What happened to the Rock Island railroad and where is most of its stuff today?

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punchy71

New Member
Greetings,

I was doing some cursory research on the history of Rock Island railroad trying to figure out what happened to it at the end of its life. A book I checked out from my local library called "North American Railroad Family Trees" states the following:

"UP and Rock Island went through the motions of merger in the 1960s, and while the union was approved by the ICC (International Commerce Commission ?), the decision had taken too long, by which time Rock Island had fallen into such poor state that UP backed out. Ultimately, the Rock was liquidated, its system dismembered, and its equipment sold. (Today, many of Rock's surviving lines are part of the UP system, mostly through its acquisition of SP, C&NW, and other lines.)."

I would like to know who exactly the... "and other lines" are at the end of this statement is, does anyone know? Also this last statement only refers to its "lines", but really says nothing about what happened to its "equipment"... anyone know for sure?

Thanks
 



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