By Eric Berger
GULFPORT, Miss. — In an eventful summer for the “new” Rock Island, the company has acquired a former Louisville & Nashville observation car and made the final push to reopen a portion of the dormant Gulf & Ship Island Railroad.
The obs car is Royal Street, a five-bedroom buffet lounge with a rounded end and fluted stainless steel sides built by Pullman in 1950 for service on the Crescent between New Orleans and New York City. It later served on the Gulf Wind from New Orleans to Jacksonville, Fla., and Seaboard Air Line and Atlantic Coast Line trains between New York and Miami. It has been privately owned since the creation of Amtrak in 1971.
Acquiring the car was another step forward for Robert J. Riley and his wife Gwen, who over the past four years have been building the railroad system, following Robert’s retirement as an engineer.
Rock Island 4310 leads a Mississippi Delta Railroad freight train at Webb, Mississippi. Photo by Terry Redeker.
Despite the nostalgic aspects of the line, the Rileys are all business when it comes to railroad operations. While the Royal Street may provide a distinguished exclamation point at the end of a future Rock Island executive train, they bought it for its immediate revenue potential in charter service. Royal Street is Amtrak certified with A Clearance, permitting it to travel throughout the Amtrak system behind its trains, far beyond the rails of Rock Island’s own system.
Extensively restored and equipped with the amenities one might expect on such a luxurious car, it can hold 16 passengers on day trips and includes a chef to prepare meals on overnight charters. For details on chartering the car, send an email to royalstreet@rockislandrail.com or call (855) 663-7625, Ext. 701.
Royal Street will be on the tail end of the City of New Orleans to Chicago, departing on Sept. 10. A trip to St. Louis is planned for two days later.
In Mississippi, the Rock is now rolling in Gulfport, on a segment of the old Gulf & Ship Island Railroad. Like the Mississippi Delta Railroad that forms the core of the new Rock Island system, the G&SI was once part of Illinois Central. Now owned by Harrison County, the track between the Bernard Bayou Industrial Park and a connection with Kansas City Southern has been out of service for more than five years. Rock Island employees have spent most of 2021 working to rehabilitate 8.5 miles of the historic line, which is expected to reopen in August. Riley credited Craig Simmons and Simmons Railroad Group for “a top-notch job” on repairs to a key bridge. Power will be provided by RI 1106, a GP15-1.
Also underway is the revival of the Great River Railroad, a 32-mile line between Rosedale and a connection with the Columbus & Greenville at Greenville. Yet another former Illinois Central property, the line has belonged to the Port of Rosedale since 1981, but has been embargoed since 2001. Rock Island won the bid to revive the line last year and has been working on the track since the completion of a brush-clearing contract by R.J. Corman. Two ex-Army Alco switchers remain on the railroad but are stored out-of-service with no immediate plans for repairs.
With two decades of deterioration to correct, Riley describes the GTR project as “a work in progress,” not far enough along to estimate a completion date.
But resurrecting railroads is apparently like eating potato chips for the industrious Riley, and two just aren’t enough, so he remains on the lookout for opportunities to expand the new Rock Island system.
“This is just the beginning,” he said.
