Aerotrain (GM)

The ''Aerotrain'' was a streamlined trainset that the General Motors (GM) Electro-Motive Division (EMD) introduced in 1955.. GM originally designated the light-weight consist as ''Train-Y'' (Pullman-Standard's ''Train-X'' project was already underway) before the company adopted the ''Aerotrain'' marketing name.

Design and components

GM's Styling Section first brought the ''Aerotrain's'' trainset to life, as it did for all of GM's body designs of that mid-century era. Chuck Jordan was in charge of designing the ''Aerotrain'' as chief designer of special projects. GM constructed two ''Aerotrains'', each of which used one of the last two (serial numbers 21463 and 21464) of three experimental diesel–electric EMD LWT12 power cars that the company built.(1)
(2)
(3) .

GM based the EMD LWT12's power components on those in the EMD SW1200 switcher. Like the SW1200, the LWT12 used the company's model EMD 567C 12-cylinder prime mover that could produce 1,200 horsepower.(1)
(2) The power car featured a cab that mimicked an aircraft's cockpit. The locomotive's overall design was similar to that of General Motors automobiles at the time.

The company completed the ''Aerotrains'' by coupling each of the two locomotives to sets of ten modified GM Truck & Coach Division (GMC) 40-seat intercity highway bus bodies. Designed to resemble the new PD-4501 Scenicruiser buses that GMC was building for Greyhound, the ''Aerotrain's'' passenger cars had windows with slanted sides. The finned back end of the train resembled the rear of a 1955 Chevrolet or Pontiac station wagon. Each car rode on two axles with an air suspension system that was intended to give a smooth ride, but had the opposite effect.

GM returned to a concept first used at the start of the streamliner era: semi-permanently coupled trainsets. The cars were 40 feet long, half the length of standard designs, thereby reducing the weight by 50%. To further reduce weight, the locomotives and cars were made of aluminum, rather than steel.

History

On August 22, 1955, Mrs. N.C. Dezendorf, the wife of GM vice-president and EMD general manager N.C. Dezendorf, christened the first ''Aerotrain'' trainset (GM-T1) during a press preview of the train that EMD held at its plant in McCook, Illinois (mailing address: La Grange, Illinois) near Chicago. On January 5, 1956, one ''Aerotrain'' made a test run from Washington to Newark on the Pennsylvania Railroad while the other traveled in four hours from Chicago to Detroit on the New York Central Railroad.

In late February 1956, the Pennsylvania Railroad rented the first trainset from GM and began operating it between New York City and Pittsburgh as the ''Pennsy'' (No. 1000). In June, the Pennsylvania reduced its ''Aerotrain's'' route, whereupon the trainset traveled only between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

After the second trainset's initial test run on January 5, General Motors demonstrated it on several railroads, including the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, where in April the train operated in California between Los Angeles and San Diego as a '' San Diegan''. In late April, the New York Central began to operate that trainset in revenue service as the ''Great Lakes Aerotrain'' between Chicago and Detroit during a trial period. From July to October, the New York Central ran the train between Chicago and Cleveland while continuing the trial period, after which it returned the trainset to GM.

In December 1956, the Union Pacific Railroad began to operate the second trainset between Los Angeles and Las Vegas as the ''City of Las Vegas'' (No. 1001). The ''Pennsy'' continued to run between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh until June 1957, after which time the first trainset joined the second in the Union Pacific's ''City of Las Vegas'' service. Unsatisfied with both, the Union Pacific stopped operating the trainsets in September and October 1957.

In October, 1958, General Motors sold both trainsets at a discount to the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (the Rock Island line), which designated their locomotives as numbers 2 and 3 while using both trainsets in commuter service between Chicago and Joliet. The two trainsets ended service in 1966, ten years after they first ran. Although the Rock Island scrapped or re-used most of the trainsets' equipment, both locomotives and two pairs of coaches remain on display in museums.

Meanwhile, the first EMD LWT12 locomotive (serial number 20826), began to travel on the Rock Island line between Chicago and Peoria in February 1956 when pulling the line's ''Jet Rocket'' train, which bore a strong resemblance to an ''Aerotrain''. The Rock Island later designated the power car as locomotive number 1.

The American Car and Foundry Company constructed the ''Jet Rocket'' coaches, most of which were similar, but not identical, to those of the Talgo II. The last car resembled that of the future Talgo III.

Unlike the slanted sides of the windows on the ''Aerotrain's'' ten coaches, the windows on the ''Jet Rocket's'' twelve coaches had vertical sides. In addition, the ''Jet Rocket's'' Talgo-like coaches had one axle, whereas the ''Aerotrain's'' coaches had two.

After less than two years, the Rock Island shortened the ''Jet Rocket's'' route. The train then traveled only between Chicago and Joliet, as did the railroad's two ''Aerotrains''. The railroad scrapped the train several years later.

