Unveiling Rock Island Locomotive 4506

Unveiling Rock Island Locomotive 4506
Recorded on 7/7/18

A-Train4014 Productions returns to the Illinois Railway Museum on Saturday, July 7 for the unveiling of Rock Island GP7R 4506 diesel locomotive with Andrew Mangalindan and Aaron Gonzales representing us and special guest: Ben Nicholas (TwigyBNSF).

History of Rock Island Locomotive 4506:
This locomotive was built in 1952 and it was originally Rock Island GP7 1266 in red, black, and white colors. It operated freight service on the Rock Island Railroad for over twenty years until the Rock Island Railroad filed for bankruptcy in 1975. Precision National, a rebuilding company, made an agreement with the Rock Island Railroad to rebuild the GP7 locomotives into GP7R locomotives. When the Rock Island completely shut down its railroad, the Rock Island sent GP7R 4506 back to Precision National and eventually it was sold to the Chicago & North Western Railroad which became C&NW 4160. It was operated for the Chicago & North Western Railroad and Union Pacific into the late 1900’s. The Illinois Railway Museum acquired the locomotive in 2007 and it was in C&NW colors. It wasn’t operational and only served to be stripped for parts. In 2008, the museum volunteers were able to get the locomotive operating again and the decision was made to preserve the locomotive and repaint it into Rock Island colors again.

In June of this year, the locomotive received a new coat of paint in June this year in its 1975 vintage colors from the Rock Island. It was put on display at the East Union Depot for photo opportunities and hauled a short passenger train later in the day. We were all over the museum property including Seeman Road capturing photos and videos of Rock Island GP7R 4506 running on its first day of operations and it was a successful first day for the locomotive. In addition, keep watching towards the end as we even got to put our cameras inside the locomotive and take a cab ride on the locomotive. Overall, it was a successful day at the Illinois Railway Museum getting videos and photos of 4506 running on its first day on the museum property. Special shoutout to the IRM Diesel Crew for working really hard on the locomotive and for giving our crew an opportunity to give us a cab ride as well.