Rock Island Rush Hour - Roosevelt Rd - August 29, 1977.
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- čas přidán 11. 09. 2024
- A slideshow of Rock Island commuter trains taken at Roosevelt Rd in Chicago on August 29, 1977. These were the last days of F7, E6, E7, E8 and E9 in service. The photos were taken between 4:15 and 6:15 pm on that Monday afternoon.
Photos by Steven J Brown
He's back with another trip down memory lane in the railfan Mecca that is Chicago! your videos are always a treat Steven :)
Gotta love 70s railways, very colorful
- from Indonesia
Excellent! I enjoy your great photos. Thanks for posting these invaluable images. Mike
I remember the evening that the first of the new RTA EMD engines were delivered to CNW's M-19A! I was hostling on the 2nd shift and the engines were parked at Harding Ave. where the switchtender resided back then on one of the running tracks to Kedzie. I climbed aboard and headed down the hill at Pulaski into the confines of M-19A and was playing with the oscillating headlight, which were common at one time on engines but had disappeared over the decades. The general foreman, Norm Hackl, berated me for playing with the oscillating headlight! For what reason I do not know. It was a novelty for me but for some reason he didn't think it was circumspect! Great memories! I really liked my railroading career....lot of fun. Not too many jobs where you can have fun and get paid handsomely for it. I wish I could do it all over again. 39 years of railroading....and all just a faint and fading memory now.
what an awesome story, you lived my dream and at the best time.
@@michael7423 Indeed, my friend.....we had a great time workin' on the old RR! I would not have traded it for any other job. I even met a doctor once who said he worked as a fireman on the CNW in Milwaukee. He took a summer job back in the olden days when they still had firemen before he was to attend college and announced to the family he liked it so much he was going to stay with the CNW and become an engineer instead of becoming a doctor as the family had planned for him! His mother replied, "Oh no you don't! You are going to college and become a surgeon!" She laid down the law and he gave up his dream of the RR and became a doctor. You could tell by looking in his eyes he regretted that decision. All he wanted to do while I was in his office was talk about the RR! He barely took my pulse or listened to my ticker! Last time I went to that doctor. BTW: I forgot to add something else he said: "That was the best job I ever had!" meaning his job on the RR. This from a doctor! I got a chuckle out of that!
The only way you could experience that joy once again is start your own railroad. I grabbed iron and joined at the end of the era of the host of characters that you enjoy. Once 60/30 hit they left in waves
M19 shops??? You may have crossed my dad’s path. I believe that is the shops he worked at. He worked there until 1980 I think.
@@TommyJohnson-ms8pb Mechanical Dept. or operating? I knew an engineer/hostler by name of Tommy Johnson. Always wore black leather jacket. I think he got a disability eventually. Something to do with severe rheumatoid arthritis I think.
My grandmother's farm was located off the RI main line in Rockdale, IL. Some of these worn out looking E and F units pulled both passenger and freights back in the 1960s when I used to visit there. They looked great then. It is sad to see them in such bad shape. It is a miracle that they were still running at all.
Great memories of my 40 year career in Chicago.
That E6 630 is a beauty. 🤩
I rode on 630 when it was at a museum out near Kansas City.
the E's and F's have always been my favorite loco,s/thank you for sharing these awesome pictures!
Excellent video Steven! Always a pleasure to see a new one
Glad you enjoyed it!
A perfect reality check. I haven't been on Roosevelt Rd in over 10 years and now besides the changing of the cars and power the changing of the skyline with the old offices and warehouses replaced with apartments etc. Oh yes that pioneer container probably on a 40 ft flat and yes indeed the Rock was a master of POFC. Pallets on flat cars. Excellent show!
Great Pics Steve. I actually have Rock Island E8 #643 and #655 in full 1/48 scale O gauge form by MTH Electric Trains. And in Red /Yellow Speed letter, just as seen here, so nice to see your photos of my units! You have some cool videos!
