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The Rock Island Line (MBI Railroad Color History)
The Rock Island Line - MBI Railroad Color History Author:Bill Marvel An icon of rail history, the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Line endured for nearly 130 years and becoming a legend celebrated in song and railroad lore. This book traces the story of the Rock Island through triumph and tragedy, from its brilliant beginnings to its pauper’s death in 1980. Casting back to the Rock Island’s predecessor... more » lines, the story proceeds to the railroad’s frenzied expansion in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to its downturn during the Great Depression and its subsequent resurgence. Illustrated throughout with period color and vintage black-and-white photographs, this history also examines the railroad’s infrastructure, freight services, a locomotive fleet renowned for its diversity, and its colorful passenger operations, including the famed Rocket trains. The book concludes by tracing the events that led to the railroad’s liquidation in 1970, including seemingly interminable merger proceedings with the Union Pacific and labor strife that ultimately broke the railroad.« less