I understand this organization went belly up a few years ago. Has any organization taken their place? I thought the museum in Manly, Iowa was going to fill the void, but I haven’t seen much activity by them. Thanks

Mike Martino

Long dead, wayback machine has their last updated website from 2013: https://web.archive.org/web/20170622153 ... /rits.org/ They were planning a museum at the old Savanna army depot back then, even though the Rock Island never ran within 30 miles of there, but I believe that never happened. As for the organization, I saw mention of "allegations of embezzlement" in a TO post from 2013, but I have no idea if that is fair or not. There are a few museums with Rock Island equipment, IRM has some.

Tom Brugman and David Engle were publishing a neat e-newsletter entitled "Rock Island Reporter". The contact was at:

https://rockislandreporter.com

Not sure if this is still ongoing or not.


Les

I sent a note to Tom who told me that Dave Engle had passed away some time back. Tom is working on a new issue and hopes to have it out in March.

Les

I really appreciate the extra legwork you’ve done on this Les.

Do you know anything about Dan Sabin’s museum in Manly? I know he has the 630 and 652 painted in original Rock Island colors. He seems to have gone silent since the CN purchase of the Iowa Northern.

A lot of cards are being held very close to the vest yet.

So, if I wanted to donate some Rock Island memorabilia to a museum, which one would you recommend?

I would recommend that valuable memorabilia be placed with a reputable museum or a transportation library in the railroad's service area. I have seen too many instances where valuable items given to small historical societies end up walking out the door with members.

PC

To be fair, there have been instances of donations and surplus "walking out the door with" members and administrators at all sorts of museums, from tiny places to major art/history museums of world renown. I've heard about and understood of instances and subsequent prosecutions in major state museums here and there, which have led to VERY onerous property controls over even the most trivial of items. (At the time of the B&O Museum roundhouse collapse twenty years ago, there was an authentic B&O tea bag on loan for an exhibit there--it was reportedly found in the debris little scathed.....)

Local and small museums/archives, rail or not, need to be considered on a case-by-case basis. Will your donations get lost in the shuffle, or worse yet overwhelm them? Do they understand the value, educational or archival or financial, of what is being handed to them? Is the place likely to endure--state-funded, a university with an endowment, etc.? Do they have a reasonably secure facility with climate control, or a closet? If someone waned to look at or read your donations, how difficult would it be for them? Is it one of those places that charges you a fee just to go get it off the shelf for you?

Nobody decades ago would have figured on the disappearance of the NRHS National Library in Philadelphia (to DeGolyer at SMU in Texas), or the implosion of the Indiana Transportation Museum, or even the shutdown/hiatus of the East Broad Top. You can't provide for every possible contingency, but you owe it to yourself to do your due diligence first.

Came across this while sorting my slides.

PC

Three years ago, Roger Kujawa photo. I grew up around 25 miles from there.

I think it was painted Ingram blue after 1975 or so, whereas it looks red in your photo, and that looks like a late 1960s Pontiac (I'll let the car buffs verify), so early seventies would be my guess for your photo.

PMC -

Looks to still be in decent shape for a disused depot. Windows boarded up so perhaps there were some plans for it? New paint would do wonders. And a train order board would look great too. Wonder who the current owner is?


Les

What a fascinating comparison 45 years apart. Here is another shot at Bureau Junction showing the other end of the station. I am also posting a shot of my favorite Rock Island locomotive 610, the B unit for the Joliet trains, which had a hostler control and often stumbled around Blue Island yard at night. I took several thousand photos on the Rock Island, day and night, and did very little with them. It was not a road that people were interested in viewing.

My 2nd favorite Rock Island unit was U25B 230 in the CKCK SLAND paint scheme.

PC

PC -

Thanks for the additional Rock Island photos. The second one of the Bureau Junction depot, shows the monstrous two-armed (one post) cantilever signal that was located there. I wonder if that post still stands?

Les

P.S. I was a Rock Island commuter for a number of years, on both the main line and the suburban line, riding in the 2500 series cars for much of that time. Also had the great fortune to meet my wife on a 2500 series car (now approaching our 60th year of wedded bliss!).

Since this discussion was laying dormant anyway, lets use it to look at more Rock Island equipment while I still have the slides. They are all leaving on Friday.

Remember when the Rock used their E-units in freight service?

PC