Synopses & Reviews
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 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.
Synopsis
An illustrated history of the legendary Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Line from its beginnings 130 years ago through its frenzied expansion to its pauper's death in 1980.
About the Author
Bill Marvel, who grew up a few miles from the Rock Island\u2019s western terminus in Denver, rode and photographed all over the Rock Island system before its 1980 demise. A lifelong newspaper writer, he is the author of four railroad books, numerous magazine articles and is working on a book-length narrative of the 1913 -1914 Colorado coal war. He lives in Dallas, Texas.