| Rock Island E8 647 on Train # 8, The Rocky Mountain Rocket, at Joliet, Illinois on July 11, 1965, Kodachrome by Chuck Zeiler. This locomotive was built in June 1951 ( c/n 14279 ) on EMD Order 2032A. The semaphore blade is dropping as eastbound The Rocky Mountain Rocket pulls into Joliet, and, if it's on schedule, the time is 7:55 AM CST, or 8:55 AM locally ( Daylight Savings Time ). This train left Colorado Springs AND Denver at 11:30 PM the evening before, joined together at Limon Colorado and became Train # 8 to Chicago. With one of the E8's running in reverse, I'm not sure how they did that. At inception, this train utilized custom-built E6 B-units (classed AB6) with cab controls added, as the trailing power unit, and the train was combined (or split) at Limon, each unit taking a portion of the train from or to either Denver or Colorado Springs. In addition to a sleeping car, diner, and club-lounge, # 8 has reserved seat chair cars, and according to the June 1965 Official Guide, picked up an additional chair car at Rock Island, Illinois. |