Locomotive of the Day - April 9, 2008.

[Mycroft Holmes]

"HERE COMES TOMORROW ... FAST!"

Saturday Evening Post, December 10, 1955.

Click here to view a full size readable image.

 

[John in Covina]

Makes me think of 2001 A Space Oddesey

 

[Diamondback]

GM Aerotrain--technically only two Aerotrains were built, #s 1001 and 1002, but a third LWT12 locomotive was built for a Talgo-type trainset the Rock Island bought (which also ended up buying the two Aerotrains, both retired to museums in '66). Mostly built using GM standard bus-bodies modified for rail use, design came from Harley Earl's team.

One trainset each underwent extended trials on the Pennsylvania Railroad and New York Central, but were declined to to their poor ride characteristics at speed. The Union Pacific operated one in '57 as the City of Las Vegas.

Disneyland also had two miniature versions, called Viewliners, from June '57 to Sept. '58, replaced by the Disneyland Monorail in '59; the Washington Park Zoo in Portland has another, which has run continuously since '58.

 

[Jack Armstrong]

I saw the Aerotrain in person. My father took me down to the Pennsylvania Railroad station in my hometown one Saturday morning. We often went there to watch the trains come through (trains were orders of magnitude more interesting in 1956), but on that day, he'd somehow found out that GM's new rolling showcase, the Aerotrain, was due in.

It was a regularly scheduled passenger stop, not just a demo run, so the Aerotrain pulled in to the station to pick up some passengers. It was an impressive sight, with its high-cab power unit sporting a pair of headlights and two red warning lights, and the red stripe running along its silver sides. And when it pulled away, on the rear there were two bright red taillights, blinking in alternating synchronization.

I snapped a couple of photos with Dad's brownie; I'll have to dig them up and scan them.

Aerotrain technology could have been improved (as Diamondback points out, they had a hard ride) and put to good use if the railroads had been in better shape, but the rigors of a World War and years of government-subsidized highways and airlines had already put the handwriting on the wall by 1956. The two Aerotrain demonstrators lasted a year or two, then disappeared.

But they were beautiful while they lasted.

 

[dhermann1]

Somehow, to me, it looks like an Edsel . . . .

 

[Diamondback]

Actually, both Aerotrains were purchased by Rock Island for commuter service. When I have a little more time, I'll see if I can find out which museums got 'em.

 

[Story]

Too easy

According to the Gospel of Wikipedia,
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerotrain_(GM)

Today, Aerotrain No. 1 is on permanent display at the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, Missouri, while No. 2 resides at the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin. A third non-demonstrator unit in Rock Island paint resides at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois.

 

[Tux Toledo]

Somehow, to me, it looks like an Edsel . . . .

Funny, I was thinking the same thing.