Chicago, Rock Island And Pacific Railroad
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The original Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (CRI&P RW, sometimes called ''Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway'') was an American
Class I railroad Railroad classes are the system by which Rail freight transport, freight railroads are designated in the United States. Railroads are assigned to Class I, II or III according to annual revenue criteria originally set by the Surface Transportatio ...
. It was also known as the Rock Island Line, or, in its final years, The Rock. At the end of 1970, it operated 7,183 miles of road on 10,669 miles of track; that year it reported 20,557 million ton-miles of revenue freight and 118 million passenger miles. (Those totals may or may not include the former
Burlington-Rock Island Railroad The Burlington-Rock Island Railroad was a joint railroad in Texas, United States. It came into existence on July 7, 1930, through the reorganization of its predecessor, the Trinity and Brazos Valley Railway Company (T&BV), nicknamed the "Boll W ...
.) The song "
Rock Island Line "Rock Island Line" ( Roud 15211) was originally sung as a spiritual by slaves on the plantations of the Mississippi River Valley, and was first transcribed as a folk song in 1929. The first recording was made by John Lomax, who was traveling amo ...
", a spiritual from the late 1920s first recorded in 1934, was inspired by the railway.


History


Incorporation

Its predecessor, the Rock Island and La Salle Railroad Company, was incorporated in Illinois on February 27, 1847, and an amended charter was approved on February 7, 1851, as the Chicago and Rock Island Railroad. Construction began in Chicago on October 1, 1851, and the first train was operated on October 10, 1852, between Chicago and Joliet. Construction continued on through La Salle, and Rock Island was reached on February 22, 1854, becoming the first railroad to connect Chicago with the Mississippi River. In Iowa, the C&RI's incorporators created (on February 5, 1853) the Mississippi and Missouri Railroad Company (M&M), to run from Davenport to
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, and on November 20, 1855, the first train to operate in Iowa steamed from Davenport to Muscatine. The Mississippi River bridge between Rock Island and Davenport was completed on April 22, 1856. In 1857, the steamboat ''Effie Afton'' ran into the Rock Island's Mississippi River Bridge. The steamboat was overcome by a fire, which also destroyed a span of the bridge. This accident caused a series of court cases. In one of the cases,
Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...
, a lawyer at the time, represented the Rock Island. Lincoln argued that not only was the steamboat at fault in striking the bridge, but that bridges across navigable rivers were to the advantage of the country. The M&M was acquired by the C&RI on July 9, 1866, to form the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Company. In 1877 Ransom Reed Cable became a director and in 1883 replaced Hugh Riddle as president, retiring as Chairman of the Board in 1902. The railroad expanded through construction and acquisitions in the following decades. On March 21, 1910, the Green Mountain train wreck resulted when a Rock Island Railroad passenger train derailed, killing 52 passengers and severely injuring scores of others. The railroad retired its last steam locomotive from service in 1953.


Territory

The Rock Island stretched across
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,
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,
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,
Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...
,
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,
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,
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,
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,
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,
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,
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,
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, and
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. The easternmost reach of the system was Chicago, and the system also reached
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. To the west, it reached
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, and Santa Rosa, New Mexico. Southernmost reaches were to
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, and Eunice, Louisiana, while in a northerly direction, the Rock Island got as far as
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. Major lines included Minneapolis to
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, via
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;
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, to Santa Rosa via Kansas City; Herington, Kansas, to
Galveston, Texas Galveston ( ) is a Gulf Coast of the United States, coastal resort town, resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island (Texas), Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a pop ...
, via
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, and
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; and Santa Rosa to Memphis. The heaviest traffic was on the Chicago-to-Rock Island and Rock Island-to-Muscatine lines.


