Rock Island faced stiff competition over all of its major routes and was at a disadvantage over most of those routes. Between Chicago and Denver it had to cover many more miles than the Burlington or UP and couldn’t compete on time. Between Chicago and Los Angeles, Rock Island and its competitors Santa Fe and UP agreed to match each others times, and the trains were comparably equipped, but the Golden State Route was the least scenic of the three.

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Given these disadvantages, what Rock Island had left to compete on was service, and according to the letters in this booklet it did a remarkable job. “Coming unsolicited,” says the introduction, “they indicate without bias or prejudice the character of service maintained by Rock Island Lines.” Since the letters all have actual names and, in most cases, signatures of the letter writers, it would be hard to argue that they had been falsified.

According to the second letter in the booklet, Rock Island had particularly good dining car service. The writer had been “on most of the roads in the United States” and found the Rock Island “dining car and buffet service the finest that the writer has ever experienced.”

Another letter compliments “the comfort and elegance of the Golden State Limited,” noting that “your dining car service is beyond criticism,” so much so that “my family will not travel by any other route.”

Someone from Sweden wrote “we had the pleasure of riding over your railways from Denver to Chicago on the Rocky Mountain Limited” and “in all our four months’ trip of over 21,000 miles we found nothing to equal the service on your train.”

I count a total of 31 similar letters, mostly about the Golden State and Rocky Mountain limiteds. A 32nd letter was included, but it only asks for “your illustrated and descriptive booklet” on Rock Island trains, noting that the Rock Island was recommended by one of the writer’s friends.