# Looking for information on the Rocket that went out of Peoria



## Gingee (Jan 8, 2008)

We just went to eat at the River Station in Peoria, IL tonight. This use to be a train station many years ago. It has recently reopened again as a restaurant. Anyway, I have tried to search to see what this train station use to look like years ago. I could only find one or two pictures and that is from the outside. I think it use to be called the Rock Island train station. We asked the manager at the restaurant if there was any pictures of this train station anywhere and he said at one of the car washes (get that) and one other place. Does anyone know where you can find more information on this train station?

My husband remembers going down to the train to pick up his grandparents.

Speaking of trains, I haven't been on this board for a while because I am being forced to fly next month and have looked at plane threads. I will be back for my trip in August though. Looking forward to that one more than the airplane next month. It's a fun trip next month but gad, it's a plane not a train!!!!!!!!!!


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## jphjaxfl (Jan 9, 2008)

I grew up in Peoria in the 1950s. We used to take the Rocket out of the Rock Island Station quite a bit. The Rockets left for Chicago at 7:00AM and 3:00PM and arrived from Chicago at 1:30PM and 8:45PM. The running time to Chicago was 2 hours and 45 minutues as the track was in very good shape. There was also a slow overnight train with sleeping car to Chicago that was discontinued in the 1950s. Rock Island also had bus service from Peoria to Bureau Jct the left from that station. The buses made connections at Bureau Jct with RI trains going west. The 7AM Rocket departure and the 8:45PM arrival did not stop in Bureau Jct. Peoria's other station was the beautiful Union Station at Water and Walnut Streets about 6 blocks south of the Rock Island Station. My Dad worked for the Peoria and Eastern division of the New York Central that ran trains from that station to Indianapolis until about 1956. Union Station burned down in 1960 or 61. The Rock Island moved out of their large station in the late 1960s I believe to a small new station near Peoria Jct about 1 1/2 miles north of the what is now the restaurant. I took the Rocket out of Peoria the last time in 1975. The tracks to Chicago were in terrible shape and trip too close to 4 hours.


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## Bill Haithcoat (Jan 9, 2008)

jphjaxfl said:


> I grew up in Peoria in the 1950s. We used to take the Rocket out of the Rock Island Station quite a bit. The Rockets left for Chicago at 7:00AM and 3:00PM and arrived from Chicago at 1:30PM and 8:45PM. The running time to Chicago was 2 hours and 45 minutues as the track was in very good shape. There was also a slow overnight train with sleeping car to Chicago that was discontinued in the 1950s. Rock Island also had bus service from Peoria to Bureau Jct the left from that station. The buses made connections at Bureau Jct with RI trains going west. The 7AM Rocket departure and the 8:45PM arrival did not stop in Bureau Jct. Peoria's other station was the beautiful Union Station at Water and Walnut Streets about 6 blocks south of the Rock Island Station. My Dad worked for the Peoria and Eastern division of the New York Central that ran trains from that station to Indianapolis until about 1956. Union Station burned down in 1960 or 61. The Rock Island moved out of their large station in the late 1960s I believe to a small new station near Peoria Jct about 1 1/2 miles north of the what is now the restaurant. I took the Rocket out of Peoria the last time in 1975. The tracks to Chicago were in terrible shape and trip too close to 4 hours.



I do not have the intimate knowledge above shown about the operation. But I do know the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific was a major line at one time with trains going several places. There were several trains called "Rockets" just as there used to be several trains on other lines called "Eagles" "Chiefs", "Zephyrs" and other. In fact there was a train called the Zephyr Rocket which went from St.L to the Twin Ciites, partly on the Burlington Road(thus"Zephyr") and partly on Rock Island (Thus, "Rocket"). Seems like there was a "Twin Cities Rocket" which went from Twin Cities to Texas points.I think I saw it once in Dallas.

There was a "Rocky Mountain Rocket" from CHI to Denver, etc, there was the "Golden State" from CHI to LA. The Golden State and the Rocky Mtn Rocket were great trains but never received dome cars, thus usually ranked a little behind such operators as Santa Fe, Burlington, Union Pacific, Great northern Northern Pacific, etc for the far west runs.

