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Its western terminus was cut back first to Omaha, then to Council Bluffs. The train was also re-equipped with streamlined equipment in 1948.Īs the Rocky Mountain Rocket was downgraded due to nonrail competition, the route traveled by the train was gradually shortened from 1966 onward. The Rock Island conceded nothing to its rival, even installing ABS signaling on the route west of Lincoln in an effort to maintain transit speed. The RMR split at Limon, Colorado, with half the train diverting to Colorado Springs, an operation known as the "Limon Shuffle". While the Q fielded its Zephyrs on the route, the Rock Island ran the Rocky Mountain Rocket. The Rock Island also competed with the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy railroad in the Chicago-to-Denver market.
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The Golden State was the last first-class train on the Rock Island, retaining its dining cars and sleeping cars until its last run on February 21, 1968. The Rock Island's cars were delivered and found their way into the Golden State's fleet soon after delivery. As the Rock Island's set of streamlined passenger cars was being finished, the Southern Pacific abruptly withdrew its purchase. The Golden Rocket was scheduled to closely match the Santa Fe's transit time end-to-end and was to have its own dedicated trainsets, one purchased by the Rock Island, the other by Southern Pacific. In 1947, both the Rock Island and Southern Pacific jointly advertised the coming of a new entry in the Chicago-Los Angeles travel market. The 1948 modernization of the Golden State occurred with some controversy. Iowa City Depot, once part of the Rock Island system The heaviest traffic was on the Chicago-to-Rock Island and Rock Island-to-Muscatine lines. Louis, Missouri Meta, Missouri, to Santa Rosa via Kansas City Herington, Kansas, to Galveston, Texas, via Fort Worth, Texas, and Dallas, Texas and Santa Rosa to Memphis. Major lines included Minneapolis to Kansas City, Missouri, via Des Moines, Iowa St. Southernmost reaches were to Galveston, Texas, and Eunice, Louisiana, while in a northerly direction, the Rock Island got as far as Minneapolis, Minnesota. To the west, it reached Denver, Colorado, and Santa Rosa, New Mexico. The easternmost reach of the system was Chicago, and the system also reached Memphis, Tennessee. The Rock Island stretched across Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Texas. The railroad expanded through construction and acquisitions in the following decades. The M&M was acquired by the C&RI on July 9, 1866, to form the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Company.