This Was The Rock Island Railroad

[Melehete]

Good, I like that you share this video This Was The Rock Island Railroad , I wish success always

[Ondelendo]

I Love The Video The Rock Island Line was a mighty fine line. The musical ditty aside, there was something special about the Chicago It Can Increase My Knowledge

[bebeheuy]

Steady I Really Like This Video This Was The Rock Island Railroad

[willamricard]

Nice Video The Rock Island Line was a mighty fine line. The musical ditty aside, there was something special about the Chicago That You Share , So Very Nice Thanks You

[imegatrone]

I Really Like The Video The Rock Island Line was a mighty fine line. The musical ditty aside, there was something special about the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad that set it apart from other rail carriers From Your

[bundawartini]

Your Video The Rock Island Line was a mighty fine line. The musical ditty aside, there was something special about the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad that set it apart from other rail carriers Is Very Useful Sharing

[Stanroc]

Get that apostrophe out of Video's - ouch. My mom was a Peoria native. Born 1909 and taught English til they fired her when she got married as they did all engaged female teachers. Then I became her victim. She forced good English down my throat. I'm happy for it now, but wasn't as a boy. Me? Born 1937! Rode the oldest of Peoria Rockets for many yrs. to Chicago and back.

[cvgeeps]

I have this vid its great the road is starting to die but hanging on Rockets in low orbit.

[starguard]

I can still remember these trains back when I was in Grammar School. They also used to share track with another freight line called B&O 

[Marcolepsie]

Very good footage :)

[bountle]

have a look at the caboose, isn't that the cutest? Yeah! so cute.

[NJTCOMET]

How old were those electric highliner EMUs in this footage? They look brand new

[GreenFrogVideos]

This was all shot back in the 1970's!

Green Frog Prod.

[moonoink]

@GreenFrogVideos do you have any more foorage of the highliners?

[GreenFrogVideos]

Whatever you see in this video is it!

Green Frog Prod.

[moonoink]

@GreenFrogVideos i've been wondering how the bell and horn on the highliners sounded like in the 70's and 80's

[ussoldierrail]

@moonoink M an I love old school RRing. Now days the kids act stupid by the tracks and unsafe and they go nuts over SD70aces and GEVO's. I spent many yrs running Chessie system and Conrail trains with my dad and two uncles who were in locomotive service as fireman and brakeman ect. Toledo coal ore docks were great. I even ran the then new SD50's sitting on my dads lap! My how times have changed. Gone forever are the old gritty days of hard core RRing.

[siemenstraffic]

@NJTCOMET The bi-level Highliner multiple-unit cars, where built by the St. Louis Car Company in 1971-1972. As you can notice, there aren't painted with orange and white stripes. So the was filmed before the train accident 27th Street station back in October 30, 1972.

[DouglasP201]

If anyone had the money, can they restore the rock island railroad?

[MrCrossIsBoss]

Mark your calendars: Train Festival 2011 will be held July 21-24 in Rock Island, Illinois.

GreenFrogVideos are always outstanding. I grew up in Chicago; in 1990 there were sixteen railroads here...now there are only *sigh*...seven. These videos capture history which will never be seen again. Chi-town may still be "the rail capital" and have a few hotspots, but it's NOTHING like it was from the mid-90's and before.

[Bus7777]

Look at all of the reactions from the engineers!

[gt3corn]

Awesome, The Rock used to run through the city I live in now. There are two bridges left in place and are used by a trail.

[graycloud057]

The Rock Island Line was a mighty fine line

[pianomanmaestro]

I have only scene pne RI diesal in my life time it was hooked up to a Union Pacific train! Sometimes I wish I could see a Rock Island Diesal Refurbished pulling an excursion train down an old Rock Island Track!

[celica825]

i didnt know rock island was gone!!

[glasscitadel12]

Looks like RI was using top of the line equipment in it's last days. i noticed the Amtrak paint starting up too.

[corvettefan96]

it must have been cool to see so many different rail lines back then. now its all just a few mega railroads, with only a few short lines around

[intercityrailpal]

That Amtrak painted diner on the "Rocket" was a ex "Phoebe Snow" diner in Amtrak colors. It might be the car for sale on railswap. com in the Memphis area. A Delaware, Lackawanna and Western car. It was owned by Butterworth at the time. Or it could be the eldcps. org car. It's June 2010

[maniacmarklewin52]

love these old videos great shotsdo you have any katy vids

[bodryn]

I got to ride the Rock Island Line in May, 1964 on my way back from basic training. I rode on many trains but the Rock Island was the fastest and most comfortable ride I ever had. It had reclining seats that went ALL the way back, you could sleep just like in a bed! On that trip I actually met a guy who said he had served with Harry Truman when he was still a county "judge". Unforgettable!

[pianomanmaestro]

Its amzing there is some of the old Rock Island railroad tracks here in Little Rock AR, some are used for the Shortline Railroad but there is some of the old Rock Island stations and singnals left but no tracks just all grass and the Choctaw is still around but the tracks are gone and its bridge instead of being left alone is being made into a stupic walkway its like why tear history up?

[intercityrailpal]

@pianomanmaestro Little Rock to Memphis is a major corridor! With no passenger service! Can you believe it? I was on the sold out "City of New Orleans" last week. I stopped over in Memphis at Central station. The same station RI used. You can tell whose running the transportation policy of the US and it's not real railroad people. We are really paying for this anti-rail policy.

[CrazyGrandpa2]

I worked for the Rock Island R.R. for 7 yrs, and my dad was a engineer for 50 yrs. Chicago Branch. Al these engines sure do bring back memories. I rode on about every engine in this video.