Not being at home but away from my timetables I do not know what trains stopped at exactly what places. But there was a "Peoria Rocket". I am going to go out on a limb here---hopefully somebody can step in and help me. But I think at one time the Peoria Rocket line was handled by a very distinct low slung maybe kinda sorta talgo-ish looking train. I think it was articulated (i.e. all built together as a solid unit--the locomotive and the cars). It did not look like a regular train from back then or today either, unless maybe like a talgo. I actually think this was called the JET ROCKET--now that I think about it more. Maybe it was called the Jet Rocket originally, ran on several routes and finally wound up on the Peoria route. This is what I need help with in remembering.

At one time in the mid-50's various roads in the US did experiment with different designs of trains to try to halt the decline in business. The most long lasting legacy of this would be the high level Santa Fe cars built at that time. Which, of course, has nothing to do with the Rock Island---except along the theme of new designs.

I suspect the "Peoria Rocket" or maybe "Jet rocket" is in a museum somewhere today.I doubt that it was allowed to be destroyed--it being an interesting but brief piece of railroad history. I can probably find that out at home tonight..


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## George Harris (Jan 9, 2008)

Bill Haithcoat said:


> Seems like there was a "Twin Cities Rocket" which went from Twin Cities to Texas points.I think I saw it once in Dallas.


Bill, that was the Twin *Star* Rocket, connecting the Lone Star State (Texas) with the North Star State (Minnesota).

My first Rock Island experience was between Memphis and Little Rock on the Choctaw "Rockette", the Budd car successor to the Choctaw Rocket.


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## Gingee (Jan 9, 2008)

George Harris said:


> Bill Haithcoat said:
> 
> 
> > Seems like there was a "Twin Cities Rocket" which went from Twin Cities to Texas points.I think I saw it once in Dallas.
> ...






MY HUSBAND THINKS IT WAS CALLED THE ROCKET. WE CAN'T FIND ANY PICTURES ANYWHERE. CAN'T FIND MUCH ONLINE ABOUT IT. I KNOW WE TOOK IT IN 1972 TO CHICAGO AND MAN DID IT ROCK BACK AND FORTH.


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## jphjaxfl (Jan 10, 2008)

Bill Haithcoat said:


> [Not being at home but away from my timetables I do not know what trains stopped at exactly what places. But there was a "Peoria Rocket". I am going to go out on a limb here---hopefully somebody can step in and help me. But I think at one time the Peoria Rocket line was handled by a very distinct low slung maybe kinda sorta talgo-ish looking train. I think it was articulated (i.e. all built together as a solid unit--the locomotive and the cars). It did not look like a regular train from back then or today either, unless maybe like a talgo. I actually think this was called the JET ROCKET--now that I think about it more. Maybe it was called the Jet Rocket originally, ran on several routes and finally wound up on the Peoria route. This is what I need help with in remembering.


Bill, you are correct. The JET ROCKET replaced the traditional streamlined Peoria Rocket for a while in about 1958. Nothing was done to improve the right of way between Peoria and Chicago. The line from Peoria to Bureau Jct runs right along the Illinois River and it gets flooded in the Spring. The Jet Rocket derailed a number of times so after about a year it was relagated to Joliet-Chicago commuter service where it finished its days. I believe it is in a museum. Actually the Jet Rocket's amenities were not as nice as the streamlined Peoria Rocket . The interior was more like the Greyhound buses of that era. The streamliner had traditional coaches, diner, parlor car and parlor observation lounge named the Creve Coeur Club. The parlor car patronage on the Rocket was very good with business people traveling the route taking advantage of the extra room that the parlor car provided. My Dad, brother and I were at the Rock Island Station in Peoria on the Sunday the Jet Rocket came to Peoria to be on display before going in to service. It came in from the Rock Island Shops in Silvis near Rock Island over the RIP (Rock Island and Peoria) line which had not seen passenger trains since pre WWII. Rock Island spent a lot of money on the Jet Rocket and I don't think they got the return it.


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## Sam Damon (Jan 10, 2008)

For a bit more information on the Aerotrain, click  here. (Sorry, link only.)

For a PDF copy of the 1956 PRR Aerotrain advertising brochure, surf here.


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## MrFSS (Jan 10, 2008)

They still have The Rock Island Aerotrain in The National Rail Museum in Green Bay. I saw it last summer on a visit there.


