@railwayhistorical / railwayhistorical.tumblr.com
A Mighty Fine Line
Here’s a westbound Rock Island freight train crossing over the diamonds at Joliet, Illinois. The train is clattering over both the Santa Fe as well as the Gulf, Mobile & Ohio here. The lead unit seen here is a General Electric U28B built for the road in 1966.
One image by Richard Koenig; taken September 20th 1975.
Some Joliet Action
Here are two images made while spending some time in Joliet back in the mid-1970s. All of these trains are either northbound on the Alton or eastbound on the ATSF, clattering over the Rock Island diamonds, headed toward Chicago.
The first photograph has a northbound Amtrak train—most likely the State House, arriving on the Alton (GM&O). The second picture shows a Santa Fe manifest blasting through with six units, the first three being what looks like big General Electric U36Cs.
Two images by Richard Koenig; taken September 20th 1975.
On the Rock—Inbound at Joliet
Here we see an inbound train make its station stop at Joliet and then head across the tracks of the ATSF and GM&O.
Two images by Richard Koenig; taken August 27th 1977.
Quad Cities Rocket
This is an eastbound Rock Island Quad Cities Rocket with E8 655 on the point. That locomotive was built for the railroad in March of 1952.
The location, of course, is the well-known crossing with the ATSF and GM&O at Joliet, Illinois.
One photograph by Richard Koenig; taken September 20th 1975. As I've stated before when I posted this image: one of my earliest images, not old enough to drive as I recall.
Joliet This image shows a Rock Island outbound commuter train clacking over the ATSF/GM&O tracks at Joliet, Illinois. This has always been a great spot for rail enthusiasts.
The wonderful station here is made from Indiana limestone, of which I'm a fan, growing up amongst the quarries of southern Indiana. The locomotive is an EMD E8A built for the Union Pacific in 1953.
Image by Richard Koenig; taken in 1976.
The Plug Here we see GM&O’s commuter train known as “The Plug”. It ran between Chicago’s Union Station (pictured) and Joliet. The locomotive is an EMD F3 built in June of 1947.
The train ran once each way, each weekday. Metra still runs on this line and calls it the “Heritage Corridor”. One image by Richard Koenig; taken December 27th 1977.
Westbound at Joliet
One more early image, taken the same day as my previous post...
The train pictured may be the famed Super-C, a hot TOFC train that ran between Chicago and the west coast. It's westbound near the tower at Joliet once again. The Santa Fe ran parallel to the GM&O at this spot; the train will cross the Rock Island within seconds.
The lead locomotive is an SD45-2 built in May of 1974, so only a little over a year old. It has a 20-cylinder prime mover that produced 3600 horsepower.
One photograph by Richard Koenig; taken September 20th 1975.
Quad Cities Rocket
Another one of my earliest railroad images...
This is an eastbound Rock Island Quad Cities Rocket with E8 655 on the point. It was built for the railroad in March of 1952.
The location, of course, is the well known crossing with the ATSF and GM&O at Joliet, Illinois.
One photograph by Richard Koenig; taken September 20th 1975.
Eastbound at Joliet
One of my oldest images of railroad action...
An eastbound train of the Santa Fe is powering through Joliet, Illinois. It looks like a trio of large General Electric U36Cs are on the point of this train, with number 8715 leading the way—it was built for the road in 1973. There are three EMD units in the consist as well.
It’s also interesting to note that the semaphores are still on the signal bridge south of the diamonds there (with Rock Island), which govern both the ATSF and GM&O tracks. I’m not sure when these distinctive signals were replaced.
One image by Richard Koenig; taken September 20th 1975.
Joliet This image shows a Rock Island outbound commuter train clacking over the ATSF/GM&O tracks at Joliet. This has always been a great spot for rail enthusiasts. The wonderful station here is made from Indiana limestone, but I'm not certain about the make up of iconic tower on the other side. The locomotive is an EMD E8A built for the Union Pacific in 1953.
Two images by Richard Koenig; taken in 1976.
A Mighty Fine Line
Here’s a westbound Rock Island freight train crossing over the diamonds at Joliet, Illinois. The train is clattering over both the Santa Fe as well as the Gulf, Mobile & Ohio here. The lead unit seen here is a General Electric U28B built for the road in 1966.
One image by Richard Koenig; taken September 20th 1975.
Some Joliet Action
Here are several images made while spending some time in Joliet back in the mid-1970s. All of these trains are either northbound on the Alton or eastbound on the ATSF, clattering over the Rock Island diamonds, headed toward Chicago. These images are not great, but it’s always good to see action under the semaphores.
The first photograph has a northbound Amtrak train—most likely the State House, arriving on the Alton (GM&O). The second and third pictures show a Santa Fe manifest blasting through with six units, the first three being what looks like big General Electric U36Cs. And the final image provides a local job, with a couple of diminutive EMD GP20s up front. Now why couldn't that 2nd unit been up front?
Four images by Richard Koenig; taken September 20th 1975.
