#peoriarocket

Peoria Rocket I was fortunate enough to be able to photograph both Rock Islands Rockets back in the 1970s.

This one was the first of the two, the Peoria Rocket, perhaps, and it happens to be powered by the distinctive bicentennial unit of the time: number 652 (it would later be preserved).

The train is seen traveling eastbound (inbound) and photographed from Marley Road in New Lenox, Illinois.

Which Rocket?

I put a question out to a knowledgeable group on Facebook—if it was approximately 6:00 PM when this image was made (based on the the sun nearly being down in early October), could we make a firm call on which Rocket this be?

Update: the FB group was quite firm with this train being the Peoria Rocket rather than the Quad Cities. One supplied an image showing the timetables for the two trains, which I’ll add above. The Rock Island was one of about four railroads that did NOT have their passenger trains folded into Amtrak in 1971.

Peoria Rocket

I was fortunate enough to be able to photograph both Rock Islands Rockets back in the day. This one was the first of the two, the Peoria Rocket, perhaps, and it happens to be powered by the distinctive bicentennial unit of the time: number 652.

Marley Road: Forty-Two Years Later

Here is a another place I was able to have made a photograph as a teenager: where Marley Road flies over the Rock Island, just a bit east of New Lenox.

The top photograph was made in the waning days of Rock Island intercity passenger train service. The train pictured is either the Peoria Rocket or Quad Cities Rocket. The second image was made when I happened to be in the area forty-two years later. The line in the distance is the former Wabash line down to Bement, Illinois.