Rock Island Lines, 1850-1969 and undated

The Tom Jackson collection contains published articles, manuscripts, printed pictures, photographs, and maps. Much of the collection is composed of reproductions of original materials loaned to Augustana College Special Collections by Tom Jackson for photocopying.

The collection has been organized into five series: Rock Island Lines; Rock Island Southern Railway; Clinton, Davenport, and Muscatine Railway; Tri-City Railway Company; and Miscellaneous. Each series is divided into subject files. Photographs are filed at the end of each series and are arranged alphabetically by subject.

The Rock Island Lines series contains an undated newspaper article about a retired coal miner who worked in the Gilchrist mines, where coal was mined for the Quincy and Rock Island Lines; historical outlines of the Rock Island Railroad, the Rockford, Rock Island and St. Louis Railroad, and the Warsaw and Rockford Railroad; Hand-drawn route maps; an issue of Rock Island Lines News Digest from 1952 celebrating the 100 year anniversary of the company; and photographs of coal mining, depots, and locomotive cars.

The Rock Island Southern Railway series contains correspondence between the Rock Island Southern and the Illinois Public Utilities Commission, an article about the corporate history, route maps, and photographs.

The Clinton, Davenport, and Muscatine Railway series contains a corporate structure of the United Light and Railway Company; a 1984 reprint of the Central Electric Railfans' Association bulletin; a history of the railway; and photographs of railway cars, street cars, and buses that replaced the first street cars in the 1940s.

The Tri-City Railway series contains a list of street cars owned by the railway in 1918 and photographs of various street cars used by the railway.

The Miscellaneous series contains photographs, printed drawings, and maps not related to the four companies represented in the other series in this collection. Most of the photographs and drawings are images of electric trains and locomotives belonging to the Davenport, Rock Island and Northwestern Railroad; Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad; and the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. The series also includes several route maps.