| Rock Island had stayed out of Amtrak at the beginning in 1971, largely because it lacked the funds to buy in. Thus, it still ran the two remaining trains of the once proud fleet of Rockets it had once stabled, and which ran til the end in March 1980. These were down to a couple of cars and an E 8, as in this view of the Quad Cities Rocket, ready for its 6:15 departure, as a Joliet train waits on the adjacent track with an F 40, just arrived as a replacement for the variety of E units-mostly E 8s, but a few E 7s, and the sole remaining E 6 in service in the US. The RTA unit is named for Rock on line community Tinley Park. |