The

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...

's M-10001 was a diesel-electric

streamlined Streamlines, streaklines and pathlines are field lines in a fluid flow. They differ only when the flow changes with time, that is, when the flow is not steady flow, steady. Considering a velocity vector field in three-dimensional space in the f ...

train built in 1934 by

Pullman-Standard The Pullman Company, founded by George Pullman, was a manufacturer of railroad cars in the mid-to-late 19th century through the first half of the 20th century, during the boom of railroads in the United States. Through rapid late-19th century d ...

with a power system developed by

General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...

Electro-Motive Corporation Electro-Motive Diesel (abbreviated EMD) is a brand of diesel-electric locomotives, locomotive products and diesel engines for the rail industry. Formerly a division of General Motors, EMD has been owned by Progress Rail since 2010. Electro-Motive ...

using a Winton 201A Diesel engine and

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

generator, control equipment and

traction motor A traction motor is an electric motor used for propulsion of a vehicle, such as locomotives, electric vehicle, electric or hydrogen vehicles, or electric multiple unit trains. Traction (engineering), Traction motors are used in electrically powe ...

s. It was the UP's second streamliner after the

M-10000 The M-10000 was an early American streamlined passenger trainset that operated for the Union Pacific Railroad from 1934 until 1941. It was the first streamlined passenger train to be delivered in the United States, and the second to enter regula ...

, their first equipped with a

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...

and was a longer train (six cars) than its three-car predecessor. All cars were articulated—

trucks A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport freight, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construction ...

were shared between each car. It was delivered on October 2, 1934, and was used for display, test and record-setting runs for the next two months before being returned to Pullman-Standard for an increase in power and capacity, following which it was placed into service as the '' City of Portland'' train. It has been nicknamed "The Banana".

Record-setting run

In October 1934 the M-10001, known as the "Canary Bolt" and still with its original engine, set an as-yet unbroken record of 57 hours from coast to coast of the United States, leaving

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

at 10 PM on the 22nd and arriving

Grand Central Terminal Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal station, terminal located at 42nd Street (Manhattan), 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York Ci ...

at 9:55 AM on the 25th. When placed in service as the ''City of Portland'' the train reduced the

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

schedule from 58 hours to 40 hours without any upgrades to track or other facilities.

Technical details

1935 General Motors ad for Winton diesel engines UP M-10001

When built, the M-10001 was a fully articulated six-car train, in length, comprising a power car, a

Railway Post Office In Canada and the United States, a railway post office, commonly abbreviated as RPO, was a railroad car that was normally operated in passenger service and used specifically for staff to sort mail en route, in order to speed delivery. The RPO w ...

/baggage car, three Pullman

sleeping car The sleeping car or sleeper (often ) is a railway passenger car (rail), passenger car that can accommodate all passengers in beds of one kind or another, for the purpose of sleeping. George Pullman was the main American innovator and owner of sl ...

s, and a rounded-tail coach/buffet/observation car. It was powered by a V12 version of the Winton 201-A engine, driving the first two trucks of the train. Pre-service testing revealed that the original engine was overtaxed, and that the truck design resulted in unstable oscillations at high speeds; in December 1934 the trainset was returned to Pullman to get a larger engine and lengthened trucks."Latest Streamline Train Has Giant Engine" ''Popular Mechanics'', December 1934
/ref> Martin P. Blomberg carried that experience with truck design to the

, reflected in the design of their E series locomotives. The rebuilding lengthened the train to and seven cars. The power car had added to accommodate a V16 Winton diesel engine. The RPO/baggage car was lengthened by to take a

steam generator Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

for train heating, and was followed by an added diner/lounge car. The Winton Diesel engine was the most powerful Diesel engine used in a passenger train until the postwar era. It was installed in Union Pacific's locomotive units built during 1935–36, after which twin engine designs became preferred.

Service life

City of Portland postcard Union Pacific Railroad

The rebuilt train was re-delivered on May 23, 1935, and after some test runs was dedicated as the first '' City of Portland'' on June 5 at the

Portland Rose Festival The Portland Rose Festival is an annual civic festival held during the month of June in Portland, Oregon. It is organized by the volunteer non-profit Portland Rose Festival Foundation (named the Portland Rose Festival Association until the 2000s ...

, entering service between Portland and Chicago the following day. It remained in that service until 1938 when it was replaced by the

M-10002 The Union Pacific Railroad's M-10002 was a diesel-electric streamliner train built in 1936 by Pullman-Standard, with prime movers from the Winton Engine division of General Motors Corporation and General Electric generator, control equipment an ...

trainset, reassigned from the ''

City of Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Southern California. With an estimated 3,878,704 residents within the city ...

''. After serving on the Portland-Seattle run it was retired in June 1939; the ''City of Denver'' trains needed more power and Union Pacific cannibalized M-10001 and M-10004. By December the diesel engine, generator, trucks, and the steam generator from the RPO/baggage car were removed and installed in a new carbody to become the third power unit on the CD-07 set for the '' City of Denver''. Two sleeping cars were refurbished and added to the former M-10004 car set, which served as a spare ''City of Denver'' set, then in 1941 was assigned to service as ''City of Portland,'' powered by an

EMC E3 The EMC E3 is a , A1A-A1A diesel-electric passenger locomotive that was manufactured by Electro-Motive Corporation of La Grange, Illinois as part of the E Series of EMC/EMD diesel passenger locomotives. The EMC demonstrator #822 was released ...

locomotive set. The remainder of the train was stored until August 13, 1941, when it was sold for scrap.

References

External links

* {{Pullman rolling stock North American streamliner trains Articulated passenger trains Union Pacific Railroad locomotives Diesel multiple units of the United States Diesel multiple units with locomotive-like power cars Night trains of the United States Scrapped locomotives Individual locomotives of the United States

Record-setting run

Technical details

Service life

References

Further reading

External links