Countdown to Steam Weekend!
One week away! Those who bought tickets in time for the Iowa Interstate Railroad's Chillicothe-Henry excursions May 18, will be first to experience a ride behind steam on this line in 57 years. We know this fact because the Peoria Morning Star ran a story March 5, 1952 with the headline, All Diesel Power Passenger Trains On R. I. This Month . Delivery of six EMD E-8A passenger diesels enabled the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad to retire steam passenger power which then pulled Nos. 9 and 230, the nightly locals between Peoria and Chicago. The locomotive believed to have pulled the last steam-powered passenger train on the Rock Island's Peoria-Bureau line was 4-6-2 No. 886. In 1956, the Peoria Jaycees asked the Rock Island to donate this locomotive to Peoria for public display. After it was learned that 886 had been scrapped, sister 887 was renumbered "886" and substituted as a gift to the Peoria group. "New 886" moved to Peoria on a fr...