505 | 501 | 503 | Train Number | 506 | 502 | 504 | ||||
Daily | Daily | Daily | Miles | Services | Daily | Daily | Daily | |||
5 45P | 11 00A | 7 00P | Dp | 0.0 | Chicago, IL (La Salle St. Sta.) (CT) | T C | Ar | 1 15P | 9 40A | 5 40P |
5 54P | 11 09A | 7 09P | 6.6 | Englewood, IL (63rd St.) | T C | 1 04P | 9 28A | 5 28P | ||
RF | RF | RF | 40.4 | Joliet, IL | T C | DF | DF | DF | ||
RF | 12 18P | 8 18P | 84.5 | Ottawa, IL | T C | DF | 8 14A | 4 14P | ||
RF | 12 33P | 8 33P | 99.1 | La Salle, IL | T C | DF | 7 59A | 3 59P | ||
RF 7 32P | N | N | Ar | 114.2 | Bureau, IL | T C | Dp | 11 20A | N | N |
The Peoria Rocket | 222 | |||||||||
N | N | Dp | 114.2 | Bureau, IL | T C | Ar | 11 10A | N | N | |
1 40P | 9 40P | Ar | 161.4 | Peoria, IL (Rock Island Depot) (CT) | T C | Dp | 10 00A | 7 00A | 3 00P | |
210 | Connecting Train Number | 227 | ||||||||
5 30P | Dp | 0.0 | Peoria, IL (Rock Island Depot) (CT) | T C | Ar | 1 25P | ||||
6 30P | Ar | 46.8 | Bureau, IL | T C | Dp | 12 20P | ||||
The Des Moines Rocket | ||||||||||
RF 7 32P | Dp | 114.2 | Bureau, IL | T C | Ar | 11 20A | ||||
8 30P | 179.3 | Moline, IL | T C | 10 24A | ||||||
8 38P | 181.2 | Rock Island, IL | T C | 10 19A | ||||||
8 44P | 182.8 | Davenport, IA | T C | 10 11A | ||||||
9 43P | 236.9 | Iowa City, IA (Wright St.) | T C | 9 14A | ||||||
DF | 302.6 | Grinnell, IA | T C | RF | ||||||
DF | 322.7 | Newton, IA | T C | RF | ||||||
11 45P | Ar | 357.7 | Des Moines, IA (CT) | T C | Dp | 7 15A |
A June 1938 analysis showed that the Rockets were enormously popular...and profitable. For the first (partial) year of operation, the Rock Island reported that the Peoria Rocket cleared $314,688 of revenue against direct expenses of $93,814, while the Des Moines Rocket had $353,956 revenue and $99,128 of direct expenses...an operating profit margin of over 70 percent![*] (Note, however, that this does not include capital expenditures or right-of-way and signal maintenance and expenses, which would change those figures significantly.) Even the food service made money...a rarity in any railroad's passenger operations.
In 1937, the Rock Island took the plunge into streamlining in a big way. It ordered six new lightweight stainless-steel trainsets from Budd, which were to become the Rockets. Their design shows some evolution from the original pioneering articulated streamliners: While the coach and dinette-coach sections were articulated, the trailing parlor-lounge observation car was of completely separate construction and a conventional diesel locomotive (a 1200 horsepower "TA" from Electro-Motive) provided the motive power. This semi-articulated design was to prove fortuitous when wartime exigencies necessitated a reshuffling of equipment; by replacing the dinette section with crew dormitory space and inserting a full dining car and a streamlined sleeper between the articulated coaches and the parlor-observation, the Rock Island expeditiously converted three of the original daytime-only trains into streamlined long-distance equipment to handle the load of the new Twin Star Rocket.
The trains shown in this timetable were four-car sets, with a triple-unit articulated coach which featured a baggage compartment and 32 dinette seats with a small pantry and kitchen in the forward unit. Bringing up the markers was the parlor-lounge-observation car. The Peoria Rocket entered service on September 19, 1937 making two round trips a day between Chicago and Peoria, while the Des Moines Rocket began making its single round trip a day a week later on September 26[*].