Steven, I love seeing your sideshow oft he Rock Island! I can see the Lee Overalls brick painted billboard in the distance over the Dearborn Street Station. I'll be back to watch again and to check out all your CZcams slideshows. I was 16 when a friend and I went to Chicago during the summer of 1991 when I talked my mom into letting me go to Chicago with a friend who was 19 but knew nothing about trains. I had been drawing trains for a few years and I had to see the trains of Chicago in person. I'm from California and before the internet I had only seen these trains in books and magazines. Your slides are like a Time Machine for me!!!
Thanks!!
Love the discovery for me of the leased AMTRAK bi-levels to The Rock - knew about the CNW units from photo of commuter trains arriving at Joliet. Soe more possibilities for my collection and running..... thank you. :-)
Excellent show. I wish I had had the gumption to roam around the region with a camera back in that era. It always makes me a little wistful seeing your images from the 1970s.
I have really enjoyed your slide show and the information you have. Great channel!!
Great color shots from a time where it was considerably more expensive to develop color film vs black and white.
I have a few photos from that same location and same time period. Another great presentation!
Great presentation Steve, thanks for sharing!
The rock island was long gone before my time, the rock is my favorite railroad wish I was around to see it. If the rock would have merged with union pacific they would still be around today.
Neat slide show, enjoyed much!
I've never clicked so fast for a video
lol!
I recall one summer around 1970 or so when returning to Chicago from the East Coast with the family that as we drove inbound on the Dan Ryan I remember seeing a lot of those "Al Capone" steel coaches parked along the Rock mainline ( I assume) just east of the Dan Ryan. The Rock may have had a coach yard somewhere thereabouts.....I think they had a diesel ramp in that vicinity, I believe, but I am not sure about that. So much history tied up with the railroads. The railroads were probably the biggest and greatest engines of societal and economic change in human history. "Our fathers' magic carpet made of steel..."
Fantastic collection!
Love seeing pictures of the tatty Rock Island units.
It's a wonder what the passengers thought of the condition of such a loco on the front/back
Steven this is amazing.
Well your picture of 676 with the Northwestern cars has inspired me to recreate it in HO scale. I already had the coaches and I was shocked to learn that Walthers actually made 676.
Wow! Send a pic! I didn’t know there was a 676 out there. Maybe I need one for my living room shelf?
I’d be more than willing to send a picture if I knew how… lol There’s no email address on your profile and I understand why.
Find me on Facebook!
Believe it or not, I’m not on facebook. Let me look into joining later this evening. Besides modeling the 676 with CNW coaches I did get a cab ride in 630 out in Missouri when it was at a museum.
@@TommyJohnson-ms8pb Cool! BTW - I went to the internet and found 676 and 677 available. I really want a 675 though!
great stuff! I spent lots of time in that area in the late 80's, taking photos and nosing around what was left of the rail industry, while going to Columbia College. You've done a great job of documenting what still remained in the late 70's.
Great pictures!
Great video. Thanks for sharing
I’m off to college in Fredericksburg that will be a treat .As I will probably document the last of the push pull services on VRE before they go electric and string the wires over the Potomac
Awesome 😎
I had no idea that the Rock was still running through passenger service after Amtrak came into existence! Man, they must have been at least running the trains at break-even to do that! Why would they continue losing money on those long distance trains I wonder?
Great content!
nice lincoln park pirates reference 3:04
Yup!
WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?????
do you have any photos outside Chicago like maybe in the quad cities or Iowa? along the Rock Island route
Not from Rock Island days.
My hot take-that view looks better today then it did before.
Booooooo
@@stevenjbrown1697 oh hey your still here, also I’m not saying it didn’t looked bad before it’s just I sometimes prefer things to be clean and organized and it’s just how I see it now
Ha! I prefer chaos!
When was the coach yard at La Salle closed and demolition?
The coach yard was (and still is) at 47th and State along the Dan Ryan Expressway.