Intercity passenger service

In common with most American railroad companies, the Rock Island once operated an extensive passenger service. The primary routes served were: Chicago-Los Angeles, Chicago-Denver, Memphis-Little Rock-Oklahoma City- Tucumcari, and Minneapolis-Dallas. The Rock Island ran both limited and local service on those routes, as well as locals on many other lines on its system. In 1937, the Rock Island introduced diesel power to its passenger service, with the purchase of six lightweight ''Rocket'' streamliners. In competition with the Santa Fe Chiefs, the Rock Island jointly operated the '' Golden State Limited'' (Chicago—Kansas City—Tucumcari—El Paso—Los Angeles) with the
Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Railroad classes#Class I, Class I Rail transport, railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was oper ...
(SP) from 1902 to 1968. On this route, the Rock Island's train was marketed as a "low-altitude" crossing of the Continental Divide. The Rock Island did not concede to the Santa Fe's dominance in the Chicago–Los Angeles travel market and re-equipped the train with new streamlined equipment in 1948. At the same time, the ''Limited'' was dropped from the train's name and the train was thereafter known as the '' Golden State''. The local run on this line was known as the '' Imperial,'' which had a branch operating through the northwestern edge of Mexico. The 1948 modernization of the ''Golden State'' occurred with some controversy. In 1947, both the Rock Island and Southern Pacific jointly advertised the coming of a new entry in the Chicago-Los Angeles travel market. The '' Golden Rocket'' was scheduled to closely match the Santa Fe's transit time end-to-end and was to have its own dedicated trainsets, one purchased by the Rock Island, the other by Southern Pacific. As the Rock Island's set of streamlined passenger cars was being finished, the Southern Pacific abruptly withdrew its purchase. The Rock Island's cars were delivered and found their way into the ''Golden States fleet soon after delivery. The ''Golden State'' was the last first-class train on the Rock Island, retaining its
dining car A dining car (American English) or a restaurant car (British English), also a diner, is a passenger railroad car that serves meals in the manner of a full-service, sit-down restaurant. These cars provide the highest level of service of any rai ...
s and
sleeping car The sleeping car or sleeper (often ) is a railway passenger car (rail), passenger car that can accommodate all passengers in beds of one kind or another, for the purpose of sleeping. George Pullman was the main American innovator and owner of sl ...
s until its last run on February 21, 1968. The Rock Island also competed with the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy railroad in the Chicago-to-Denver market. While the Q fielded its Zephyrs on the route, the Rock Island ran the '' Rocky Mountain Rocket''. The ''RMR'' split at Limon, Colorado, with half the train diverting to
Colorado Springs Colorado Springs is the most populous city in El Paso County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 478,961 at the 2020 census, a 15.02% increase since 2010. Colorado Springs is the second-most populous c ...
, an operation known as the "Limon Shuffle". The Rock Island conceded nothing to its rival, even installing ABS signaling on the route west of Lincoln in an effort to maintain transit speed. The train was also re-equipped with streamlined equipment in 1948. As the ''Rocky Mountain Rocket'' was downgraded due to nonrail competition, the route traveled by the train was gradually shortened from 1966 onward. Its western terminus was cut back first to Omaha, then to Council Bluffs. After briefly running without a name, it was renamed ''The Cornhusker''. Finally, in 1970, the train was cut back to a Chicago-Rock Island run entirely within the confines of the state of Illinois and renamed the ''Quad Cities Rocket''. Other trains operated by the Rock Island as part of its Rocket fleet included the ''Corn Belt Rocket'' (Chicago—Des Moines—Omaha), the ''Des Moines-Omaha Limited'' (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), the '' Choctaw Rocket'' (Memphis—Little Rock—Oklahoma City—Amarillo) and the ''Cherokee'' (a local counterpart to the ''Choctaw Rocket'', Memphis-Little Rock-Oklahoma City-Amarillo-Tucumcari-Los Angeles). By the time
Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
was formed in 1971, the once-proud Rock Island was down to just two intercity trains, the Chicago-Peoria ''Peoria Rocket'' and the Chicago-Rock Island ''Quad Cities Rocket,'' both of which now operated entirely within the borders of Illinois. However, the Rock Island opted against joining Amtrak, in part because the government assessed the Amtrak entrance fee based upon passenger miles operated in 1970. After concluding that the cost of joining would be greater than remaining in the passenger business, the railroad decided to "perform a public service for the state of Illinois" and continue intercity passenger operations. To help manage the service, the Rock Island hired National Association of Railroad Passengers founder Anthony Haswell as managing director of passenger services. The last two trains plied the Rock Island's Illinois Division as the track quality declined from 1971 through 1977. The transit times, once a speedy 2½ hours in the 1950s, had lengthened to a 4½ hour run by 1975. The State of Illinois continued to subsidize the service to keep it running. The track program of 1978 helped with main-line timekeeping, although the Rock Island's management decreed that the two trains were not to delay freight traffic on the route. By this time, both once-proud trains were down to just two coaches, powered by EMD E8 locomotives entering their second decade of service. With the trains frequently running with as many paying passengers as coaches in the train, Illinois withdrew its subsidy, and the two trains made their final runs on December 31, 1978.


