“If you are contemplating a trip anywhere in the United States or Canada, this map will help you,” it says. “Spread it before you, mark your starting point and destination (or the nearest city shown), and trace with a pencil … Continue reading
In 1931, when this booklet was issued, three Denver-bound trains left Chicago every morning at 10:30. From the North Western station, the Columbine expected to take 26-2/3 hours to travel 1,048 miles and arrive at Denver Union Station at 1:10 … Continue reading
From at least 1902 through 1930, Rock Island regularly published a booklet about Colorado subtitled Under the Turquoise Sky. We’ve previously seen eight editions here including ones from 1907 and 1909. This one is from 1908 and not surprisingly is … Continue reading
This postcard isn’t particularly pretty, but it shows the “new shops” opened by the Rock Island in (the caption says) East Moline, Illinois. Actually, the shops are in Silvis Illinois, which is next to East Moline and both are part … Continue reading
As noted yesterday, for most of the 1970s Rock Island still ran Chicago-Peoria and Chicago-Rock Island intercity trains. But it also ran commuter trains between Chicago and Joliet. Like most Chicago commuter railroads, Rock Island had adopted bi-level commuter cars, … Continue reading
Shockingly, by 1967 Rock Island’s timetable had shrunk to a four-panel brochure, each panel about 4″x9″, thus making it about the same size as the 1964 condensed timetable. This was probably the last timetable listing the Golden State, which would … Continue reading
In 1965, Rock Island drastically changed the format of its timetables. Instead of the usual 8″x9″, the pages of the new timetables were 4″x9″. With 12 pages, they had the same amount of space as six pages of the older … Continue reading
Even Rock Island’s condensed timetables were shrinking in the mid-1960s. Where the 1962 condensed timetable shown here a couple of days ago consisted of three 4″ wide panels (the equivalent, counting both sides, of 3 pages of a regular timetable), … Continue reading
This 20-page timetable not only has a two-page centerfold map, it has two full-page ads. It fit the ads in by cutting the list of ticket agents from two pages to one and cutting the list of rail fares from … Continue reading
Here’s another condensed timetable that, like the one from 1958, manages to compress four of the 20 pages of the standard timetable into just two pages, and leaves most everything else out. This one removes some white space from the … Continue reading
