One of the two remaining Rock Island Rockets is here seen at the south end of the La Salle Street Station throat. The Rock Island could not afford the "entrance fee" of $4,700,000 to join Amtrak in 1971 and continued running its own Chicago-Peoria and Chicago-Rock Island trains, although without the Rocket names. The state of Illinois began subsidizing the trains in 1972, at which time the Peoria Rocket and Quad Cities Rocket names were restored.
The Rock Island had several pieces of unusual equipment, such as this dome-observation, designed so that a train could be split apart for multiple destinations en route. Again, seen looking north from Roosevelt Road.
