Rock Island Rocket

[Anonymous]

Hey y'all, just dropping in from next door at the Model Railroader forum. I got a P2K E6 rock island rocket loco for my birthday. Now I need a train to go behind it. What kinds of passenger cars are acceptable behind one of these. My smallest track radius is 20 inches, so I can't handle real big ones.

Thanks,
Greg[C):-)]

[greyhounds]

The thing about the Rock Island is you can do just about anything and be realistic.

The Peoria Rocket of the mid 60's came north from Peoria with all fluted stainless steel:

1) RPO
2) Baggage-Express
3) Parlor Car "Peoria"
4) Diner Lounge "Creve Coure Club"
5) usually 3 coaches

A little bit latter in the 60's the RPO was replaced by a TTX 89' flat (don't forget to add the steam line) with a single trailer of mail for Chicago.

At Christmas Time, on the weekends when Peorians went to Chicago to shop, single level, very ancient, suburban coaches were added to the consist.

Or you can have the E6 in push-pull Chicago suburban service with bi-level gallery cars.

[Anonymous]

Thanks greyhounds, how long were the cars? Is a 72' long enough?

[greyhounds]

I don't know the passenger car lengths. I'd guess they were 85', but I'd hate for you to spend your money based on my "guess".

I found some pics of Rock Island E6 #630 in suburban service that I took about 1975 in Blue Island, Illinois. For a railroad that poor, they sure would spend money on strange things. In the pictures she's got a rather large gold "Wing" painted on her nose. I have no idea why.

[Anonymous]

The 630 was the world's last operating E6 and still is - at least I believe it operates. It's now at the Midland Railway at Baldwin City, KS.

It ended its days in suburban service out of LaSalle St. Station. Two bi-levels would be enough train for it; they tried to keep it off the longer trains because it wasn't too potent at that late date. I believe Athearn has done the RI bi-levels - the red ones. Get a cab car and a trailer and you'll have a nice, authentic train for the 630 - if it's painted in that scheme it has now.

Old Timer

[mudchicken]

Being this time of year, model the Rocky Mountain Rocket buried in the snow at Smith Center, KS in a blizzard.[:o)][:o)][:o)]

[daveklepper]

The ancient Rock Island suburban coaches, non air-conditioned as I remember them, had arch roofs with small ventilators stuck in a line on each side. I think they did have diaphragms (some railroads with similar cars left them off), with traps and regular stairs, and walk-over plush low-back seats, which by the time I rode them were practically black whatever color they originally were. They were shorter than regular long distance lighweight cars, probably about 74 feet, and they definitely did last into the diesel era, because I rode them behind diesels. The diesels were a strange mixture; almost each train I rode had a different type. I'm certain an E-6 was used with these cars at least for a time, so if you don't want gallery cars, these might suit you, if you can find them in scale. There first replacements were not gallery cars. The Rock bought some single-level center-door car that I never saw anywhere else, sort of a railroad version of the Boston Elevated Center-Entrance streetcar, which may have given them the idea. Something like a gallery car, but only one level! They were painted a sort of olive green and were probably about 80 feet long. This was long before METRA, about 1952.

[M636C]

See if you can get a copy of the May 1980 Model Railroader. It had plans of the original articulated Budd Rocket sets, originally hauled by the TA locomotives, but almost certainly hauled by E6s later.

The (separate) observation was 77'8" long, and the triple articulated units were 76'5" (end cars) and 64'2" (centre car). The observation and the end cars could be represented by Athearn cars and the articulated set might be able to be kitbashed from Athearn cars. Articulated model cars run well on sharp model curves, in my experience.

Peter

[Anonymous]

To be brief on the Rock in the 50s and 60s...They had stainless fluted cars from Budd and Pullman Standard. Most everything was 85' long. Standard Pullmans, coaches with long windows, dining-parlor observation cars, dining cars, 1 full parlor car, some full parlor-observation cars, and then all that Golden Rocket stuff.
In suburban service there were the '20s era coaches with walk-over seats. They had no diaphragms, no doors except to the interiors and no traps. The rock also had some similar cars bought from the CNW. In 1949 the Rock bought 100 unusual suburban coaches from Pullman-Standard. The had nice (upholstered) walk-over seats and 2 sets of sliding doors on each side, but no vestibules. Unusual for suburban equipment they had subway style destination signs on each side that could be cranked to the propper reading. The cars were originaly Pullman (olive) green with a duluxe stripe below the windows, and a Rock Island insignia with the car number below, centered, and below the stripe. Later they were painted a brighter green. Then came the Budd bi-level suburban push-pull crs of 1961, and finally the 10 bright red bi-levels from PS in 1970.
Take a look at Dave Randall's excellent books "The Pullman Standard Library, Vol 8" and his equally good "Passenger Car Library Vol 3" for more details.
Rock passenger trains of the mid '60s were a hoot. Any kind of E unit in any of a number of paint schemes, TOFC cars, head end stuff, coaches, and an obs car with its end squared off as the cafe car.
Mitch

[Anonymous]

The P2k E6 is in the old rocket paint, I have 2 of them. They pulled about any train the Rock threw them on, but was not to be trusted with more than 2 cars on its own. The 630 got the gold nose job for EMD's 50th anniversary and pulled a train ( wih E7B 610) to Peoria and back. The gold paint was donated by EMD who had it on hand to paint the B&O GP40 that was all gold. The original Rocket paint that is on youre model is what it wore in the late fourties till about 1956 when they got all maroon noses but kept the stainless steel panels then most of then got all maroon dip jobs before they were traded in. The 630 was the lucky one and made it till the end. They pulled the peoria rocket, Des Moines rocket and even headed up the Rockey Mountain Rocket with the odd ball AB6's (E6B's with an odd cab built into the front end.) The 2500's or also called the "Al caopne coaches) were used almost till the end with some makeing it till 1977-78. The single level coaches with the double doors numbered in the 2700's were delivered in 1949 along with FP7A's to become the first streamlined commuter trains in the country. The bi-levels came in 1972 and were painted in the bright red with yellow band and road name. By this time things were going down hill quick and things were looking pretty ragged so when modeling these trains use plenty of weathering. I hope this helps and feel free to ask more Rock Island questions, I model the rock from blue island to Brueau Jct and have alot of info sitting around. Long Live The Rock!!!!

[Anonymous]

You can always throw in an Areotrain that the Rock used in commute service until about '65. Stainless steel bilevels showed up in '61.
Mitch

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

RI suburban service was indeed interesting. When the first bi-levels were delivered, RI had E6A 630, 2 AB6's (750-751) and 3 F7A's (675-677) equipped with HEP to pull them. One of the reasons that the E6A was kept on shorter trains was that it was slower to load up and the consequent slow acceleration made it poorly suited for suburban service.

[daveklepper]

If I remember correctly (and I did make some mistakes on the lack of diaphragms and the door locations on the single-level postwar airconditioned coaches, the short single-level coaches (Al Capone) were of two varieties. One had the arch roof continue to the end like an LIRR MU or ping-pong, and the other variety had rounded roof ends. Possibly the latter were original RI, and may have been almost identacle to the SP's Penninsula suburban coaches, possibly "Harrimans?" and the straight arch roof cars may have been the ones from the Northwestern.