Rock Island 643 is former Electro-Motive E8 demonstrator 952, the first E8 built. Along the roofline, one can see the locomotive's cooling-coil piping, which extends across both radiator hatches. This detail is shared only with the first production unit of the type, Wabash 1003. On all other examples of E8s and E9s, the pipe is confined to the rear hatch only. The Budd-built coach-dome-observation car, by the way, was built for the C&O "Chessie" streamliner, and was later operated by the Rio Grande. In this this train, it was a first-class car provided on the Rock Island train, operated by Butterworth Tours.
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