The Bullet was a
streamliner
A streamliner is a vehicle incorporating wikt:streamline, streamlining in a shape providing reduced air resistance. The term is applied to high-speed railway trainsets of the 1930s to 1950s, and to their successor "High-speed rail, bullet trai ...
electric multiple-unit passenger car produced by the
J. G. Brill Company
The J.G. Brill Company manufactured streetcars,Young, Andrew D. (1997). ''Veteran & Vintage Transit'', p. 101. St. Louis: Archway Publishing. interurban coaches, motor buses, trolleybuses and railroad cars in the United States for almos ...
in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
for the
Philadelphia and Western Railroad
The Philadelphia and Western Railroad was a high-speed, third rail-equipped, commuter-hauling interurban electric railroad operating in the western suburbs of the U.S. city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is now SEPTA's Norristown High Speed ...
(P&W) in 1931, and then similar, somewhat smaller single-unit, single-end versions were built for the
Fonda, Johnstown and Gloversville Railroad
The Fonda, Johnstown and Gloversville Railroad (FJ&G) was formerly a 132-mile steam engine and electric interurban railroad that connected its namesake towns in east central New York State to Schenectady, New York. It had a successful and profita ...
in 1932. Few were sold because of the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
and the public transport decline in the 1930s.
However, some of the P&W cars ran for almost 60 years while later being under
SEPTA
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) is a regional public transportation authority that operates bus, rapid transit, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolleybus services for nearly 4 million people in five coun ...
.
The first American railroad car in a wind tunnel
The Bullets were a result of a broad research program. This program was led by Philadelphia and Western's vice-chairman W. L. Butler, who had been largely responsible for development of the Cincinnati and Lake Erie Railroad's
Red Devil car design, in collaboration with the J. G. Brill Company. Unlike the Red Devils, the Bullets had all-aluminum bodies. Their design was improved over earlier styles of railcars after a lot of
wind tunnel
Wind tunnels are large tubes with air blowing through them which are used to replicate the interaction between air and an object flying through the air or moving along the ground. Researchers use wind tunnels to learn more about how an aircraft ...
research – the first in the American railway industry
– the Bullet was streamlined to minimize the
air resistance
In fluid dynamics, drag (sometimes called air resistance, a type of friction, or fluid resistance, another type of friction or fluid friction) is a force acting opposite to the relative motion of any object moving with respect to a surrounding flu ...
. According to
Felix W. Pawlowski of University of Michigan, this would save 40% or more of the energy required by the conventional type of passenger car at speeds in excess of . They also developed an improved low-level
bogie
A bogie ( ) (in some senses called a truck in North American English) is a chassis or framework that carries a wheelset, attached to a vehicle—a modular subassembly of wheels and axles. Bogies take various forms in various modes of transp ...
(truck) design, and the Bullets could run as multiple-unit trains. Like the Red Devils, the Bullets had four motors. The Bullets as built for the P&W were longer at and a bit heavier at , but with only about half the weight of typical railcars of that time.
The P&W cars operated exclusively off of third rail, while the FJ&G cars used 600 V overhead wire and trolley poles with trolley wheels.
A forerunner of the high-speed trains
The Bullet was a forerunner of today's
high-speed trains
High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail system that runs significantly faster than traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated tracks. While there is no single standard that applies worldwide, lines ...
, of which the first were inaugurated later in the 1930s. Among other trains, the Japanese Odakyū 3000 series SE
Romancecar
The is Odakyu Electric Railway's name for its limited express luxury tourist services south-west of Tokyo, to mountain resorts such as Hakone and Gotemba (Mount Fuji), and beaches such as Odawara and Enoshima. When the service started in 195 ...
was inspired by the sleek and streamlined Bullets. In 1957, the Romancecar set a
speed record
A speed record is a world record for speed by a person, animal, or vehicle. The function of speed record is to record the speed of moving animate objects such as humans, animals or vehicles.
Overall speed record
Overall speed record is the recor ...
for narrow-gauge trains of 145 km/h (90,1 mph). The Bullets are called "ancestors of the
TGV
The TGV (french: Train à Grande Vitesse, "high-speed train"; previously french: TurboTrain à Grande Vitesse, label=none) is France's intercity high-speed rail service, operated by SNCF. SNCF worked on a high-speed rail network from 1966 to 19 ...
,
Eurostar
Eurostar is an international high-speed rail service connecting the United Kingdom with France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Most Eurostar trains travel through the Channel Tunnel between the United Kingdom and France, owned and operated sep ...
,
AVE
''Alta Velocidad Española'' (''AVE'') is a service of high-speed rail in Spain operated by Renfe, the Spanish national railway company, at speeds of up to . As of December 2021, the Spanish high-speed rail network, on part of which the AVE s ...
