We’ve previously seen a 1928 booklet with this same title. Though the booklets are just four years apart, they are completely different. The 36-page 1928 booklet has just one page of text, whereas half of the 52 pages of the … Continue reading
Rock Island introduced the Budd-built, GMC-powered Rockets in 1937, and this postcard is a variation of one we previously seen. It seems to be older as it only shows one headlight on the TA locomotive while the other one shows … Continue reading
These blotters from the Dale Hastin collection advertise Rock Island trains in the Midwest. The first one advertises trains from the Twin Cities to Des Moines, Kansas City, and St. Louis. Though it is undated, it appears to be from … Continue reading
These blotters from the Dale Hastin collection advertise Rock Island trains to Colorado and California. The first one, which mentions an agent in Cincinnati, encourages people to go to California via Colorado and Yellowstone “all for one low round trip … Continue reading
The Arizona Limited was a kind of semi-train: semi-streamlined, semi-daily, operated only half the year (actually just three-and-one-half months), and by two railroads using two train sets for only two years. Each Pullman-only train set consisted of a heavyweight Rock … Continue reading
Just like the 1957 timetable, this one has 20 pages with its red cover on the back. But there are a lot fewer trains in this edition. Click image to download a 14.4-MB PDF of this timetable. Train 1 now … Continue reading
A reader named Bruce Adams sent scans of some of the items in his collection for us, including this timetable for the Rock Island. Like the 1938 timetable, this one has a bright red cover (which, like the 1938 edition, … Continue reading
Ranging from Chicago to Denver and from the Twin Cities to Galveston, the Rock Island Railroad had an extensive network of Midwestern rail lines. The equipment pages of this timetable list 18 named trains and at least a dozen more … Continue reading
Gary, Indiana is a steel town, having been created in 1906 by the United States Steel Corportation and named after that company’s chairman, Elbert Gary. So when the city celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1956, what better way for the … Continue reading
This is Rock Island’s 1928 entry into the Colorado travel booklet competition. The turquoise cover and theme is brilliant (though Colorado skies are no more turquoise than skies anywhere else), and the theme is continued on the inside with the … Continue reading
