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Hi-Level
The Hi-Level was a type of Bilevel rail car, bilevel intercity railroad passenger railroad car, passenger car used in the United States. Car types included coaches, dining cars, and lounge cars; a sleeping car variant was considered but never produced. Most passenger spaces were on the upper level, which featured a row of windows on both sides. Boarding was on the lower level; passengers climbed up a center stairwell to reach the upper level. Vestibuled train, Vestibules on the upper level permitted passengers to walk between cars; some coaches had an additional stairwell at one end to allow access to single-level equipment. The Budd Company designed the car in the 1950s for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway ("Santa Fe") for use on the ''El Capitan (train), El Capitan'', a coach-only streamliner which ran daily between Los Angeles and Chicago. The design was inspired by two recent developments in railroading: the dome car, employed in intercity routes in the western Unite ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
El Capitan (train)
The ''El Capitan'' was a streamliner, streamlined passenger train operated by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway ("Santa Fe") between Chicago, Illinois, and Los Angeles, California. It operated from 1938 to 1971; Amtrak retained the name until 1973. The ''El Capitan'' was the only all-coach or "chair car" (non-Pullman (car or coach), Pullman sleeper) to operate on the Santa Fe main line between Chicago and Los Angeles on the same fast schedule as the railroad's premier all-Pullman ''Super Chief''. It was also the first train to receive the pioneering Hi-Level equipment with which it would become synonymous. History The ''El Capitan'' debuted on February 22, 1938, on a twice-weekly schedule, using two five-car sets of streamliner, streamlined equipment built by the Budd Company. Like the Pennsylvania Railroad's ''Trail Blazer (passenger train), Trail Blazer'', it offered "low-cost passage with high-speed convenience". The fare from Chicago to Los Angeles was $5.00 a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Superliner (railcar)
The Superliner is a type of Bilevel rail car, bilevel intercity railroad passenger car (rail), passenger car used by Amtrak, the national rail passenger carrier in the United States. Amtrak commissioned the cars to replace older single-level cars on its long-distance trains in the Western United States. The design was based on the Budd Company, Budd Hi-Level cars used by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, Santa Fe Railway on its ''El Capitan (train), El Capitan'' trains. Pullman-Standard built 284 cars, known as Superliner I, from 1975 to 1981; Bombardier Transportation built 195, known as Superliner II, from 1991 to 1996. The Superliner I cars were the last passenger cars built by Pullman. Car types include coaches, dining cars, lounge car, lounges, and sleeping cars. Most passenger spaces are on the upper level, which has windows on both sides. The Sightseer Lounge observation cars have distinctive floor-to-ceiling windows on the upper level. Boarding is on the lower ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
San Francisco Chief
The ''San Francisco Chief'' was a streamlined passenger train on the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway ("Santa Fe") between Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area. It ran from 1954 until 1971. The ''San Francisco Chief'' was the last new streamliner introduced by the Santa Fe, its first full train between Chicago and the Bay, the only Chicago–Bay Area train running over just one railroad, and at the longest run in the country on one railroad. The ''San Francisco Chief'' was one of many trains discontinued when Amtrak began operations in 1971. History The Santa Fe introduced the streamliner on June 6, 1954; it was Santa Fe's last new streamliner and its first direct train from Chicago to the San Francisco Bay Area. It ran via Topeka and the Belen Cutoff through Amarillo, Texas, instead of Raton Pass. Like other Santa Fe trains it ran to the Oakland, California, depot in Emeryville (cut back to Richmond, California, after 1958), with a bus connection across the bay to Sa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
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. The company was founded in 1912 in Philadelphia by Edward G. Budd, whose fame came from his development of the first all-steel automobile bodies in 1913, and his company's invention of the " shotweld" technique for joining pieces of stainless steel without damaging its anti-corrosion properties in the 1930s. The Budd Company became part of Budd Thyssen in 1978, and in 1999 a part of ThyssenKrupp Budd. Body and chassis operations were sold to Martinrea International in 2006. No longer an operating company, Budd filed for bankruptcy in 2014. It currently exists to provide benefits to its retirees. Automobiles Edward G. Budd developed the first all-steel automobile bodies. His first major supporters were the Dodge brothers. Foll ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Southwest Chief
The ''Southwest Chief'' (formerly the ''Southwest Limited'' and ''Super Chief'') is a Amtrak Long Distance, long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak on a route between Chicago and Los Angeles through the Midwest and American Southwest, Southwest via Kansas City, Missouri, Kansas City, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Albuquerque, and Flagstaff, Arizona, Flagstaff mostly on the BNSF's Southern Transcon, but branches off between Albuquerque and Kansas City via the Topeka, La Junta Subdivision, La Junta, Raton Pass, Raton, and Glorieta Pass, Glorieta Subdivision. Amtrak bills the route as one of its most scenic, with views of the Painted Desert (Arizona), Painted Desert and the Red Cliffs of Sedona, Arizona, Sedona, as well as the plains of Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, and Colorado. During fiscal year 2023, the ''Southwest Chief'' carried 253,838 passengers, a 13.5% increase from FY2022. However, this is a 25% decrease from its pre-COVID-19 pandemic ridership of 338,180 passenger ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Atchison, Topeka And Santa Fe Railway