Chicago commuter service

The Rock Island also operated an extensive
commuter train Commuter rail or suburban rail is a passenger rail service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Commuter rail systems can use locomotive-hauled tr ...
service in the Chicago area. The primary route ran from LaSalle Street Station to Joliet along the main line, and a spur line, known as the "Suburban Line" to Blue Island. The main-line trains supplanted the long-distance services that did not stop at the numerous stations on that route. The Suburban Line served the Beverly area of Chicago as a branch leaving the main line at Gresham and heading due west, paralleling the
Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad is a terminal railroad in the Chicago area, formerly giving various other companies access to (Chicago's) Grand Central Station (Chicago), Grand Central Station. It also served to connect those rai ...
passenger line before turning south. The Suburban Line made stops every four blocks along the way before rejoining the main line at Western Avenue Junction in Blue Island. From the 1920s on, the suburban services were operated using Pacific-type 4-6-2 locomotives and specially designed light-heavyweight coaches that with their late 1920s build dates became known as the " Capone" cars. The suburban service became well known in the diesel era, as the steam power was replaced, first with new
EMD FP7 The EMD FP7 is a , B-B dual-service passenger and freight-hauling diesel locomotive produced between June 1949 and December 1953 by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division and General Motors Diesel. Final assembly was at GM-EMD's La Grange, ...
s and
ALCO RS-3 The ALCO RS-3 is a , B-B diesel-electric locomotive manufactured from May 1950 to August 1956 by American Locomotive Company (ALCO) and its subsidiary Montreal Locomotive Works (MLW). A total of 1,418 were produced: 1,272 for American railro ...
s, with two
Fairbanks-Morse Fairbanks, Morse and Company was an American manufacturing company in the late 19th and early 20th century. Founded in 1823 as a manufacturer of weighing scale, weighing scales, it later diversified into pumps, engines, windmills, coffee grinder ...
units added later. In 1949, Pullman-built 2700-series cars arrived as the first air-conditioned commuter cars on the line. In the 1960s, the Rock Island tried to upgrade the suburban service with newer equipment at lower cost. Second-hand Aerotrains, while less than successful in intercity service, were purchased to provide further air-conditioned accommodations that had proven popular with the 2700 series cars. When the
Milwaukee Road The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (CMStP&P), better known as the Milwaukee Road , was a Class I railroad that operated in the Midwestern United States, Midwest and Pacific Northwest, Northwest of the United States from 1847 ...
purchased new
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stainless-steel, bilevel cars in 1961, the Rock Island elected to add to a subsequent order and took delivery of its first bilevel equipment in 1964. Power for these new cars was provided by orphaned passenger units: three EMD F7s, an EMD E6, and the two EMD AB6s. The engines were rebuilt with head end power to provide heat, air conditioning, and lighting for the new cars. In 1970, another order, this time for Pullman-built bilevel cars arrived to further supplement the fleet. To provide the power for these cars, several former
Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad is a Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United States after BNSF, ...
EMD E8 and
EMD E9 The E9 is a , A1A-A1A passenger train-hauling diesel locomotive built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division of La Grange, Illinois, between April 1954 and January 1964. 100 cab-equipped A units were produced and 44 cabless booster B unit ...
diesels were also rebuilt with head end power and added to the commuter pool. The commuter service was not exempt from the general decline of the Rock Island through the 1970s. Over time, deferred maintenance took its toll on both track and rolling stock. On the Rock Island, the Capone cars were entering their sixth decade of service and the nearly 30-year-old 2700s suffered from severe corrosion due to the steel used in their construction. LaSalle Street Station, the service's downtown terminal, suffered from neglect and
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with the slab roof of the train shed literally falling apart, requiring its removal. By this time, the Rock Island could not afford to replace the clearly worn-out equipment. In 1976, the entire Chicago commuter rail system began to receive financial support from the state of Illinois through the Regional Transportation Authority. Operating funds were disbursed to all commuter operators, and the Rock Island was to be provided with new equipment to replace the tired 2700 series and Capone cars. New Budd bilevels that were near copies of the 1961 Milwaukee Road cars arrived in 1978. New EMD F40PH units arrived in late 1977 and, in summer, 1978, briefly could be seen hauling Capone cars. The Rock Island's commuter F and E units were relegated to freight service or the scrapyard. With the 1980 end of the Rock Island, the RTA purchased the suburban territory and remaining Rock Island commuter equipment from the estate, while the
Chicago and North Western Railway The Chicago and North Western was a Railroad classes#Class I, Class I railroad in the Midwestern United States. It was also known as the "North Western". The railroad operated more than of track at the turn of the 20th century, and over of t ...
took over operations for a year before the RTA began operating it directly in 1981. LaSalle Street Station was torn down and replaced with the Chicago Stock Exchange building, with a smaller commuter station located one block south of the old station. The RTA gradually rebuilt the track and added more new equipment to the service, leaving the property in better shape than it was in the Rock Island's heyday, albeit with less track. The Rock Island District, as the Rock Island's suburban service is now known, now operates as part of
Metra Metra is the primary commuter rail system in the Chicago metropolitan area serving the city of Chicago and its surrounding suburbs via the Union Pacific Railroad, BNSF Railway, and other railroads. The system operates 243 train station, stati ...
, the Chicago commuter rail agency.