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## iron mountain (Jan 11, 2008)

Sorry Gingee, this reply is not about Peoria but it is about the Rock Island Rocky Mountain Rocket. When I was 15 years old I took the Rocky Mountain Rocket from Chicago to Denver and on to Colorado Springs. The Rocket passed through Nebraska at night. I was a coach passenger and had fallen asleep. In the wee hours I woke up and looked out the window and could see the telephone poles zipping past the window so fast that they were almost a blur. The conductor just happended to be walking down the aisle at that moment so I asked, "How fast were we going?". He was quite personable and stopped to chat with me for a moment. He said that through this part of the country the Rocket ran at about 120 to 125 miles per hour. I believe that we were west of Omaha at the time. This was in the late 1950's. I just couldn't resist sharing this bit of nostalgia with all you rail fans. And finally, what a sight that must have been to have seen the Rocket blasting down the track at 120 mph across the Nebraska prairie.


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## George Harris (Jan 11, 2008)

iron mountain said:


> Sorry Gingee, this reply is not about Peoria but it is about the Rock Island Rocky Mountain Rocket. . . . He said that through this part of the country the Rocket ran at about 120 to 125 miles per hour. I believe that we were west of Omaha at the time.


I think your leg was getting a pull of about 25 to 35 mph.


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## Gingee (Jan 11, 2008)

That train sure is strange looking. Look at that nose.

Okay, so noone has any pictures on the Rocket? Or the train station or stations in Peoria?


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## MrFSS (Jan 11, 2008)

OK - I found a picture of the *Peoria Rocket* sitting in La Salle Street station in Chicago about 1970. It was in one of my RR history books. Sorry, no Peoria station picture.


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## George Harris (Jan 11, 2008)

From a 1948 CRIP schedule I found on line: There were two Rockets, a connection through Bureau, and an overnight train with a 14 section pullman and a through coach. The Rockets were numbered 501 though 504 and had a "Parlor Lounge Car with Drawing Room", a dining car and three reserved reclining seat "Chair Cars"

The distance was 161 miles, the Rockets took 2 hours 35 minutes westbound and 2 hours 45 minutes eastbound, for an average speed of 62.3 mph westbound and 58.5 mph eastbound. The other trains were significantly slower, taking over 4.5 hours.


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## Gingee (Jan 13, 2008)

Thanks. My husband remembers it being silver but gad, that was many years ago. I am sure he forgot. LOL


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## jphjaxfl (Jan 14, 2008)

Gingee said:


> Thanks. My husband remembers it being silver but gad, that was many years ago. I am sure he forgot. LOL


The cars on the Peoria Rocket were always stainless steel silver. Rock Island Locomotives were dark red with silver but by 1970 after one or two reorganizations of the Rock Island, they had changed to Red and Yellow, as pictured. In 1975 when I last rode the Peoria Rockets, the dining car and coaches were originally built for the Golden State LTD. The original Peoria Rocket equipment mentioned in 1948 timetable was built in the late 1930s and was one of the early streamliners in the midwest.


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## Gingee (Jan 15, 2008)

I know when we took it in 1972 it took a very long time to get to Chicago. You could have driven quicker. My husband (boyfriend then) called up to make reservations and they just laughed.


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## MrFSS (Jan 15, 2008)

The last Rock Island time table was in January of 1971 right before Amtrak came into existence. They ran trains between Chicago and Rock Island and Chicago and Peoria. That was it, all coach, no sleepers. Here is the table.


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## haolerider (Jan 15, 2008)

George Harris said:


> From a 1948 CRIP schedule I found on line: There were two Rockets, a connection through Bureau, and an overnight train with a 14 section pullman and a through coach. The Rockets were numbered 501 though 504 and had a "Parlor Lounge Car with Drawing Room", a dining car and three reserved reclining seat "Chair Cars"
> The distance was 161 miles, the Rockets took 2 hours 35 minutes westbound and 2 hours 45 minutes eastbound, for an average speed of 62.3 mph westbound and 58.5 mph eastbound. The other trains were significantly slower, taking over 4.5 hours.


Many, many years ago - 1944-46 - I used to sit at one of the stations south of Chicago, with my Grandmother and watch the Rocket fly through town. My dream was to ride the train when my Father returned from WWII. In late 1946, he returned and we rode from LaSalle Street Station south to either Joliet or Peoria - I can't remember which, but I do remember they had a dining car - with Chocolate pudding for dessert and I was disappointed, since the train didn't seem to be going as fast as when I stood on the platform and watched it pass at full speed. The station is still there, but like many other things from that era, the Rocket is long gone!