,
ICE
Ice is water frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 degrees Celsius or Depending on the presence of impurities such as particles of soil or bubbles of air, it can appear transparent or a more or less opaq ...
,
Shinkansen
The , colloquially known in English as the bullet train, is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan. Initially, it was built to connect distant Japanese regions with Tokyo, the capital, to aid economic growth and development. Beyond l ...
, and the
Acela Express
The ''Acela'' ( ; originally the ''Acela Express'' until September 2019) is Amtrak's flagship service along the Northeast Corridor (NEC) in the Northeastern United States between Washington, D.C. and Boston via 13 intermediate stops, includ ...
"
(in English, the first Shinkansens were named Bullet Trains) and they are also strikingly similar to Germany's
Fliegender Hamburger
The DRG Class SVT 877 Hamburg Flyer – sometimes also Flying Hamburger or in German ''Fliegender Hamburger'' – was Germany's first fast diesel train, and is credited with establishing the fastest regular railway connection in the world in its ti ...
. The Bullets' maximum speed was ,
though one reached 100 mph (160 km/h) while testing extended-wheelbase trucks.
No grade crossings
The P&W was originally conceived to be a Class I railroad which would compete for east-west traffic with the Pennsylvania Railroad. Already in 1907, the P&W had laid trackage with a quality unseen before by an interurban – free from
grade crossings
A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an overpass or tunnel. The term also ...
with both railroads and roads, and with a color-light
block signal system, like most Class I railroads of the era. Nearly the entire line was double track to improve safety and capacity. To further utilize the Bullets' potential, more improvements were made to track and signal systems to permit extremely high speeds on the Norristown line.
In a test run one of the cars traveled the P&W line from Norristown to the 69th Street Terminal in Upper Darby in 11 minutes
while in regular passenger service they cut express schedule timings by 1/3, from 24 to only 16 minutes including stops, running at
P&W bought ten double ended, multiple-unit Bullets. Brill later built an eleventh replacement unit.
Five shorter , single ended, single-unit Bullets with a slightly different front and rear design were sold to
Fonda, Johnstown and Gloversville Railroad
The Fonda, Johnstown and Gloversville Railroad (FJ&G) was formerly a 132-mile steam engine and electric interurban railroad that connected its namesake towns in east central New York State to Schenectady, New York. It had a successful and profita ...
(FJ&G) in 1932. P&W used a protected over-running third rail with high-level station platforms exclusively. FJ&G's Bullets were trolleys, as they had to be compatible with both street running as well as high-speed private right-of-way.
The decline of the interurban business as a result of the Great Depression of the 1930s and increasing use of automobiles and buses prcluded further manufacture and sale of the Bullet cars. The interurban cars, as were ordinary streetcars, were delayed by traffic congestion in city streets. The interurban (and railroad) companies must build and maintain their own right-of-ways while roads for private cars and buses are paid by the taxpayers of which the railroad and interurban companies were among the greatest. In addition, a group named
National City Lines
National City Lines, Inc. (NCL) was a public transportation company. The company grew out of the Fitzgerald brothers' bus operations, founded in Minnesota, United States in 1920 as a modest local transport company operating two buses. Part of the ...
but led by
General Motors
The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...
bought streetcar and interurban companies, dismantled the infrastructure and resold the companies to new owners who committed themselves to buy and use buses – from General Motors.
From New York to Utah
FJ&G's bright orange Bullets ran hourly into Schenectady where they terminated in front of the New York Central railroad station. In 1935, the FJ&G's Mohawk River bridge was condemned by New York State as too dangerous for any public transport as a result of river ice damage a decade earlier. Hence interurban service terminated at Scotia across the Mohawk from Schenectady. In 1936, the company abandoned passenger service. The five Bullets went to the
Bamberger Railroad (BR) interurban in
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
and served the line from
Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...
–Ogden hourly, although operating at lower speeds than on the FJ&G.
In 1952 the BR's shops burned, and the company ceased passenger traffic on September 6 that year. After being retired from railroad service, many railcars - including Bullets - were sold to the public as cheap “pre-fab” buildings.
Some of both styles of Bullets are preserved in different museums. One is incorporated in a restaurant building in Springville, Utah.
Almost 60 years of service
![Red Arrow map](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Red_Arrow_map.svg)
If the Red Devil cars were the inspiration for the Bullets, in 1939 13 of the 20 Red Devils were sold to
Lehigh Valley Transit Company
The Lehigh Valley Transit Company (LVT) was a regional transport company, headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania, that began operations in 1901 as an urban trolley and interurban rail transport company. It operated successfully into the 1930s, ...