Rock Island's survival challenge

The Rock Island hit its peak under the presidency of John Dew Farrington, from 1948 to 1955. As the aura from those days waned in the late 1950s, the Rock Island found itself faced with flat traffic, revenues, and increasing costs. Despite this, the property was still in decent shape, making the Rock Island an attractive bride for another line looking to expand the reach of their current system. The Rock Island was known as "one railroad too many" in the plains states, basically serving the same territory as the Burlington, only over a longer route. The Midwest rail network had been built in the late 19th century to serve that era's traffic. The mechanization of grain hauling gave larger reach to large grain elevators, reducing the need for the tight web of track that crisscrossed the plains states such as Iowa. As for available overhead traffic, in 1958, no less than six Class I carriers were serving as eastern connections for the
Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad is a Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United States after BNSF, ...
at Omaha, all seeking a slice of the flood of western traffic that UP interchanged there. Under the ICC revenue rules in place at the time, the Rock Island sought traffic from Omaha, yet preferred to keep the long haul to
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, where interchange could be made with the Denver and Rio Grande Western, a connection to the Western Pacific for haulage to the West Coast. The only option for the Rock Island to grow revenues and absorb costs was to merge with another, perhaps more prosperous railroad. Overtures were made from fellow Midwest granger line C&NW, as well as the granger turned transcon Milwaukee Road. Both of these never advanced much beyond the data gathering and initial study phases. In 1964, its last profitable year, the Rock Island agreed to pursue a merger plan with the UP, which would form one large "super" railroad stretching from Chicago to the West Coast. Facing the loss of the UP's traffic at the Omaha gateway, virtually every railroad directly and indirectly affected by the potential UP/Rock Island merger immediately filed protests to block it. With these filings began the longest and most complicated merger case in Interstate Commerce Commission history. Faced with failing granger railroads and large Class I railroads seeking to expand, ICC Hearing Examiner Nathan Klitenic, presiding over the case, sought to balance the opposing forces and completely restructure the railroads west of the Mississippi River.