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## Gingee (Jan 15, 2008)

Life would be easier if the trains went out of Peoria again. I think it is so neat just relaxing (after years of long distance driving on vacations) and watch the world go by or read or sleep.


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## The Homus (Feb 14, 2009)

I happened across this post via Google looking for an N-Scale Rock Island "Jet Rocket" model. Figured I would leave some additional info to go along with the excellent info left above.

#1 The "Jet Rocket" was the only one of these units ordered by Rock Island. I have found mixed information on #1 as to whether it was a Talgo, or was built by GM's Electro-Motive Division (EMD) to compete with Talgos.

#2 and #3 were bought at a bargain price from EMD as these were the demonstrators used by other railroads, but none of the others wanted to purchase the demonstrators or order new AeroTrains.

All of them were known for their bumpy and unstable ride, and even though they were rated to go 100+ mph they were usually kept down to 60mph by anyone who wanted to get where they were going. The attempt was made at using them for Rocket service, but the unstable ride pushed them into commuter service in and around Chicago.

They lasted for about 10 years on the commuter circuit before being retired. #1 was scrapped at the Silvis Yard, #2 went to Green Bay and #3 went to St. Louis as described in the flyer above.

The Peoria Rocket I have been investigating quite a bit, as I am looking to date my own trainset between 1940-1960. So far I have found that many different locomotive models were used for Peoria service, making it a little difficult to narrow down. I have found pictures and history of beautifully painted, if not oddly shaped, DL109s and DL107s in the Maroon and Silver with the lettering "The Rocket" down the side which were the Peoria Rocket, but I have also found pictures and information showing blocky, freight-train looking RS2s handling the Peoria Rocket duties. It gets even harder to narrow down which engine did what the closer to 1980 you get.

I was able to get most of this info out of a book called "Rock Island Diesel Locomotives: 1930-1980" by Louis A. Marre.

If you want a good resource to answer a lot of the questions about the Rock Island services, I would check the Rock Island Technical Society:

www.rits.org


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## MrFSS (Feb 14, 2009)

Here is some video I took in the 50's in Chicago of one of the Aerotrains. Very quick, but gives you an idea of the size, etc.


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## George Harris (Feb 23, 2009)

MrFSS said:


> The last Rock Island time table was in January of 1971 right before Amtrak came into existence. They ran trains between Chicago and Rock Island and Chicago and Peoria. That was it, all coach, no sleepers. Here is the table.


Nope. It was later than that. Rock Island was one of three railroads that did not join Amtrak. Do not know when these trains were finally dropped, but it was something like 1975. Rock Island did not join Amtrak because these were the only two trains they had left and they were relatively cheap to operate. The Amtrak entry fee for them was based on a time when they had more trains, so the CRIP being on the verge of bankruptcy decided that to keep running what they had was cheaper in the short term than the Amtrak entry fee, and that they could drop the trains as soon as the "you must run your trains if you don't join" time had elapsed. As it turned out, there was no "long term" as far as the Rock Island was concerned.


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## FriskyFL (Feb 23, 2009)

George Harris said:


> MrFSS said:
> 
> 
> > The last Rock Island time table was in January of 1971 right before Amtrak came into existence. They ran trains between Chicago and Rock Island and Chicago and Peoria. That was it, all coach, no sleepers. Here is the table.
> ...


The Peoria Rocket and Quad Cities Rocket were both discontinued on December 31, 1978. I rode the Peoria Rocket once, when I was an infant, on a weekend trip to visit my aunt (as told to me by my mother), unfortunately I don't have any memories...the Rocket was still operating when we moved away from Peoria for good in the spring of 1976, having never gotten another chance to ride the Rocket.


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## George Harris (Feb 23, 2009)

Mordac said:


> George Harris said:
> 
> 
> > MrFSS said:
> ...


Thanks for that. If I recall correctly, the Rock got some state money for operating costs to keep these trains going in their last years, but never did get any to spend on the track so the schedule coould get down to something like its former good times.


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## JAChooChoo (Feb 23, 2009)

" Rock Island was one of three railroads that did not join Amtrak"

*Four*

*Southern*

*Rock Island*

*D&RGW*

*Georgia*


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