The old cliche that said the Rock Island went to all the same places as the Burlington but the long way around has more than a little truth to it. The Rock Island was never financially strong and in the postwar merger era it seemed more interested in staying alive until somebody else picked it up. One could describe it as the Erie Lackawanna of the Midwest.
Among many fans in the Chicago area, the Crown family is considered one of the villains in the final collapse of the Rock Island as a railroad. The family was a major bondholder and pushed long and hard for liquidation to get their money back. Bondholders are secured creditors so they are first in line in a bankruptcy liquidation.
Don't have the info right in front of me, so someone can correct me if I don't remember this exactly, but along with the "Rock Island was nothing but a poor man's Burlington" idea which has already been mentioned, there was also the problem of the Union Pacific wanting to acquire or merge with the Rock Island in 1964. When this happened, the RI management began what I believe is referred to as the deferred maintenance program...which if I recall was a theory of why spend money on the upkeep of the Rock Island when UP would sweep in eventually and let them spend the money needed to fix the tracks. Apparently no one foresaw that it would take the ICC (?) until 1975 (?) to deny the application, and by then the Rock Island was in a mess.
Add in an ill-fated image fixing problem, where ex-employees felt a lot of money was wasted on blue paint, a strike in 1979, the railroad industry as a whole was in a bit of a slump in the '70s and then here comes the oil crisis in 1979....too much to overcome. Like a previous poster said, someone had to go.
Funny someone had to go but we still have the same ammounts of trackage. Lets see how many to Omaha in the 70s out of Chicago? C&NW, BN, RI, IC, Mil. Today UP,BNSF,IAIS,CN but no Mil? Seems all that redundant track is still there, kinda odd for that argument.
The Rock went under for a number of reasons, and not only the Crowns but the wonderful BRAC strike and the Judge saying ( with money out being topped by money in and a list of assests not even looked at)well you cant reorganize.
I know that if I work for a company with a Crown family member in it I would be looking for a new job. Guess who was on the board at Maytag in Galesburg. Old Henry's kid.Like worthless father like worthless son ( actually probably worth billions but you get my point)
Yes we are on time but this is yesterdays train
One Track Mind wrote: Don't have the info right in front of me, so someone can correct me if I don't remember this exactly, but along with the "Rock Island was nothing but a poor man's Burlington" idea which has already been mentioned, there was also the problem of the Union Pacific wanting to acquire or merge with the Rock Island in 1964. When this happened, the RI management began what I believe is referred to as the deferred maintenance program...which if I recall was a theory of why spend money on the upkeep of the Rock Island when UP would sweep in eventually and let them spend the money needed to fix the tracks. Apparently no one foresaw that it would take the ICC (?) until 1975 (?) to deny the application, and by then the Rock Island was in a mess. Add in an ill-fated image fixing problem, where ex-employees felt a lot of money was wasted on blue paint, a strike in 1979, the railroad industry as a whole was in a bit of a slump in the '70s and then here comes the oil crisis in 1979....too much to overcome. Like a previous poster said, someone had to go.
Actually the ICC approved UP's acquisition of the Rock Island in 1975 but UP backed out when they saw what condition the railroad was in by that time. Eventually the UP got some big chunks of the Rock Island anyway when they merged the MKT, CNW and SP.
route_rock wrote: Funny someone had to go but we still have the same ammounts of trackage. Lets see how many to Omaha in the 70s out of Chicago? C&NW, BN, RI, IC, Mil. Today UP,BNSF,IAIS,CN but no Mil? Seems all that redundant track is still there, kinda odd for that argument.
Go Huskies. Forward Together Forward
Fan of - C&NW - Milwaukee Road - CGW -
Just as perspective ---
When the UP went to the Government Regulators to get the OK to take over the Rock Island it was in pretty good shape and was the UP's first choice of a route to get Chicago access - that was when I was in the 6th grade.
When the regulators finally made a decision I was in graduate school.
And that time included two years service to Uncle Sam before grad school.
It was a bad joke.
Some of the Rock Island's problems go way back to the late 1800s when the railroad was expanding. For a time, one of the RI's presidents (Tracy, I think) was also at the same time, an officer on the CNW. Some investors were involved in both lines. The RI was initially ahead in building across Iowa. It stalled out and the CNW beat them to Council Bluffs by about 2 years.
