| CRI&P NW2 771, Blue Island, Illinois, October 1979, photo by Chuck Zeiler. This is the Rock Island's roundhouse at Blue Island, patched and falling apart. In August 1979 the Brotherhood of Railway and Airline Clerks walked out on strike over back wages, leaving the suburban service in the hands of Metra, and the freight service operated by the Kansas City Terminal, as directed by the court. Locomotive 771 was built in January 1949 (c/n 6130) on EMD Order E973, and became RSS 771 sometime in 1981. |