[rrengineer9]

what was his name? i was and still am a rock engineer

[Landaux]

R.I. ran by our house (The Houston / Teague Branch) and i cant tell you how many of the beautiful colored schemes I saw as a boy. I never saw any 'E or F units though, just GPs,SDs and GEs. They shared the track w/ BN. Every now and then Id see a SP as well, it was a WIDE ASSORTMENT!! :-)

[atreewithnolife]

who was that couple ? i wonder............

[generationll]

Alot of nice old locomotives

[kutzbill]

My Uncle out in 38 years on the Rock Island. Does anyone know what happened to the old Steam Loco that was at Detweiler Park? On a visit back to my hometown, years ago I saw it was missing. I remember climbing on it when it was down at Glen Oak Park. I road the Rocket amny times, once as a field trip to Chicago. I missed watching the Rocket along Galena Road near Mossville, where My neighbors had a cabin.

[ugslamma]

Oak Forest ave. near Tinley Park...cool

[JDeereGP]

Sad to see the railroads like this long gone.. Great to see video's of it.. Thanks

[metraRI]

Great footage of suburban Chicago, sure has changed a lot. One thing still remains the same, Oak Forest's station is still used by Metra today.

[microbusss]

this is my favorite line So IS this line still in operation & who owns it now?

[slyflight]

It's nothing more than a bikepath now. At least, here anyway.

[intercityrailpal]

@microbusss Iowa Interstate and CSX. Amtrak will be on it soon. West of the crossing with the BN Denver passenger main.(Wynet) They'll build a interchange there so Des Moines and Quad City trains can use the Burlington to Union Station Chicago. Peoria will have service too, I don't know what route will be taken. I hope it's from Galesburg. Most people getting on Amtrak there are from Peoria.

[macdogq]

that familiar horns.

[BNforever2009]

my family moved to the Washington Heights area back in 1973. I grew up 1 block away from the PC's Panhandle Line and 3 blocks away from the RI's suburban branch near 91st and Longwood. I got to see every RI commuter train and all the E-units on that line, miss those "Capone Cars". I got to see some of the frieghts trains on the main line on Vincennes Ave and 95th St. Those 6 axle U-boats were some ground shaking heavy units!!!

[HAROLDP1969]

i remember alot of those trains the peoria rockets come to mind. it came through town going west bound every night at 630 the headlight on the engine was amazing...ill never forget....

[redhotrider57]

Is anyof that sound recorded on the original film or is it all dubbed in?

[GreenFrogVideos]

All of the RR sound on this video was recorded live onto the Film when it was shot, and we used this original audio for the entire production. There were some scenes that were blank and we moved sound from other scenes to match as best as possible!

[redhotrider57]

Thanks for the info! I cant waitto get this one!

[gaycowboy31]

@GreenFrogVideos I must find this video and show my friend Bill Butterworth to who this video made refernce to in the begining on the Quad City Rocket I will see him tomorrow he still runs tours owning a former California Zepher sleeper the Silver Quail LOL

[Mephilesthedark360]

Rock Island still lives Iowa Northern's F40PH (678) and F7(A) in Rock Island paint

[rockisland57]

I remember the Rock! I loved that line. But if you thought that was rough track,check out 1979 on! I had a friend that was an engineer that got seasick running!

[railwayman]

I wish I could have been able to railfan the Rock Island.

[intercityrailpal]

@railwayman You will, someday some of these trains will be back. Major corridors have no passenger service. While Amtrak runs around sold out. Memphis-Little Rock no service, unbelievable!! Houston, texas three days aweek. No service to Phoenix as of 2010 the "Sunset Limited" runs around it in the middle of the night! Sunset was a RI-SP train.

[owlking149]

It's sweet that the Rock kept passenger trains after Amtrak took over! Thanx fur sharin'!

[dmbodeen]

Awesome footage! I really enjoyed seeing the Rock back in action. Sad to see the trains bouncing around due differed track maintenance.

Still fun seeing #630 working hard, too!

[JeffOrnstein01]

What's also nice about the ROCK is that they did not immediately give up its passenger trains to the government to be made part of Amtrak.

[intercityrailpal]

@JeffOrnstein01 They were paid $1500 a trip by the state of Illinois to keep the trains running. It helped but was not enough. The freight service was in big trouble too. The service got really,really bad. I even stopped rideing and rode Amtrak instead. What killed the trains was the taxes on everything tickets,fuel,stations spent on airports and highways...trillions!

[intercityrailpal]

@intercityrailpal Also when the highway and oil lobby got the mail transfered to trucks (Their trucks) the old railroad trains started to lose money. Plus the equipment was old and needed replaceing. The tracks were awful. This corridor will be back. It's just a matter of time. Too bad it's not Rock Island anymore. The fuel for the trucks today is one of the problems for todays post office.

[fuzzyworld3]

@JeffOrnstein01 True -- but that's mostly 'cuz the Rock couldn't afford the Amtrak entry fees...

[skinnyshit8888]

@JeffOrnstein01 ...because it'd be more expensive for the rock to do so!

[kmothersil]

Man I'd give a lot of cash just to see F units on freight trains again. The Rock Island rules for all eternity.

[SimRacin14]

R.J. Corman has a pair of F-Units for its Dinner Train in Bardstown,KY. I've seen them pulling hopper cars before. So,it still happens,even to this day.

[DJGENEX71]

Classic Footage! 5*****!

[ohiotransit9]

Was that a GP40P at 6:05?!

[trainmasterfm2]

Yes

[smvrr80]

GP40P-2, two of three SP had.