Rock Island at the World’s Fair

Although Chicago’s 1933-1934 Century of Progress fair was usually called an “International Exhibition,” this booklet repeatedly calls it the “World’s Fair.” In fact, except for a line drawing of the Travel and Transport Building on page 2, there’s nothing about this booklet that connects it to the Chicago fair until the last page, which mentions Rock Island’s “chapter in A Century of Progress.”

Click image to download a 3.4-MB PDF of this 16-page booklet.

In 1933, no one had any idea that the world of passenger railroading would be revolutionized by the trains introduced in the 1934 fair, the Union Pacific M-10000 and the Burlington Zephyr. This booklet illustrates numerous steam-powered trains with heavyweight equipment that was about to be rendered obsolete and replaced by Rock Island Rockets.


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