If Rock Island had adopted an all-yellow paint scheme in anticipation of the doomed UP merger this might have been the result; an all yellow E8 661 former UP 941 glow in early morning light a... (more)

Rock Island mail and express kept No.21, the Memphis-Tucumcari train in the timetable in November 1962, as W/B FP7 410 leaves El Reno, OK. Only a chair car was operated for the few passengers,... (more)

It must be an officer's special eastbound crossing the ATSF and GM&O.

Rock Island E6A 630 and a drab E7B heads the Twin Star Rocket at Fort Worth, Texas in December 1960. Photo by R. Plummer, from my slide collection.

Comet I Takeover: Gladstone service this weekend has been overtaken mostly by classic Pullman-Standard Comet I equipment hauled by diesels due to overhead wire work. These cars were purchas... (more)

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.