Classic Streamliners – Amtrak Exhibit Train – New York Central System’s GM Aerotrain

Classic Streamliners

AMTRAK EXHIBIT TRAIN VISITS CHEYENNE, WYOMING

Since 2011, the Amtrak Exhibit Train has travelled the United States to showcase the 40 plus year history of Amtrak, its current railway operations, and its future goals for high-speed passenger travel. On Saturday, May 17^th and Sunday, May 18^th, that train will visit the historic Cheyenne Depot Museum in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

The Amtrak Exhibit Train offers a free, self-guided tour of exhibits, artifacts, and Amtrak memorabilia. Pulled by a diesel-electric locomotive, there are three display cars and a gift shop car at the end of the train.

The visit coincides with the 9^th Annual Cheyenne Depot Days. Built by Henry Van Brunt for the Union Pacific in 1886, the depot was donated to the City of Cheyenne and Laramie County in 1993. The Cheyenne Depot Museum, via walk-thru exhibits, provides the history of Cheyenne from the arrival of the transcontinental railroad. This writer visited the museum in 2013 and the detail and lay-out are very impressive.Cheyenne, Wyoming, has been very much an intersection for the railway world of late. On May 8th, the steam train Big Boy 4014 arrived from California to be rebuilt in the local Union Pacific steam shop for future use as an excursion train. Additionally, the upcoming fourth season of AMC’s Hell on Wheels, which dramatizes the building of the first transcontinental railroad, will begin with the historic Cheyenne founded in 1867.

“New York Central System’s GM Aerotrain: The Road to the Future”

A postcard depicting a General Motor’s Aerotrain. From the back of the card: The New York Central System “The Road to the Future.” A General Motors “Aerotrain” is shown on display here at Buffalo, New York in Feb. of 1956. The train failed in regular operation and was in service on the Central less than a year. It was part of a futile effort to upgrade passenger service. Similar units were used briefly on the Pennsylvania and the Union Pacific Railroads. By 1969 the Road to the Future had proved to be the Road to Ruin. The card was distributed in 1970 by Owen Davies, Bookseller.

Classic Streamliners – “New Haven’s Roger Williams: Still Running Since 1956!”

“New Haven’s Roger Williams: Still Running Since 1956!”

The Roger Williams was a streamlined, six car, lightweight, DMU passenger train, built by the Budd Company in 1956 for the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. The train was based on Budd’s successful RDC DMU cars. The end two cars were equipped with streamlined locomotive style cabs and noses, resembling those on the Fairbanks-Morse P-12-42 Diesel locomotives. The four intermediate cars lacked operating controls and cabs. For operation into Grand Central Terminal, the cars were each equipped with third-rail shoes, and small traction motors, allowing them to operate into the terminal under electric power, with their engines shut down. After a short period of time in high speed service, the train was split up, and the cars were used in service with the New Haven’s other RDCs. They worked for the New Haven, Penn Central, and Amtrak, until the last cars were retired in the 1980s. The 2 end cars, and one intermediate car, are preserved in operating condition, by a private owner, at the Hobo Railroad in Lincoln, New Hampshire.