The ''Keystone'' was a set of eight lightweight

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 ...

cars built by the

Budd Company The Budd Company was a 20th-century metal fabricator, a major supplier of body components to the automobile industry, and a manufacturer of stainless steel passenger rail cars, airframes, missile and space vehicles, and various defense products ...

in 1956 for the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

. The set comprised seven coaches seating a total of 574 passengers and a single

head end power In rail transport, head-end power (HEP), also known as electric train supply (ETS), is the electrical power distribution system on a passenger train. The power source, usually a locomotive (or a generator car) at the front or 'head' of a train, p ...

(HEP)

generator car In rail transport, head-end power (HEP), also known as electric train supply (ETS), is the electrical power distribution system on a passenger train. The power source, usually a locomotive (or a generator car) at the front or 'head' of a train, p ...

. The train was normally used in

New York, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Uni ...

, to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, service, making two round trips per day. The design was not a success and the cars were retired in 1968.

Design

The coaches were of a unique, split-level design, with the center portion of each car having a floor level two feet below that of standard coaches. This lowered the cars' center of gravity, allowing the train to safely take curves at higher speeds. The coaches were also built to a

stressed-skin In mechanical engineering, stressed skin is a type of rigid construction, intermediate between monocoque and a rigid frame with a non-loaded covering. A stressed skin structure has its compression-taking elements localized and its tension-taking e ...

"Tubular" design, with the shell of the car providing all of the cars structural strength, without the normal heavy steel underframe. This resulted in cars weighing only 60% of what standard cars would weigh. The split-level design, with short stairways between levels, proved unpopular with passengers, causing bottlenecks during loading and unloading.

Service history

The Pennsylvania introduced the cars in 1956, with the set making two daily round-trips between

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and

These services were named ''Morning Keystone'', ''Midday Keystone'', ''Evening Keystone'', and ''Midnight Keystone''. In addition to the tubular coaches all four trains operated with conventional equipment such as

dining car A dining car (American English) or a restaurant car (British English), also a diner, is a railroad passenger car that serves meals in the manner of a full-service, sit-down restaurant. It is distinct from other railroad food service cars that ...

s and parlor cars. The ''Midnight Keystone'', which departed New York at 11:10 PM, carried

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 American innovator of the sleeper car. ...

s. The train set was retired from service in 1968 and stored in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

took possession of the equipment but sold it to the South East Michigan Transportation Authority (

SEMTA The Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART) is the public transit operator serving the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan, United States. It supplements the Detroit Department of Transportation, which operates buses within the ...

) in May 1976 for $80,000. SEMTA never used the equipment, and sold it to the Chicago, Central and Pacific Railroad in 1986.

References

External links

* {{Lightweight Trains Budd Company Rail passenger cars of the United States Named passenger trains of the United States Passenger trains of the Pennsylvania Railroad Railway services introduced in 1956 Vehicles introduced in 1956 Railway services discontinued in 1968