Which Rock Island steam locomotives ran from Saint Paul Minnesota to Kansas City Missouri in the steam era ( ie: 4-6-2, 4-8-4, 4-8-2)
I was hoping to read an answer to your question. Maybe someone will still answer with this bump.
Rich
From what I read, my guess is the 4-6-2 which the Rock Island did use for passenger operations. But, all three of the steamers you listed are possibilities.
There is a gentleman named Wes Barris who is an expert on the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad and its steam roster. You might want to contact him.
Rich
Wasn’t St. Paul, MN to Kansas City a joint route between the Rock Island and Burlington? The Zephyr Rocket being the feature train on the route.
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No, Zephyr Rocket ran between the Twin Cities and St. Louis. I’d have to look up the exact place it changed, but Twin Cities to Iowa (Manly?) was Rock Island, from there to St. Louis was Burlington.
Twin Star Rocket ran Twin Cities - Kansas City - Houston, basically all on Rock Island trackage (I know to get to the Twin Cities it had a joint trackage arrangement with the Milwaukee Road between Comus and Rosemount MN).
As far as steam, any “mainline” steam engine could be found on the MSP-KC main: 2-8-2, 4-6-2, 4-8-2, 4-8-4. 2-8-0s were common on local freights.
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Agreed, that seems to be the case from what I read.
Rich
According to a steam reference book I have the Rock Island only ran 4-4-2 and 4-6-2 for there passenger serve The 4-4-2’s had 75-77 in. drivers and the 4-6-2’s had 69 in. drivers , this was in Guide to North American Steam Locomotives revised edition hope this helps
Chuck
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Chuck, well done.
Rich
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Thank you Rich sorry it took that long to find the book I know I had it 
Chuck
Sure, Chuck. Meanwhile, I have been waiting, and waiting, and waiting. 
Rich
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I do work you know gets in the way of everything.
Chuck
You do? I thought one had to be retired to be on the forum.
Rich
I hope not that means I will have to come back in 6 years. 
Chuck
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Zephyr Rocket from the Twin Cities was handed off to the Burlington at Burlington, Iowa.
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If this is Drury’s book from 1993, you should note that steamlocomotive.com uses it as a reference that at least the R-67s (R-65s were rebuiilt to R-67s with 74" drivers by 1944) were used on passenger trains. As they say, somewhat unhelpfully in resolving this specific question: “Later bridge-strengthening allowed these heavyweights to pull freight and passenger trains to Denver, Fort Worth, Tucumcari, and Minneapolis”. (Minneapolis and ‘Twin Cities’ synonymous for our purposes).
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Back in the 1920s. The 4-4-2’s were gone by the end of the 1930s and their last duty was commuter service. 4-6-2’s lasted until the end of steam, but not so much as regular power on main line premier passenger trains.
Until a bridge strengthing program in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s, the 4-8-4’s would only have been usuable south of Des Moines to Kansas City. The 4-8-4’s weren’t regularly used into the Twin Cities until after the war. Probably as much for keeping them on the more busier routes with war traffic as much as any remaining restrictions.
4-8-2’s were used extensively as passenger power and probably were power on pre-diesel name trains running the Mid-Continent route. Once 4-8-4’s became available, they also would be on main line passenger trains where there were no restrictions. 2-8-2’s could be found in freight service almost anywhere on main and secondary routes. Some places in outer areas of the RI that hadn’t yet been upgraded had 2-8-0’s on freights. Once those areas had been improved, 2-8-2’s would replace the 2-8-0’s on through freights, relegating the later to local and extra service. Likewise, once 4-8-4’s were able to operate in more areas, they displaced the 2-8-2’s into local and extra power. Many 2-8-0’s were assigned to yard switching and branch line freight service at various locations.
There were also 2-10-2’s that ran into Manly IA from Silvis IL. I believe they also worked north up to the Twin Cities, at least on occasion if not regularly.
Jeff
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The Rock Island operated the Zepher Rocket between the Twin Cities and Burlington IA. From there to St. Louis was CB&Q.
The Twin Star Rocket was a dieselized streamliner from the outset. Before it was the Mid-Continent Special, a heavyweight train pulled by steam.
Jeff
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