The UP-RI merger case

After 10 years of hearings and tens of thousands of pages of testimony and exhibits produced, Klitenic, now an administrative law judge, approved the Rock Island-Union Pacific merger as part of a larger plan for rail service throughout the West. Under Klitenic's proposal, almost all of the Rock Island, including the Chicago-Omaha main line, would go to the Union Pacific. The Kansas City-Tucumcari ''Golden State'' route would be sold to the Southern Pacific. The Memphis-Amarillo ''Choctaw'' route would be sold to the Santa Fe. The Rio Grande would have an option to purchase the Denver-Kansas City line. During most of the ensuing merger process, Rock Island operated at a financial loss. In 1965, Rock Island earned its last profit. With the merger with
Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad is a Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United States after BNSF, ...
seemingly so close, the Rock Island cut expenses to conserve cash. Expenditures on track maintenance were cut, passenger service was reduced as fast as the ICC would allow, and locomotives received only basic maintenance to keep them running. The Rock Island began to take on a ramshackle appearance and derailments occurred with increasing frequency. In an effort to prop up its future merger mate, UP asked the Rock Island to forsake the Denver gateway in favor of increased interchange at Omaha. Incredibly, the Rock Island refused this, and the UP routed more Omaha traffic over the Chicago and North Western. As a result, by 1974, the Rock Island was no longer the attractive prospect it had once been in the 1950s. The cost-cutting measures enacted to conserve cash for the merger left the Rock Island property in such a state that the Union Pacific viewed the expense of bringing it back to viable operating condition to be severely prohibitive. Additionally, the ICC attached conditions for both labor and operating concessions that the UP deemed too excessive for their tastes. These factors led the Union Pacific to walk away from the deal later in 1974. From the vantage point of the 1974 railroad industry, Klitenic's plan was viewed as an unmanageable and far too radical solution to both the granger railroad issue and the larger issue of the future of rail freight transportation in general. The visionary plan would not be realized until the megamergers of the 1990s with the
BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three Transcontinental railroad, transcontine ...
and Union Pacific remaining as the two surviving major rail carriers west of the Mississippi.