Later on, during the time of the Cable ( I think) presidency, the railroad stopped acquiring land for industrial development. During his time the RI leased it's way into many major citys via trackage rights instead of building their own line. His idea was for the RI to be a bridge line. Let other carriers do the terminal switching and switch the loads to the RI for line haul. I think that these actions came back to haunt the railroad in the later years.
I think one of the few good periods of management were during the Farrington years, mid 1930s to the mid 1950s. When he retired, Jenks took over for a few years. When Jenks left, Farrington came back until a replacement could be found. Farrington died in early 1960s and I think with him the last chance for the RI to have survived on it's own. It seems the next management teams were only focused on selling the property to someone else.
Even then, they focused too much on the UP/RI merger. When it started to drag, they should've looked for other options. They had convinced themselves it was the UP or nothing and nothing (except for some of the stock/bond holders) was what they got.
Even if things had worked out differently, the RI would've eventually wound up as part of someone else, probably the UP. I see that Trains places the RI in the UP family tree. That's not true. The UP wound up with much of the RI's surviving mains, but thru acquiring the SP/SSW, MKT and CNW. The RI corporate structure eventually went to Maytag. Sadly, I'll never see a RI heriage unit. I guess the passenger engines Dan Sabin's Iowa Northern acquired for the Hawkeye Express football trains is as close as it comes.
Jeff
Supposedly, "the Rock Island Railroad" is back running.
https://rockislandrail.com/
jeffhergertThe RI corporate structure eventually went to Maytag. Sadly, I'll never see a RI heriage unit. I guess the passenger engines Dan Sabin's Iowa Northern acquired for the Hawkeye Express football trains is as close as it comes. Jeff
Wonder what a Maytag locomotive would have looked like?
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Since my last post, the IAIS did a heritage unit. Also one, that while not an actual heritage unit, has a Rock Island inspired paint scheme.
That new company operating under the CRI&P name has been discussed on some of my RI groups. Not a whole lot of information, but appears to be a short line/contract switching outfit starting up. I see they're looking for engineers and conductors for "future" needs. I don't think I'll send a resume.
Everything I needed to know about the Rock Island, I learned by playing the board game Rail Baron.
The Rock Island's slogan should have been "Everywhere - Slowly". The line connected all the right dots in the worst possible fashion.
Exactly what you don't want when the industry is consolidating down to just a few roads.
-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/)
This is a good book on the demise of the Rock Island.
https://www.amazon.com/Rock-Island-Requiem-Collapse-Mighty-ebook/dp/B00W8FE83K/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1511287203&sr=1-1&keywords=rock+island+requiem#customerReviews
Be warned, it's not focused on rail operations. It's focused on the financial problems, and who/what caused them.
Please send me links to any discussions your other CRI&P Groups are having about this new 'operator' of the Rock...is any of his website TRUE - the locomotives and cars with the Bankruptcy Blue actually operating ?
He's a lot of bluster in my book - how much of his "railroad" is real ?
BaltACDWonder what a Maytag locomotive would have looked like?
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
tree68 BaltACD Wonder what a Maytag locomotive would have looked like? A lot of chrome and fancy knobs?
BaltACD Wonder what a Maytag locomotive would have looked like?
A lot of chrome and fancy knobs?
But the locomotive repairmen would be bored to death, sitting back with their feet up.
_____________
"A stranger's just a friend you ain't met yet." --- Dave Gardner
Paul of CovingtonBut the locomotive repairmen would be bored to death, sitting back with their feet up.
Annnnnd, not only would we have "toasters," but we'd have "washing machines..."
The discussions have about the same amount of info as on here. Very little. Those pictures on that site are old ones from when the RI was still operating. It looks like someone trying to start up a short line and/or contract switching company. I don't know if the person had ties to the RI. There are a couple of short lines where the owner or at least the original owner had some ties to the RI. The Arkansas - Oklahoma Railroad (A-OK) comes to mind. http://www.aokrr.com/
They use an RI inspired paint scheme and logo.
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