[RITSlist] Fw: Zephyr Rocket

[David Engle]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Kent Schneider 
To: RIRocket at kc.rr.com 
Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 8:31 PM
Subject: Zephyr Rocket


Dave 

Here's some more information for the RITSlist about the Zephyr Rocket.  We saw this train quite a bit at Waterloo in the evening.  We had an aunt who lived a couple of blocks away, so we walked to the depot whenever in Waterloo when the train was due.  RI E3A 626 was seen a lot.  I remember riding the train from Manly to Cedar Falls in a very rough riding B&O coach, still in full B&O lettering.    We also rode from Manly to Waterloo once, this time in a RI streamlined coach.  You could always tell when the train had a CB&Q unit because of the horn.  The cars were mixed between RI and CB&Q and not in solid trainsets of each, at least during the 1961 to 1966 time frame.  We would get to the depot early enough in order to watch the searchlight signals show the train's approach.  The U.S. Mail and Railway Express trucks would arrive at the Waterloo depot almost a half hour before the train arrived.  Of course the oscillating Mars light showed in advance of the train.  The Mars light did the same on CGW freights at night.  The oscillating could be seen several miles before the train appeared.  Hope this helps.
Kent Schneider
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