On a humid, overcast April morning in1965, Rock Island FA-1 141 and a companion work their way along Kansas City Terminal tracks near Van Brunt Boulevard with an endless string of refrigerator cars headed west for produce loading. Rock Island acquired 16 of the FA-1’s and 8 FB-1’s in September and October 1948, and like other railroads, soon found out that the 1500-hp 244 prime-movers, which Alco had rushed into production, were prone to crankshaft failures and other woes. Like other roads, the Rock put up with the problems for a few years, then, in 1956, sent the engines off to EMD for installation of that builder’s more reliable V16-567. So equipped, they lasted well into the 1960s.
Not
just heritage schemes, not just commemorative schemes - this album is devoted to some of the world's most interesting paint schemes, past or present.
