This Was The Rock Island Railroad

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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. Maybe it was the image of an underdog, surrounded on all sides by larger, more powerful—and richer—railroads. Maybe it was its short, fast passenger trains—appropriately named Rockets—barreling across the Western Prairies. Maybe it was the granger railroad, quietly and effectively going about serving its customers.

Roger Koenig [KANE-ig] grew up in Brainerd on Chicagos South Side. It was the first stop at ground level on the Rock Islands Suburban Branch after leaving the main line at Gresham Junction. He often rode into the city on its trains. Roger worked for two summers as an office boy for the railroad, and built his first home in Oak Forest on the main line to Joliet. His summer home was near the Peoria Branch. No wonder the Rock Island became his favorite railroad.

This is Rogers fast-moving movie kaleidoscope of The Rock during its final six years, from 1974 until shortly before the railroad shut down forever on March 31, 1980.

Approx. 72 Minutes

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• trainvideo
• trains
• railroad
• rockisland
• rock island
• travel
• historic
• educational

[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.

[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!

[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.

[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!

[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.

[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

[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.

[moonoink]

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