Triple Headed Steam Excursion from Rock Island to Bureau, Illinois.

A series of Steam Locomotive Excursions were ran in conjunction with River Way 2006, the celebration marking the 150th anniversary of the country’s first railroad bridge to cross the Mississippi River in 1856. The Trips will use Chinese Class QJ 2-10-2s #6988 & #7081 which were brought to the U.S. earlier this year. Henery Posner III, purchased the two locomotives from the Ji-Tong Railway in the remote, mountainous region of Inner Mongolia and had them relocated to the United States by Railroad Development Corp. (RDC), a company owned by Posner.

QJ's #6988 and #7081 made their official, American debut with an hour-long dedication ceremony on Thursday, September 14th. During the following three days, the QJ's stormed across the heartland of Illinois and Iowa finally proving themselves to the public and providing a glimpse to what it may have been like in Inner Mongolia just a few years ago.

Saturday September 16, 2006 proved to be one of the steam events of the year, as promised by the announcement a week earlier, QJ's #6988 and #7081 lead Milwaukee Road #261 and consist on a rare triple-header from Rock Island to Bureau Junction and back.