The Rock Island's last attempt to survive

Now set free and adrift, both operationally and financially, the Rock Island assessed its options. It hired a new president and CEO, John W. Ingram, a former Federal Railway Administration (FRA) official. Ingram quickly sought to improve efficiency and sought FRA loans for the rebuild of the line, but finances caught up with the Rock Island all too quickly. With only $300 of cash on hand, on March 17, 1975, Rock Island entered its third bankruptcy under Chapter 77 of the Federal Bankruptcy Act. William M. Gibbons was selected as receiver and trustee by Judge Frank J. McGarr, with whom Gibbons had practiced law in the early 1960s. With its debts on hold, Rock Island charted a new course as a grain funnel from the Midwest to the port of Galveston, Texas. The Ingram administration estimated that the Rock Island could be rebuilt and re-equipped at a cost of $100 million and sought financing for the plan. Grain shuttles that had no cabooses at the end of their trains became a cost-effective way to gain market share and help finance the plan internally. Nevertheless, new and rebuilt locomotives arrived on the property in gleaming powder blue and white to replace some of the tired, filthy power. Track rebuild projects covered the system. Main lines that had seen little or no maintenance in years were pulled from the mud. Rail and tie replacement programs attacked the maintenance backlog. This coincided with a massive campaign beginning in May 1975 to rebrand the railroad as simply “The Rock”, with modern eye-catching livery. However, the FRA-backed loans that Ingram sought were thwarted by the lobbying efforts of competing railroads, which saw a healthy Rock Island as a threat to their own survival. By 1978, main line track improved in quality. For example, at the end of that summer, the Illinois Division had no slow orders, and freight velocity was rising. The sale of the Golden State Route to the Southern Pacific had been agreed to. The Rock Island slowly inched towards a financial break-even point, despite the economic malaise that plagued the late 1970s. Creditors, such as Henry Crown, advocated for the shutdown and liquidation of the property. Crown declared that the Rock Island was not capable of operating profitably, much less paying its outstanding debts. At the same time, Crown invested as much as he could in Rock Island bonds and other debt at bankruptcy-induced junk status prices. For the previous two years, while the Rock Island invested heavily into its physical plant, the Rock Island brotherhoods had been working under labor agreements that were no longer valid. The front line operating employees had not had an increase in pay since the existing contracts expired yet remained on the job during extensive contract negotiations. By the summer of 1979, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and the
United Transportation Union The United Transportation Union (UTU) was a broad-based, transportation labor Trade union, union that represented about 70,000 active and retired railroad, bus, mass transit, and airline workers in the United States. The UTU was headquartered in C ...
had accepted new agreements. The Brotherhood of Railway and Airline Clerks (BRAC) held firm to their demand that pay increases be back dated to the expiration date of the previous agreement. The Rock Island offered to open the books to show the precarious financial condition of the road in an effort to get the BRAC in line with the other unions that had already signed agreements. Fred J. Kroll, president of the BRAC, declined the offer to audit the books of the Rock Island. Kroll pulled his BRAC clerks off the job in August, 1979. Picket lines went up at every terminal on the Rock Island's system and the operating brotherhoods honored the picket lines. The Rock Island ground to a halt. The Ingram management team operated as much of the Rock Island as they could. Trains slowly began to move, with more traffic being hauled every week of the strike. President
Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...
issued a back-to-work order that BRAC dismissed. Still more traffic flowed on the strikebound Rock Island. According to Ingram, "by the end of the sixth week, the Rock Island was handling about 30 percent of its prestrike tonnage with 5 percent of the prestrike onboard train operating personnel. Projections indicated that by the end of November, the company would be handling about half of its prestrike tonnage and earning a profit of about $5 million per month. In other words, the company was winning the strike." Seeing the trains rolling despite the strike and fearing a Florida East Coast strikebreaking situation, the unions appealed to the FRA and ICC for relief. Despite the fact that Rock Island management had been able to move 80% of pre-strike tonnage, at the behest of the Carter Administration, the ICC declared a transportation emergency, finding that the Rock Island would not be able to move the 1979 grain harvest to market. This decision came despite the railroad's movement of more grain out of Iowa in the week immediately preceding the order than during any week in its history. The ICC issued a Directed Service Order authorizing the Kansas City Terminal Railway to take over operations. The Directed Service Order enabled one-time suitors, via KCT management, to basically test operate portions of the Rock Island that had once interested them. On January 24, 1980, Judge McGarr elected to not review the Rock Island's final plan of reorganization. He simply initiated the shutdown and liquidation of the Rock Island, which was what Henry Crown had advocated for from the very beginning. Not wanting to preside over an asset sale, Rock Island president John W. Ingram resigned, and Gibbons took over as president of the bankrupt railroad. Kansas City Terminal began the process of embargoing in-bound shipments in late February, and the final train battled three days of snow drifts to arrive in Denver on March 31, 1980. Cars and locomotives were gathered in 'ghost trains' that appeared on otherwise defunct Rock Island lines and accumulated at major terminals and shops and prepared for sale.


