So you're all railfans right? in 1930-1960 there were railroad phenomenon called 'Streamliners'. The Streamliners are specially designed passenger trainsets that not just have a good aerodynamics, but also wheeled temples of what's called 'Art Deco'-- a (successful) attempt to fuse the luxuries of the past (Maybe the 17th century levels I think, or more likely modelled after the famous Oriental Express) with an aesthetics of the future (And many times, speeds! some of the streamliners did indeed possesses highspeed features.. ex. the Mallard, GG1, the Milwaukee Road's Hiawatha, and SP Daylights, despite that they ran on the same trackage as any regular trains). Usually coupled with excessive marketings. the Streamliners of the 30s and early 40s were the beauty of the era. (and easily recognizible!) this was true till GM kicked off its marketing campaigns to sell its 'F Units' . even so many railroads had 'upgraded' their streamliner fleets with those F units (and the lookalikes from Alco and Baldwin), this miserably erased the charm of the old streamliners (Isn't it?) and i've heard that some railfans don't recognize these postwar Diesels as streamliners even if all of them are made with built-in art deco hull. Neverthenless many features of Streamliners stayed to the end of Class1 Passenger services, one such features included Observation car.
http://cruiselinehistory.com/early-amer ... il-travel/
Yep not all Streamliners have them, the 'Goodyear Zeppelin Comets' (Which they're actually DMU Streamliners) had no Obs (instead it has a feature that the Japanese applied to its own Highspeed trainsets. cabs on each end!), thus making tighter schedule possible (no need to turn the train around, just refuel it and an engineer simply walks to the 'tail-end' of the train and here comes the new detour! meow), also one of an NH streamliner had the two innovative features
1. Fairbanks Morse locomotives on each end!
2. Talgo tilted passenger cars!
too bad this streamliner failed mew! this feature neverthenless did shown up in many locomotive-based tilt trains/HSTs, two of which are the direct descendants of the streamliners. so...
1. Was there a demand of rear-end Observation Cars in the 30s
2. Did the same demand diminished in 60s? (Along with overall demand on the passenger service due to the rises of private motoring and airliners) very few (non-heritage) passenger trains have them, modern tilt trains/HSTs (including the Multiple-Unit based) also tossed them out!
3. Even in the days of F-Units, Why most of the streamliners still uses the Obs car instead of sandwitching the entire trains with another locos of the same model? meow.
4. IF someone restored 'Streamliner' train services that runs on regular revenue schedule. What do you want the rear-end consists be?
- Observation Car
- Locomotive of the same model that leads the train.
Streamliners: Observation Car VS Locomotives on both ends.
Re: Streamliners: Observation Car VS Locomotives on both ends.
As a passenger I'd have to go with the observation car, although technically Amtrak and some other express services still use them.
Re: Streamliners: Observation Car VS Locomotives on both ends.
Really? didn't the tail end of the AMTRAK passenger cars the control cab? ones that's actually a remote control device to the locomotive, once the train turned around at the terminus, engineer went there and assume control in the control cab.
Re: Streamliners: Observation Car VS Locomotives on both ends.
Ah, your talkin about rear-end cars, I missed that. Not all AMTRAK trains have engines a both ends, the diesel ones anyways. The electrics may very well have em' on both ends nowdays, I haven't looked in awhile.Lone Cat wrote:Really? didn't the tail end of the AMTRAK passenger cars the control cab? ones that's actually a remote control device to the locomotive, once the train turned around at the terminus, engineer went there and assume control in the control cab.
Re: Streamliners: Observation Car VS Locomotives on both ends.
^ yes i'm talkin' about rear end cars. The diesel-powered Amtrak trains were all locomotive-based, (usually hauled by one or two, but since the passenger train does not have a lenght of american freight trains) and very few passenger trains were sandwitched with the diesels. the control cab located at the tail-end of locomotive-powered passenger trains does NOT houses any motive power engines meow. it actually growns from multiple diesel unit operations in 50s--One train with at least 2 Diesel motive powers are manned by two crews sit in the cab of the first locomotive.
About Amtrak electric trains. now (i think) all of them are Acela, capable of HST operations, but the (original) electrified tracks once belonged to PRR and NYC now belonged to Chessie ooops CSX (Actually Chessie has dominating power in the CSX i think, look at CSX locomotive paintschemes, it is exactly C&O!)
With the demands of passenger trains rising, will Class 1 considers resume streamlined passenger trains service? meow.
About Amtrak electric trains. now (i think) all of them are Acela, capable of HST operations, but the (original) electrified tracks once belonged to PRR and NYC now belonged to Chessie ooops CSX (Actually Chessie has dominating power in the CSX i think, look at CSX locomotive paintschemes, it is exactly C&O!)
With the demands of passenger trains rising, will Class 1 considers resume streamlined passenger trains service? meow.