30 years ago today the Rock Island shut down. A Chicago newscast remembers.
http://abclocal.go.com:80/wls/video?id=7361229
Some time back on one of the anniversaries of the shut down, a person who went thru the last enginner’s class reminisced for the Rock Island Technical Society. The last engr’s class was started before the liquidation order had been given. The class ended, with their promotions on March 28, 1980. That morning the instructor had said that they would never let the RI shut down, all of them would retire from the railroad. At the end of the day, the tone had changed. There was no last minute reprieve. They were all given their “diploma” and told to go home but not to bother to mark up as engineers. The person said he went on to work at other railroads, but never worked as an engineer.
Jeff