Legacy

The railroad's locomotives, rail cars, equipment, tracks, and real estate were sold to other railroads or to scrappers. Gibbons was able to raise more than $500 million in the liquidation, paying off all the railroad's creditors, bondholders and all other debts in full at face value with interest. Henry Crown was ultimately proven correct, as both he and other bondholders who had purchased Rock Island debt for cents on the dollar during the low ebb in prices did especially well. The line from the end of commuter service in Blue Island to Bureau Junction was leased to the Chessie System. The Chicago and North Western acquired the line between the Twin Cities and Kansas City. The line between Tucumcari and St. Louis was acquired by the Cotton Belt. The Choctaw Route was sold in pieces. The line between Herington, Kansas and
Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...
was sold to the Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas Railroad. The line between
Peoria, Illinois Peoria ( ) is a city in Peoria County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. Located on the Illinois River, the city had a population of 113,150 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Ill ...
, Bureau Junction and
Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the List of cities in Nebraska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's List of United S ...
was acquired by the
Iowa Interstate Railroad The Iowa Interstate Railroad is a Class II railroad, Class II regional railroad operating in the central United States. The railroad is owned by Railroad Development Corporation of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. History The railroad was formed on N ...
. Gibbons was released from the Rock Island on June 1, 1984, after its estate expired. With all assets sold and all debt retired, the Rock Island found itself with a large infusion of cash. The name of the company was changed to Chicago Pacific Corporation to further distance itself from the defunct railroad. Its first purchase was vacuum maker Hoover Company. In 1988, the company was acquired by the
Maytag The Maytag Corporation is an American Home appliance, home and commercial appliance company. The company has been owned by Whirlpool Corporation since April 2006. History The Maytag Washing Machine Company was founded in 1893 by businessm ...
Corporation. Ironically, through the megamergers of the 1990s, the Union Pacific ultimately ended up owning and operating more of the Rock Island than it would have acquired in its attempted 1964 merger. The one line it currently does not own (or operate regularly, other than detours) is the Chicago-to-Omaha main line that drove it to merge with the Rock Island in the first place. This line now prospers under the
Iowa Interstate Railroad The Iowa Interstate Railroad is a Class II railroad, Class II regional railroad operating in the central United States. The railroad is owned by Railroad Development Corporation of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. History The railroad was formed on N ...
. The company inspired the song "
Rock Island Line "Rock Island Line" ( Roud 15211) was originally sung as a spiritual by slaves on the plantations of the Mississippi River Valley, and was first transcribed as a folk song in 1929. The first recording was made by John Lomax, who was traveling amo ...
", first written in 1934 and recorded by numerous artists. A spur of the Rock Island Railroad that ran beside a small hotel in Eldon, Missouri, owned by the grandmother of Mrs. Paul (Ruth) Henning also inspired the popular television show '' Petticoat Junction'' in the early 1960s. Ruth Henning is listed as a co-creator of the show, along with her husband Paul, who also created '' The Beverly Hillbillies'' and executive produced Jay Sommers's '' Green Acres''. The Rock Island Line Workshop, located in
Silvis, Illinois Silvis is a city in Rock Island County, Illinois, Rock Island County, Illinois, United States. It is part of a larger metropolitan area known as the Quad Cities. The Quad Cities Metropolitan Area is situated across four counties in Illinois and Io ...
, is now home to the Railroading Heritage of Midwest America (RRHMA), a non-profit railroad preservation organization. Built in 1903, this was the railroad's largest workshop, sitting on a 900-acre site between the railroad's main line and the
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Midwest, Midwestern United States. Commonly referred to as the Burlington Route, the Burlington, CB&Q, or as the Q, it operated extensive trackage in the states of ...
’s Rock Island branch. After the closing in 1980, the workshop was sold to National Railway Equipment, and it remained a maintenance and refurbishment hub for the wider North American railroad industry. NRE sold the facility to the RRHMA in late 2021, and plans call for the refurbishment of the facility to maintain steam, heritage diesel and associated rolling stock, in addition to developing a museum on the site.