GM's "lightweight with a heavyweight future" was introduced at a time when passenger train revenues were declining due to competition from airlines and private automobiles. Although they featured a streamlined design, the ''Aerotrain''s failed to capture the public's imagination. Their cars, based on GM's bus designs and using an air cushioning system, were rough riding and uncomfortable. The design of the locomotive section made routine maintenance difficult and it was underpowered..

Originally intended to reach speeds of up to and to travel between New York City and Chicago in 10.5 hours, modifications reduced the ''Aerotrain's'' maximum speed to . The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe needed a helper locomotive to enable the 1,200 horsepower LWT-12 power car to climb the Sorrento grade outside of San Diego when pulling the ''Aerotrain's'' ten coaches as a ''San Diegan''. A Union Pacific LWT-12 later required the assistance of a 1,750 horsepower EMD GP9 switcher locomotive to transport the cars of the ''City of Las Vegas'' up Southern California's Cajon Pass. Uncomfortable riding conditions associated with the ''Aerotrain's'' higher speeds later prompted the Rock Island line to restrict its two cheaply-purchased ''Aerotrains'' to low-speed commuter service in and near Chicago, retiring the trainsets in 1966, after a decade of active service with the various operators.

Preserved Aerotrains

The EMD LWT12 locomotives and two passenger cars of each of the two ''Aerotrains'' that GM constructed are now on display. The National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin, exhibits the Rock Island line's repainted ''Aerotrain'' locomotive number 2 and two of its coaches (parts of trainset number 2). The National Museum of Transportation in Kirkwood, Missouri (near St. Louis) exhibits the Rock Island's similarly repainted ''Aerotrain'' locomotive number 3 and two coaches (parts of trainset number 1). The designs on the repainted locomotives do not resemble those that the power cars bore when last serving the Rock Island line.

Aerotrain legacy

Disneyland operated a scale version of the ''Aerotrain'' known as the ''Viewliner'' from 1957 to 1959. The Washington Park and Zoo Railway in Portland, Oregon, has operated a scale, diesel-powered replica of the ''Aerotrain'' (dubbed the ''Zooliner'') to transport zoo visitors since 1958. Idlewild Park in Reno, Nevada, operates a small train whose locomotive is fashioned after that of the ''Aerotrain''.

The ''Viewliner''

On June 26, 1957, the narrow-gauge Santa Fe and Disneyland ''Viewliner'' (billed by Disneyland as "the fastest miniature train in the world") commenced operation. Two separate trains, designed and built as scale replicas of the futuristic ''Aerotrain'', traveled a figure-eight track through parts of Tomorrowland and Fantasyland parallel to a portion of the Disneyland Railroad (DRR) main line. The Tomorrowland train featured cars that were named for the planets while the cars of the Fantasyland train were named after various Disney characters.

The modern, streamlined trains were placed in service to represent the future of rail travel in contrast to the steam-powered DRR which represented its past. Motive power for each train consisted of an integral head-end unit driven by an Oldsmobile "Rocket" V8 gasoline engine. Oldsmobile also furnished the windscreen, doors and instrument console for each of the two 5,000 lb (2,300 kg) locomotives. The attraction operated until September 15, 1958, when construction began on the Matterhorn and Submarine Voyage; the Disneyland Monorail System took the place of the ''Viewliner'' in June of the following year.

The ''Zooliner''

The ''Zooliner'', one of three trains on the Washington Park and Zoo Railway operating in the Oregon Zoo in Portland, is a 5/8-scale replica of the ''Aerotrain''. The ''Zooliner'' entered service in 1958. On June 14, 2008, the zoo held a "50th Birthday" celebration for the locomotive. The ''Zooliner'' remains the primary train for the zoo.

Train-X

Train-X was a lightweight set of nine short all-aluminum coaches articulated together that Pullman-Standard built and that two 1,000–horsepower Baldwin RP-210 diesel-hydraulic locomotives (one on each end) transported. The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (the New Haven Railroad) operated as the '' Dan'l Webster'' the consist that the coaches and locomotives formed. The train traveled between New York City's Grand Central Terminal and Boston's South Station from 1957 to 1958.

A nearly identical train having only one locomotive ran between Cleveland and Cincinnati as the New York Central Railroad's '' Ohio Xplorer'' from 1956 to 1957. Timetables show that the ''Ohio Xplorer'' ran in 1956 during a time that the railroad was running the second ''Aerotrain'' trainset (the ''Great Lakes Aerotrain'') between Cleveland and Chicago. The two left Cleveland at 6:45 and 6:35 a.m. respectively and returned during the evening.

References

External links

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Bowser_Manufacturing_HO_scale
_''Aerotrain''.html" ;"title="HO scale">Bowser Manufacturing HO scale
''Aerotrain''">HO scale">Bowser Manufacturing HO scale
''Aerotrain''– includes a number of prototype photographs.
* 10:39 minutes video showing internal and external views of two demonstration ''Aerotrains'' (Numbers 1000 and 1001) traveling at speeds of up to .

{{EMD misc

Electro-Motive Division locomotives