RI Any Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific fans left...

hey guys even though i am a frisco man i also have a big heart for the rock island because these two railroads were the ones i grew up watching from afar and i hope to start collecting some rock island photos and will glady share them with you all. i have a picture of the rock issland depot in apache back in 1925 -40 erra and with have coppied for you guys to see .

 

I'm a fan of the Rock Island through South central and eastern Iowa. I've got some pictures that I'll try to get posted in the next few days.

 

Awesome Kodiak! Cant wait to see them.

 

I am a Milwaukee Road fan but also have a very strong passion for the Rock Island and plan to include the Milwaukee Road and the Rock Island on my model railroad layout.

 

crip

i am orginaly from okla. 25 miles from duncan used to watch RI all the time with my grand father. my first model was RI. i still model rock island but now live in south carliona.my kids and grand kids and great grand kids just moved back to our old home place in okla. RI will live in my memory for ever gary:tb-biggrin:

 

I feel like I've already posted here, but I haven't. I guess that comes from posting in multiple similar threads. It feels cheap, but it's true - I like a lot of railroads! Lack of regional loyalty does that to you.

I didn't use to find the RI too appealing. If I think about it, there's a reason most of the more popular roads are popular. The Santa Fe, Rio Grande, Pennsylvania... they make good picture books or calendars. They maintained their image. It seems hard to take an unflattering photo of some of them.

I suppose it's my increasing knowledge of foreign railroads that made me more able to find RI interesting. For many non-North American roads, I was drawn to them by individual aspects rather than a panoramic whole. I could then look back on railways closer to home in the same way.

And, for the record, yellow noses ruined RI paint schemes, like they did for CSX years later. RI wouldn't get a good look again until the blue.

 

My home town had "The Rock" passing through the center of it during all times of the day heading east to Chicago. My dad worked as a welder for the RR for about the last 6 years of its life before bankruptcy. I have his hard hat yet with the blue "The Rock" sticker on it. I am new to and very anxious to start modeling to use up my middle aged free time. I have lots of free time. I plan on modeling it passing through my hometown. I'll spend 2011 making plans and sifting through info on the different forums. Then next winter "The Rock" will begin the long rode to life again. woot woot

 

Memories

I grew up with "The Rock" passing through the center of my home town during all hours of the day on its way to Chicago. My dad worked as a welder for the RR for about 6 years before it went bankrupt. I have his hard hat yet with its blue "The Rock" sticker on it. I am new to and anxious to start model railroading. I plan on spending 2011 making different track plans and getting info from the different forums.
Then next winter "The Rock" will begin the long journey back to life as I model it passing through my home town. :tb-biggrin:

 

Welcome aboard Chuga! Which town are you going to model?

 

When all the trains were back in the yards after shut down was awsome. Now not much left of the Silvas yard. Local train store raided the offices when everyone walked out. You can see a lot of old other roads at the repair shops there now.
In about 80 my kids gave me a train set of the ROCK (blue).

 

Small town 40 miles east of the Quad cities called Annawan, pop 800.

 

Cool ! I know Annawan, used to deliver there. We will need to see pics and the like when you start modeling. What era are you going to do?

 

I became a fan when I started railfanning the Iowa Interstate over 3 yrs ago. And now that the IAIS has a heritage locomotive to honor its predecessor, I am more interested.

SOUTHERN by birth, ROCK ISLAND By the Grace of God.

 

The plan is to start next fall/winter. I am a total newbie to this. I want to get a cadrail program to help and purchase buildings through the year as I find them so I can get a feel how they will fit on the layout.
I have a 10 X 20 foot area I am going n-scale in to maximize the space and pull long trains. I live in Pennsylvania now so I plan on splitting the layout between the mountains of PA and the flats of IL. Coal from PA delivered to the Hennapin power plant. Then ethanol from the refinery at Annawan to a tank farm back east. Grain from the Annawan grain elevators to a bakery in PA.
I want to go back to the early days of diesel when they still had passenger service up to when the company folded. I'm sure I'll get a locomotive to run for the heck of it. I will do DCC.
Annawan has changed drasticly since I left for the Military in 84. The double rail line through town was made into single line soon after the Rock Island folded. The two grain elevators that were serviced by the train have been demolished. The lumber yard that use to get some wood by rail is just hanging on. The lumber yard will be modeled to.
I was going HO at first, but the space I have just didn't seem like it would satisfy my desire to pull long trains or to get everything I want into the layout without the different landscapes/buildings being on top of each other.
I'm going through my old MR magazines now for ideas and making sketches. I guess I'll start the MR subscription again. I'll definetly be frequenting the forums here looking for news and info. Cheers

 

Rock Island Fan

I worked for the Rock Island as a switchman for 19yrs. so I naturally have an affection for the old road. I'm retired now and hope to get into model railroading some time soon. I would like to model the RI. I should mention that I left the railroad in 1982, 2yrs after the demise of the RI. Having started with them in 1963 I can say that I saw some of the last of the better years and all of the final decline. Just recently I checked out some of the areas where I use to switch. Sad! Most places are parking lots now. I hope there will always be some RI fans around.

 

Ya, I remember driving over the bridge over the Silvas yard with tracks both ways and tons of rolling stock. Now most of the track is gone and the engine rebuild shop there have but a few old units to refurb. What once was a sight to be seen is now but an overgrown waisteland.