket," barrels eastward out of North Topeka, Ks. on time on Union Pacific track en route to Kansas City where it will return to home rails. Operating from Hous... (more)