Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad

The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad was a Class I railroad in the United States. It was also known as the Rock Island Line, or, in its final years, THE ROCK. Its ancestor, the Chicago and Rock Island Railroad, was incorporated on February 7, 1851 and operated its first train on October 10, 1852, between Chicago and Rock Island, Illinois.

History

Territory

The Rock Island stretched across Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. The easternmost reach of the system was Chicago, and the system also reached Memphis, Tennessee; west, it reached Denver, Colorado, and Santa Rosa, New Mexico. Southernmost reaches were to Galveston, Texas, and Eunice, Louisiana while in a northerly direction the Rock Island got as far as Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Major lines included Minneapolis to Kansas City, Missouri, via Des Moines, Iowa; St. Louis, Missouri, to Santa Rosa via Kansas City; Herington, Kansas, to Galveston, Texas, via Fort Worth, Texas, and Dallas, Texas; and Santa Rosa to Memphis. The heaviest traffic was on the Chicago-to-Rock Island and Rock Island-to-Muscatine lines.

The system got its start in Chicago and was a major player in the Iowa railroad industry.

Passenger train service

The Rock Island jointly operated the Golden State Limited (Chicago—Kansas City—Tucumcari—El Paso—Los Angeles) with the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) from 1902–1968. The name was shortened to the Golden State after 1948's modernization. Another joint venture with the SP, the Golden Rocket, was planned to enter service in 1948 but instead became "the train that never was". Its uniquely-colored consist was placed in Golden State service instead.

The railroad operated a number of trains known as Rockets serving the Midwest, including the Rocky Mountain Rocket (Chicago—Omaha—Lincoln—Denver—Colorado Springs), the Corn Belt Rocket (Chicago—Des Moines—Omaha), the Twin Star Rocket (Minneapolis—St. Paul—Des Moines—Kansas City—Oklahoma City—Fort Worth—Dallas—Houston), the Zephyr Rocket (Minneapolis—St. Paul—Burlington—St. Louis) and the Choctaw Rocket (Memphis—Little Rock—Oklahoma City—Amarillo).

The Rock Island did not join Amtrak on its formation in 1971, and continued to operate its own passenger trains. After concluding that the cost of joining would be the same as operating the two remaining intercity roundtrips (the Chicago-Peoria Peoria Rocket and the Chicago-Rock Island Quad Cities Rocket), the railroad decided to "perform a public service for the state of Illinois" and continue intercity passenger operations. Both trains were discontinued on December 31, 1978.

Once an acquisition target of the Union Pacific Railroad, the company went into receivership for its third and final bankruptcy in 1975. Attempts to reorganize failed, and the ICC ordered the Kansas City Terminal Railway to take over operations of the Rock Island in August 1979 after a clerk strike. On March 31, 1980, the bankruptcy court ruled that the Rock Island could not be successfully reorganized and ordered its liquidation, the largest such liquidation in U.S. history. Its holding company, the Chicago Pacific Corporation, continued on as its railroad/transportation subsidiary was liquidated.

Company officers

Presidents of the Rock Island Railroad included:

James Grant, 1851-1854.
Henry Farnam, 1854-1863.
John W. Ingram

Song and theater

A song called The Rock Island Line memorializes the railroad. Versions were recorded by Johnny Cash, Johnny Horton, Huddie Ledbetter, The Weavers, Lonnie Donegan, Mano Negra and many other artists, including a parody version by Stan Freberg. The chorus to the old song reads:

The Rock Island Line is a mighty good road

The Rock Island Line is the road to ride

The Rock Island Line is a mighty good road

If you want to ride you gotta ride it like you find it

Get your ticket at the station for the Rock Island Line

The verses of the song tell a humorous story about a train operator who smuggled "pig iron" through a toll gate by claiming all he had on board was livestock.

The opening “railroad train” number in Meredith Willson’s The Music Man (1957) is entitled “Rock Island”, and suggests by the title and context that the train is indeed a Rock Island train crossing from Rock Island to Davenport, Iowa, also known as "River City".

References

(1973). Handy Railroad Atlas of the United States. Rand McNally & Co. p.53.

External links