The

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

's M-10001 was a diesel-electric

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 ...

train built in 1934 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 ...

with a power system developed 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 ...

Electro-Motive Corporation Progress Rail Locomotives, trade name, doing business as Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD), is an American manufacturer of diesel-electric locomotives, locomotive products and diesel engines for the rail industry. The company is owned by Caterpillar Inc ...

using a Winton 201A Diesel engine and

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable ene ...

generator, control equipment and

traction motor A traction motor is an electric motor used for propulsion of a vehicle, such as locomotives, electric or hydrogen vehicles, elevators or electric multiple unit. Traction motors are used in electrically powered rail vehicles ( electric multip ...

s. It was the UP's second streamliner after the M-10000, their first equipped with a

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-cal ...

and was a longer train (six cars) than its three-car predecessor. All cars were articulated—

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 ...

were shared between each car. It was delivered on October 2, 1934, and was used for display, test and record-setting runs for the next two months before being returned to Pullman-Standard for an increase in power and capacity, following which it was placed into service as the '' City of Portland'' train. It has been nicknamed "The Banana".

Record-setting run

In October 1934 the M-10001, known as the "Canary Bolt" and still with its original engine, set an as-yet unbroken record of 57 hours from coast to coast of the United States, leaving

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

at 10 PM on the 22nd and arriving

Grand Central Terminal Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Grand Central is the southern terminus ...

at 9:55 AM on the 25th. When placed in service as the ''City of Portland'' the train reduced the

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous ...

schedule from 58 hours to 40 hours without any upgrades to track or other facilities.

Technical details

1935 General Motors ad for Winton diesel engines UP M-10001

When built, the M-10001 was a fully articulated six-car train, in length, comprising a power car, a

Railway Post Office In Canada and the United States, a railway post office, commonly abbreviated as RPO, was a railroad car that was normally operated in passenger service as a means to sort mail en route, in order to speed delivery. The RPO was staffed by highly tr ...

/baggage car, three Pullman

sleeping car The sleeping car or sleeper (often ) is a railway 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. The first such cars ...

s, and a rounded-tail coach/buffet/observation car. It was powered by a V12 version of the Winton 201-A engine, driving the first two trucks of the train. Pre-service testing revealed that the original engine was overtaxed, and that the truck design resulted in unstable oscillations at high speeds; in December 1934 the trainset was returned to Pullman to get a larger engine and lengthened trucks."Latest Streamline Train Has Giant Engine" ''Popular Mechanics'', December 1934
/ref> Martin P. Blomberg carried that experience with truck design to the

, reflected in the design of their E series locomotives. The rebuilding lengthened the train to and seven cars. The power car had added to accommodate a V16 Winton diesel engine. The RPO/baggage car was lengthened by to take a steam generator for train heating, and was followed by an added diner/lounge car. The Winton Diesel engine was the most powerful Diesel engine used in a passenger train until the postwar era. It was installed in Union Pacific's locomotive units built during 1935–36, after which twin engine designs became preferred.

Service life

City of Portland postcard Union Pacific Railroad

The rebuilt train was re-delivered on May 23, 1935, and after some test runs was dedicated as the first '' City of Portland'' on June 5 at the

Portland Rose Festival The Portland Rose Festival is an annual civic festival held during the month of June in Portland, Oregon. It is organized by the volunteer non-profit Portland Rose Festival Association with the purpose of promoting the Portland region. It inclu ...

, entering service between Portland and Chicago the following day. It remained in that service until 1938 when it was replaced by the

M-10002 The Union Pacific Railroad's M-10002 was a diesel-electric streamliner train built in 1936 by Pullman-Standard, with prime movers from the Winton Engine division of General Motors Corporation and General Electric generator, control equipment an ...

trainset, reassigned from the ''

City of Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

''. After serving on the Portland-Seattle run it was retired in June 1939; the ''City of Denver'' trains needed more power and Union Pacific cannibalized M-10001 and

M-10004 The Union Pacific Railroad's M-10003, M-10004, M-10005, and M-10006 were four identical streamlined 2-car power car diesel-electric train sets delivered in May, June, and July 1936 from Pullman-Standard, with prime movers from the Winton Engine ...

. By December the diesel engine, generator, trucks, and the steam generator from the RPO/baggage car were removed and installed in a new carbody to become the third power unit on the CD-07 set for the ''

City of Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the United ...

''. Two sleeping cars were refurbished and added to the former

car set, which served as a spare ''City of Denver'' set, then in 1941 was assigned to service as ''City of Portland,'' powered by an

EMC E3 The EMC E3 is a , A1A-A1A passenger train locomotive that was manufactured by Electro-Motive Corporation of La Grange, Illinois. The EMC demonstrator #822 was released from La Grange for test on September 12, 1938. The cab version, or E3A, was ...

locomotive set. The remainder of the train was stored until August 13, 1941, when it was sold for scrap.

References

External links

* {{Pullman rolling stock North American streamliner trains Articulated passenger trains Union Pacific Railroad locomotives Diesel multiple units of the United States Diesel multiple units with locomotive-like power cars Night trains of the United States Scrapped locomotives

Record-setting run

Technical details

Service life

References

Further reading

External links