Out of the 120,000 or so steam locomotives built and used in the United States, only about 220 were streamlined–or, as the Chicago & North Western called it, steamlined–for passenger service. Railroads went to the trouble to streamline steam locomotives … Continue reading
A consulting firm named Coverdale and Colpitts (now part of URS) once did a variety of economic analyses for the rail industry. In 1935, the firm published a report on the Burlington Zephyrs, followed by reports in 1938, 1939, 1941, … Continue reading
Like the overnight Chicago-Denver trains, the two-night Chicago-Pacific Coast City trains were timed to minimize the loss of business hours. This worked especially well westbound, the direction in which time zones work in the traveler’s favor. During the late 1930s, … Continue reading
Experience with the City of Portland and City of Los Angeles had proven to the Union Pacific that its first-generation streamliners were too small for anything but local service. So it cancelled its planned fourth train, the M-10003, and ordered … Continue reading
The Union Pacific was so confident about the success of the M-10000 that it ordered three more similar, but longer, trains even before the M-10000 was completed. Though the power cars of these trains were outwardly identical to the M-10000, … Continue reading
After sending the M-10000 on a tour of the country, the Union Pacific exhibited the train at the Chicago “Century of Progress” fair. For the exhibit, the railroad added one more car, the “Overland Trail,” a Pullman sleeper with 10 … Continue reading
The Union Pacific Railroad won the race to put the first streamliner in service, introducing the bright yellow M-10000 to the traveling public in 1934. Built by Pullman with aluminum bodies and a distillate (kerosene) engine made by a division … Continue reading
