The American Flyer was an early

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. Considering a velocity vector field in three-dimensional space in the framework of ...

American passenger railcar built 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 ...

in the 1930s. They were the first streamlined equipment operated in New England and acquired their name from the

model trains Railway modelling (UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland) or model railroading (US and Canada) is a hobby in which rail transport systems are modelled at a reduced scale. The scale models include locomotives, rolling stock, streetcars, t ...

that their design inspired.

Characteristics

American Flyer railcars weighed about 55 tons and were built out of light-weight steel alloys such as

Cor-Ten Weathering steel, often referred to by the genericised trademark COR-TEN steel and sometimes written without the hyphen as corten steel, is a group of steel alloys which were developed to eliminate the need for painting, and form a stable rus ...

that made them about 15 tons lighter than earlier designs and allowed for the use of two-axle

General Steel Castings General Steel Industries, Inc. (GSI) was an American steel company founded as General Steel Castings Corporation in 1928. The company's first headquarters were in Eddystone, Pennsylvania and, prior to completing its own modern steel foundry in ...

trucks A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, 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 ...

instead of the previously standard three-axle designs.Holland, p. 5 They were designed by

Walter Dorwin Teague Walter Dorwin Teague (December 18, 1883 – December 5, 1960) was an American industrial designer, architect, illustrator, graphic designer, writer, and entrepreneur. Often referred to as the "Dean of Industrial Design", Teague pioneered in the ...

, and the first order for 50 coaches, with an 84 passenger capacity, was placed by the

New Haven Railroad The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad , commonly known as The Consolidated, or simply as the New Haven, was a railroad that operated in the New England region of the United States from 1872 to December 31, 1968. Founded by the merger of ...

with Pullman-Standard in March 1934. Built at the former

Osgood Bradley Car Company The Osgood Bradley Car Company manufactured railway Passenger car (rail), passenger cars and streetcars in Worcester, Massachusetts. History The company was founded in 1822 to manufacture stagecoaches and sleighs. The company's first railway p ...

facility in Worcester, Massachusetts, these cars were delivered starting in December 1934, and were followed by 20 more in 1936 and 30 in 1938 in an identical configuration. In 1937 and 1938, 100 more coaches in a 92 passenger configuration for commuter service were delivered.

Production

In 1935, the

Boston and Maine Railroad The Boston and Maine Railroad was a U.S. Class I railroad in northern New England. Originally chartered in 1835, it became part of what was the Pan Am Railways network in 1983 (most of which was purchased by CSX in 2022). At the end of 1970, B ...

ordered ten 84-seat and twenty-one 98-seat coaches, followed in 1937 by twenty 92-seat coaches. The

Bangor and Aroostook Railroad The Bangor and Aroostook Railroad was a United States railroad company that brought rail service to Aroostook County in northern Maine. Brightly-painted BAR boxcars attracted national attention in the 1950s. First-generation diesel locomotives op ...

acquired nine cars of the American Flyer design in 1937 and 1938—four combination mail and baggage cars, three combination food service and coach cars, and two 84-seat coaches. Outside New England, ten American Standard cars were purchased by the

Seaboard Air Line Railroad The Seaboard Air Line Railroad , which styled itself "The Route of Courteous Service," was an American railroad which existed from April 14, 1900, until July 1, 1967, when it merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, its longtime rival, t ...

, ten by the

St. Louis Southwestern Railway The St. Louis Southwestern Railway Company , known by its nickname of "The Cotton Belt Route" or simply "Cotton Belt", is a former Class I railroad that operated between St. Louis, Missouri, and various points in the U.S. states of Arkansas, Ten ...

, ten by the

Lehigh Valley Railroad The Lehigh Valley Railroad was a railroad built in the Northeastern United States to haul anthracite coal from the Coal Region in Pennsylvania. The railroad was authorized on April 21, 1846 for freight and transportation of passengers, goods, w ...

, and four by the

Kansas City Southern Railway The Kansas City Southern Railway Company is an American Class I railroad. Founded in 1887, it operates in 10 midwestern and southeastern U.S. states: Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and ...

.Holland, p. 8 Production ceased by the end of the 1930s.

In preservation

A Bangor and Aroostook car converted into MoW service survives at the

Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum The Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum is a small railroad museum in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, United States. The museum (SFTM) is dedicated to preserving and operating car number 10 of the former Shelburne Falls and Colrain Street Railway. Thi ...

Two examples of the type, both New Haven Railroad coaches, were purchased by the Railroad Museum of New England for preservation.

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links

{{Pullman rolling stock Pullman Company Rail passenger cars of the United States