Reestablishment

In 2017, thirty-seven years after the Rock Island folded, a new startup company that claims to own the rights to the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific name began operating in the southern United States. The new Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad LLC is primarily a shortline holding company, while also providing numerous other railroad services, such as switching, railroad management, railcar fleet management, railcar storage, and locomotive maintenance. The company acquired their first railroad in early 2019 with the acquisition of the Mississippi Delta Railroad. The company rosters eight locomotives. None of the locomotives or trackage belonged to the historic Rock Island.


Company officers

Presidents of the Rock Island Railroad included: * James W. Grant, November 27, 1850 – December 22, 1851. * John Bloomfield Jervis, December 22, 1851 – December 1854. *
Henry Farnam Henry Farnam (November 9, 1803 – October 4, 1883) was an American philanthropist and railroad president. Biography He was born in Scipio, New York, and grew up working on his father's farm. By his teenage years, he had begun studying mathem ...
, December 1854 – June 1863. * Charles W. Durant, June 1863 – August 1866. * John F. Tracy, August 1866 – April 14, 1877. * Hugh Riddle, April 14, 1877 – June 6, 1883. * Ransom Reed Cable, June 6, 1883 – June 1898. * Warren G. Purdy, June 1898 – December 31, 1901. * William Bateman Leeds, December 31, 1901 – March 26, 1904. * Benjamin L. Winchell, March 26, 1904 – December 1909. * Henry U. Mudge, December 1909 – April 20, 1915. * Jacob McGavock Dickinson appointed receiver trustee during bankruptcy, April 20, 1915 – June 21, 1917. * James E. Gorman, June 22, 1917 – June 7, 1933. * Joseph B. Fleming, Frank Orren Lowden (until his death on March 20, 1943) and James E. Gorman (until his death on March 25, 1942) appointed receiver trustees during bankruptcy, June 7, 1933 – December 31, 1947. Aaron Colnon replaced Frank O. Lowden as receiver trustee on April 19, 1943. * John Dow Farrington, January 1, 1948 – 1955. * Downing B. Jenks, 1956–1961. * R. Ellis Johnson, 1961–1964. * Jervis Langdon, Jr., 1965–1970. * William J. Dixon, 1970–1974. * John W. Ingram, 1974 – January 1980. * William M. Gibbons appointed receiver trustee during bankruptcy, March 17, 1975 – June 1, 1984.


See also

* Chicago, Rock Island and Gulf Railway, its subsidiary extending to Galveston, Texas * '' El Comedor'' * Grand Excursion *
Iowa Interstate Railroad The Iowa Interstate Railroad is a Class II railroad, Class II regional railroad operating in the central United States. The railroad is owned by Railroad Development Corporation of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. History The railroad was formed on N ...
* Joseph E. Sheffield * LaSalle Street Station * RailsWest Railroad Museum * Rock Island ''Rockets''


References


Further reading

*


External links


Rock Island System map, 1966
*




Rock Island System Map, 1885


* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20121024013411/http://www.library.okstate.edu/okmaps/ Oklahoma Digital Maps: Digital Collections of Oklahoma and Indian Territory
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad LLCGuide to Oral Opinion of Hon. Smith McPherson in the Case of the United States vs. Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific Railway Company 1908
at th
University of Chicago Special Collections Research CenterWheels of Progress, 1950
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chicago Rock Island Pacific Railroad Defunct companies based in Chicago Former Class I railroads in the United States Defunct Arkansas railroads Defunct Colorado railroads Defunct Illinois railroads Defunct Iowa railroads Defunct Kansas railroads Defunct Louisiana railroads Defunct Minnesota railroads Defunct Missouri railroads Defunct Nebraska railroads Defunct New Mexico railroads Defunct Oklahoma railroads Defunct South Dakota railroads Defunct Tennessee railroads Defunct Texas railroads Railroads in the Chicago metropolitan area Standard-gauge railways in the United States Rock Island, Illinois Railway companies established in 1866 Railway companies disestablished in 1880 Railway companies established in 1947 Railway companies disestablished in 1980 1866 establishments in the United States American companies established in 1947 American companies established in 1866 American companies disestablished in 1880