The Rock Island Line is a mighty good road. . .*

The Rock Island or Chicago Rock Island & Pacific (reporting marks: CRI&P / ROCK) started life in 1852 to link Chicago with Rock Island. The Rock Island adopted the all aluminum paint scheme for some of it's heavyweight passenger rolling stock to better match their lightweight rolling stock as these Wheels of Time cars will be. In 1927, the American Car & Foundry constructed nine heavyweight baggage-express cars numbered 4112-4120 with a follow-on order from RI in 1928 for ten more numbered 4121-4130. These cars had the classic lines of the arched roof with the Utility roof ventilators. The "star" by the car number signifies they were equipped for messenger service - facilities for the express agent working onboard. These cars were seen on many RI trains including jointly-operated trains -  such as the destination to the Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal via SP. Wheels of Time will roll out these heavyweight RI baggage-express cars. Multiple car numbers are offered in single and 2-car sets. Pre-Orders are due May 19th.

*The Rock Island Line is a mighty good road. The Rock Island Line is the road to ride… (the chorus from the name sake song - link sung by Johnny Cash)