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The passenger trains of the Chicago Rock Island & Pacific or Rock Island (RI) were known for the motto “Route of the Rockets". This motto encapsulates a fleet of fast moving trains serving the midwest. RI, being frugally managed, frequently assigned their heavyweight headend cars into streamlined consist. Their long distance passenger routes included Chicago La Salle St. Station to Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal with the Southern Pacific (SP), Chicago to Denver, Memphis to Tucumcari, and Minneapolis to Dallas. Further, these common RI heavyweight cars were assigned to secondary trains such as Trains 39 & 40 between Minneapolis and LA, and Trains 21 & 22 between Memphis and LA carrying sealed U.S. Mail. Wheels of Time faithfully reproduced these in miniatures with history in mind. Car #4015 represented a 1909-built clerestory roof car by American Car & Foundry (ACF), while cars #4113 and #4122 were 1927/1928-built arched roof cars by ACF.  Did you notice a little star by the car number? It denotes facilities for the express personnel. These cars are developed with attention to details that you come to expect.  A brief note in history, RI and SP traditionally exchanged locomotives at Tucumcari NM for their joint passenger trains until 1967 where they established run-throughs of their engines to reduce expense and increase equipment utilization. In 1967 SP "torpedo" Geeps #3006 & #3007, normally assigned to the SF commute pool, participated in run-through arrangements from Memphis TN to El Paso TX on Trains 21 & 22 (see SP Trainline Sprg 2023 issue).

Rock Island 4113 arched roof BE

Rock Island 4015 clerestory roof BE

Illinois Central Railroad: Illinois Central Railroad (IC) purchased numerous heavyweight 74-ft baggage-express cars (70’-9” over the end sills). The 1921 Pullman-built (Lot 4616) arched roof baggage-express cars, Nos. 755-772, were assigned to “Magazine Loading” service. Those cars carried catalogs and magazines from the printers. Remember the "Sears Christmas catalogs? Clerestory roof baggage-express cars, Nos. 790-794, were built by American Car & Foundry in 1926 (Lot 212) and assigned to baggage and express services. Some of these cars lasted until just before the Amtrak era. The striking orange and brown scheme first appeared on IC’s Panama Limited in 1942. IC was known to mix its lightweight streamlined cars with these heavyweight headend cars on their trains. Wheels of Time is delighted to make these striking decorated headend cars available for your collection.

IC Pre-produciton photo

Illinois Central 758 arched; "Mag Loading"

Illinois Central 792 clerestory

Atlantic Coast Line: Atlantic Coast Line (ACL) was the premier route for New York to Florida passenger traffic. What's better than having a vacation in Florida when the northeast is freezing over during winter? ACL named trains included the “East Coast Champion” to Miami and the “West Coast Champion” to Tampa. These colorful heavyweight cars were used on secondary trains, including the Havana Special, the Florida Special, and the Everglades. ACL is best known for its purple and silver paint scheme on its diesels and heavyweight passenger cars. The purple scheme was used until 1957, when it became too difficult to maintain, leading ACL to switch some cars back to green for its heavyweight cars. These C-9 baggage express cars, built by Bethlehem Steel Co. in 1938, were classified as ‘Express Cars’ and carried less-than-car-load express shipments. Cars #1630 and #1641 were equipped with facilities for train personnel (i.e., messenger equipped, marked with a star above the car number). All were rebuilt with Met-L-Wood doors. Wheels of Time is delighted to bring you this bit of passenger travel in fine detailed miniatures.

WOT ACL - Left
Atlantic Coast Line 1634 arched purple

Atlantic Coast Line 1630 arched green 

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