The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the largest Class 1 railroads in the United States between 1859 and 1996. The Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight transport; at various times, it operated an airline, the short-lived Santa Fe Skyway, and the Santa Fe Railroad tugboats. Its bus line extended passenger transportation to areas not accessible by rail, and ferryboats on the San Francisco Bay allowed travelers to complete their westward journeys to the Pacific Ocean. The AT&SF was the subject of a popular song, Harry Warren and Johnny Mercer's " On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe", written for the film '' The Harvey Girls'' (1946). The railroad officially ceased independent operations on December 31, 1996, when it merged with the Burlington Northern Railroad to form the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway. History Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway The railroad was chartered in February 1859 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Bilevel Rail Car
A bilevel car (American English) or double-decker coach (British English and Canadian English) is a type of Passenger railroad car, rail car that has two levels of passenger accommodation as opposed to one, increasing passenger capacity (up to 57% per car in extreme cases). The use of double-decker carriages, where feasible, can resolve capacity problems on a railroad, avoiding other options which have an associated infrastructure cost such as longer trains (which require longer station platforms), more trains per hour (which the signalling or safety requirements may not allow) or adding extra tracks besides the existing line. Double deck trains are claimed to be more energy efficient, and may have a lower operating cost per passenger. A bi-level car may carry up to about twice as many as a normal car, if structure gauge, structure and loading gauges permit, without requiring double the weight to pull or material to build. However, a bi-level train may take longer to exchange ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Dome Car
A dome car is a type of railway Passenger car (rail), passenger car that has a glass dome on the top of the car where passengers can ride and see in all directions around the train. It also can include features of a Coach (rail), coach, lounge car, dining car, sleeping car or observation car, observation. Beginning in 1945, dome cars were primarily used in the United States and Canada, though a small number were constructed in Europe for Trans Europ Express service. In North America, dome cars were manufactured by the Budd Company, Pullman Standard and American Car & Foundry. Southern Pacific Railroad built its own dome cars in its Sacramento, California, shops. In the 1990s Colorado Railcar began producing dome cars. Generally, seats in the dome were considered "non-revenue" like lounge car seats. Configuration A portion of the car, usually in the center of the car but offset towards one end, is split between two levels. The offset results in floorplans having a "long end" and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Coast Starlight
The ''Coast Starlight'' is a Amtrak Long Distance, long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak on the West Coast of the United States between Seattle and Los Angeles via Portland, Oregon, Portland and the San Francisco Bay Area. The train, which has operated continuously since Amtrak's formation in 1971, was the first to offer direct service between Seattle and Los Angeles. Its name is a combination of two prior Southern Pacific Railroad, Southern Pacific (SP) trains, the ''Coast Daylight (SP train), Coast Daylight'' and the ''Starlight''. During fiscal year (FY) 2024, the ''Coast Starlight'' carried 359,432 passengers, an increase of 6.3% from FY 2023. In FY 2024, the train made 730 trips and 1 million train miles; it had a total revenue of $49.5 million, and operating expenses of $93.9 million. History Background Before the formation of Amtrak, no passenger train ran the entire length of the West Coast of the United States, West Coast. The closest equiva ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Big Dome
The Big Domes were a fleet of streamlined dome cars built by the Budd Company for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway ("Santa Fe") in 1954. Budd built a total of 14 cars in two batches. The Santa Fe operated all 14 on various streamlined trains until it conveyed its passenger trains to Amtrak in 1971. The Santa Fe retained one as a business car and sold the remaining 13 to the Auto-Train Corporation, which operated them for another ten years. All but two have been preserved in varying condition. Design The Santa Fe had previously ordered six " Pleasure Domes" from Pullman-Standard for use on the ''Super Chief''. These were first-class lounges, with parlor car-style swivel chairs in the dome area and a private dining room on the lower level. These were "short domes": the dome was centered and did not extend the full length of the car. For the new Big Domes the Santa Fe and Budd went in a different direction. Like the Super Domes which Pullman had built two years previousl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Lounge Car
A lounge car (sometimes referred to as a buffet lounge, buffet car, club car or grill car) is a type of passenger car on a train, in which riders can purchase food and drinks. The car may feature large windows and comfortable train seats to create a relaxing diversion from standard coach or dining options. In earlier times (and especially on the "name" trains), a lounge car was more likely to have a small kitchen, or grill and a limited menu. Food was prepared to order and often cooked, though items such as club sandwiches would have usually been part of the offerings. The cars were often operated by the Pullman Company, and in other cases by the railroad directly as part of the dining car department (on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway the Fred Harvey Company operated the food concession). Lounge cars operated by Pullman were exclusively for the use of sleeping car passengers, while those operated by the railroad were available to coach as well as first-class travelers. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