(LVT), where for a time they shared the tracks from Norristown to 69th St. Terminal with P&W's Bullets. Under the name of Liberty Bell Limited, the Red Devils ran until LVT ended the service in 1951. Other high-speed interurban trains joined the Philadelphia suburban scene also. From the
North Shore Line's
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
–
Milwaukee
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...
route a pair of high-speed streamliners named
Electroliner
The Electroliners are a pair of streamlined interurban trainsets built by the St. Louis Car Company in 1941. Initially numbered 801–802 and 803–804, they were operated by the Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad from 1941 to 1963, follo ...
s were sent eastward in 1963, after 22 years and more than 3.3 million miles (5.3 million km) each
– a mileage which probably surpassed any other interurban equipment. They were acquired by the Red Arrow Lines, which renamed them Liberty Liners and operated them in rush hour service on the P&W line until circa 1976. In their tavern-lounge cars commuters enjoyed continental breakfast in the morning and spirits and snacks in the afternoon. Different kinds of MU equipment in use on the Norristown line later resulted in the Bullets' being restricted to less busy times (weekends) when the ten of them could provide 100% of the service. Their lower profile, intended to reduce air resistance at high speed included a lower
anticlimber
A cowcatcher, also known as a pilot, is the device mounted at the front of a locomotive to deflect obstacles on the track that might otherwise damage or derail it or the train.
In the UK small metal bars called ''life-guards'', ''rail guard ...
(bumper) than other cars, and safety rules in the 1980s required the Bullets not to share the route with other cars.
The P&W's Bullets had a remarkably long life thanks to their build quality.
P&W's excellent maintenance also contributed to reduced wear. Some Bullets survived until August 1990, when a special excursion was led by cars 206 and 209. They spent this time in an active role serving commuters in the Philadelphia area as part of the
SEPTA
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) is a regional public transportation authority that operates bus, rapid transit, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolleybus services for nearly 4 million people in five coun ...
rail stock.
Today, Philadelphia's
light rail system, which encompassed the surviving interurban lines (see
Norristown High Speed Line
The Norristown High Speed Line (NHSL), also called the Purple Line, the P&W, or Route 100,) is a interurban light rapid transit line operated by SEPTA, running between the 69th Street Transportation Center in Upper Darby and the Norristown Tran ...
) is number five in the U.S. by
ridership
In public transportation, patronage
Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and ...
.
Preservation
In total, seven Brill Bullets have been preserved, with the majority on display in museums. All other units have been
scrapped
Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap has monetary value, especially recovered me ...
.
*Nos. 203, 207, and 208 are at the
Seashore Trolley Museum
Seashore Trolley Museum, located in Kennebunkport, Maine, United States, is the world's first and largest museum of mass transit vehicles. While the main focus of the collection is trolley cars (trams), it also includes rapid transit trains, ...
.
*No. 205 is at the
Rockhill Trolley Museum
The Rockhill Trolley Museum is a museum and heritage railway in Rockhill Furnace, Pennsylvania that collects and restores trolley, interurban, and transit cars. Founded in 1960, the museum operates what has been historically referred to as the Sha ...
and, modified with trolley poles, is the only operating Brill Bullet.
*No. 206 is at the
Electric City Trolley Museum
The Electric City Trolley Museum is a transport museum located in downtown Scranton, Pennsylvania, next to the Steamtown National Historic Site. The museum displays and operates restored trolleys and interurbans on former lines of the Lackawanna ...
in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and is on display just a few feet from the
UP Big Boy steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...
at
Steamtown.
*No. 209 is at the
Pennsylvania Trolley Museum
The Pennsylvania Trolley Museum is a museum in Washington, Pennsylvania, dedicated to operation and preservation of streetcars and trolleys. The museum primarily contains historic trolleys from Pennsylvania, but their collection includes examples ...
in Washington, Pennsylvania.
*No. 125 is owned by the
Utah State Railroad Museum
Union Station, also known as Ogden Union Station, is a train station in Ogden, Utah, at the west end of Historic 25th Street, just south of the Ogden Intermodal Transit Center. Formerly the junction of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Rai ...
.
*No. 127 is at the
Southern California Railway Museum
The Southern California Railway Museum (SCRM, reporting mark OERX), formerly known as the Orange Empire Railway Museum, is a railroad museum in Perris, California, United States. It was founded in 1956 at Griffith Park in Los Angeles before movin ...
.
*No. 128 is part of the Art City Trolley restaurant in Springville, Utah, but is barely recognizable as a Bullet.
The body of No. 204 was at the
National Museum of Transportation
The National Museum of Transportation (NMOT) is a private, 42-acre transportation museum in the Kirkwood suburb of St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1944, it restores, preserves, and displays a wide variety of vehicles spanning 15 decades of Amer ...
in St. Louis, Missouri, but scrapped.
References
External links
Gino's Fonda Johnstown and Gloversville Railroad Page- many photographs of the FJ&GRR including its unique 1932 interurban Bullet cars built by J G Brill.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bullet (Interurban)
Railcars of the United States
Vehicles introduced in 1931