Long live the rock in my basement.

[CBQ_Guy]

QUOTE: Originally posted by RI4310

Ok By now weve established im a rock fan and i am building the rock from burr oak yard to bureau jct in ho scale in my basement and its coming along nicely. What i need from this wonderful comunity of railfans is anyone out there that has track diagrams of this teritory and or pictures of the row or even an old hogger that ran the line that has some stories. Unforunately the rock was shut down a year after i was born sooooooo dont have much to go on other than books i have read, us govt maps, and railfan trips up and down this section of rr.The line is now a shell of its fromer RI glory that i am attemting to recreate and would like anything i can go on. Have been to RITS and most the rail pic sites online. help anyone[:D] LONG LIVE THE ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi...This may be your lucky day.

I live in Peru, IL and have an ex-Rock Island line going through town. Peru is about 90 miles southwest of Chicago on the Illinois River, and is only a few miles from Bureau Junction. Even closer to Bureau Junction is the town of Spring Valley which is a couple miles west of Peru and was also on the RI.

Located in Spring Valley is my local hobby shop (LHS) called "The Valley Roundhouse - Home of The Rock Shop". The owner, Marion Brasher, is a retired teacher and ex-Rock Island employee. He is also the area expert on the line, has scads of photos and info on the Rock Island, and is currently building a huge Rock Island layout in the basement of the shop, modeling the late 1960's era
.
If anyone can help you, he should be able to, or point you in the right direction as he's lived in Spring Valley pretty much his entire life. Of course, he can also offer first hand knowledge of Bureau Junction and the area in general, as well as the railroad. The store phone number is 815-663-3411 and the hours he's open are Mon-Fri, 3-8pm, and Saturdays from 9am-4pm. He also has a higher than normal ratio of Rock stuff for sale at the shop than you would find at most other train stores, and also has many contacts and suppliers he works with. It may be worth giving him a call one of these days.

Another local expert on the area, though he doesn't live here anymore but I do believe he occassionally monitors the Trains Forum, is Amtrak employee Harold Krewer. If he sees this post he may just jump in with info you can use on your layout.

Finally, some of the RI trackage in this area, up to Chicago, was purchased by the Iowa Interstate RR, so maybe there is a knowledge base there you can pursue, too. Also, I don't know if you're within driving distance of the the area here, but on June 27 Milwaukee Road steamer, 4-8-4, #261 is supposed to be on the Iowa Interstate (ex RI) line at Bureau Junction. I guess there's a wye there, and they need to turn the engine but last I heard there was some sort of "accomodation" that needed to be worked out with CSX since they own one or two legs of that wye. Last approximate time I heard was around noon, but I'm stressing that to my current knowledge nothing has been finalized, time wise.

Good luck, hope this gets you some info you can use for your modeling, and do you have any layout pictures you can post a link to?

[eolafan]

I have two very strong and specific recollections of The Rock while living in Chicago metro in the 1978-1982 period. In about 1981-82 I recall quite well seeing strings of old dead power in a dead line at Blue Island. There were E6-7-8 units in all the paint schemes, inlcuding the E-6 with the golden eagle on the headlight casing as well as the Bi-Centenial E as well, and all kinds of F units and Geeps, Alco's, etc.

Not long afterwards I stumpbled upon a "special" train with three freshly painted GP7 units in the light blue and white "Route Rock" scheme, followed by (#?) box cars and a caboose in exactly the same scheme...no other cars in any other scheme, likely out for a publicity run, and then The Rock was gone forever.

Does anybody know a photo web site where I can find shots of the Rocket trains, most importantly the Peoria Rocket shown at the Peoria station?

[mudchicken]

Limon, Colorado

(The former Rock Island between Colorado Springs & Limon is now gone, east of Limon is now Kyle/RailAmerica and the UP Salina Sub (KP Line) is now busy with coal trains and used as a relief valve for the UP transcon)

[daveklepper]

One idea you may wi***o model is the splitting of the Rocky Mountain Rocket at Limon, Kansas. The long train came from Chicago with an E-7A and E-7Bmodified. Nothing special about the A unit except the marvelous Rock paint scheme, but the B unit was modified so it had a square cab uf front,, like a box-cab electric locomotive, and it took the Colorado Springs section while the E-7A took the Denver Section. I believe the Rock had just two such E-7B modified units and later they were seen in Chicago - Joliet commuter service.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by cjm89

RI4310: what time are you modeling? The era you model could make quite a bit of difference in what you need as far as info goes.

Im modeling the rock from about 1965-1980 which is a broad time frame but i just love the rocks older black and red paint job as well as its newer stuff. Kinda freelanced but building the layout as to get the feel of the rock.

[mudchicken]

QUOTE: Originally posted by drephpe

QUOTE: Originally posted by mudchicken

Was not too far off at Beloit....Welcome to the mess that is RailAmerica. (What happens when Wall Street & Operating folks get left in charge at the expense of everything else [V][V][V] They are big, but at what cost?)

Official answer is supposed to be http://www.imgonline.com 904-264-1560

MC--

Nada, senor! That link goeth to a buy-a-link page. Any other options for these nice folks????

Ny the way, our modeler friends should also not forget the Sanborn maps, usually deposited at local state university. Not much for rural, but the kind of info they may need for in town.

Should have been www.imgonline. net My fault.

As explained above, nothing from a railroad source is free anymore and modellers are regarded as pests for some of the stunts they pull. (There are plenty of railroaders that are fans or modellers, but you won't see them make mention of them at work!)

In RailAmerica's case, they have fallen into the trap set by the moneygrubbing Wall Street trash (their website reeks of it - more into showing what interests Wall Street instead of shippers, the public or anyone else that would have cause to do business with RA.). They have some interest in running trains and not much else.[}:)][V][V]

Gave RI4310 some options to think about off-line. "Mudchickens" probably deal in the history and details that would bore a modeller anyhow. (We call it data salvaging.) Have liitle faith in Sanborn Maps, Terraserver or for that matter, SPV's attempts for anything other than very basic relationships. The errors, guesswork and macro-goof generalities are just too predictable. (reliability? detail? correctness?- nope!)

[banghead][banghead][banghead]

[Anonymous]

RI4310: what time are you modeling? The era you model could make quite a bit of difference in what you need as far as info goes.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by mudchicken

Was not too far off at Beloit....Welcome to the mess that is RailAmerica. (What happens when Wall Street & Operating folks get left in charge at the expense of everything else [V][V][V] They are big, but at what cost?)

Official answer is supposed to be http://www.imgonline.com 904-264-1560

MC--

Nada, senor! That link goeth to a buy-a-link page. Any other options for these nice folks????

Ny the way, our modeler friends should also not forget the Sanborn maps, usually deposited at local state university. Not much for rural, but the kind of info they may need for in town.

[mudchicken]

Was not too far off at Beloit....Welcome to the mess that is RailAmerica. (What happens when Wall Street & Operating folks get left in charge at the expense of everything else [V][V][V] They are big, but at what cost?)

Official answer is supposed to be http://www.imgonline.net 904-264-1560

[obermeyern]

Originally posted by mudchicken

Can you tell us which MoPac Line in Northern Kansas ? (between where and where?) so that we can determine:
(1) is it still currently in Union Pacific ownership?
(2) is it abandoned?
(3) was it turned over to Kyle/Statesrail/RailAmerica like so many other lines in NE Kansas? (case in point: Beloit, KS)

The Mopac line was the Concordia subdivision and I am looking for info for the line from Frankfort to Concordia. It had been turned over to KYLE. Part of it (frankfort to Ames) is abandoned, the rest is storage track.

Nate

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