Strata Dome

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The B&O Columbian Strata-Dome is the fourth car of this train on the Thomas Viaduct , 1949
Interior of a Strata Dome built by Pullman with the instrument panel

Strata-Dome was the name of a fleet of five streamlined observation cars operated by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad ("B&O").

design

The first two strata domes were built by Pullman Standard . The viewing dome offered 24 seats, and on the lower level there were two lounges and an open- plan compartment with 42 seats. In order to be able to navigate the small clearance profile of the eastern USA, the observation dome only protruded 530 mm (21 inches) instead of 710 mm (28 inches) from the roof of the car as with other observation cars. The cars were numbered 5550 and 5551 and were named High Dome and Sky Dome . In the front there was an instrument panel with a speedometer , clock , altimeter and barometer .

In December 1950, B&O acquired three Strata Dome sleeping cars from the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O). The Budd Company had built these three cars for the Chessie trains. A luxury car for the Washington, DC - Cincinnati route was canceled prior to commissioning. Each of these cars had 24 seats in the viewing dome. The B&O numbers were 7600, 7601 and 7602 with the names Moonlight Dome , Starlight Dome and Sunlight Dome .

In 1952, B&O installed floodlights on the Strata-Domes so that passengers could see the passing landscape even at night.

history

The two original Strata domes were put into operation on May 5, 1949 in the new Columbian trains. They were the first observation cars in regular use on the east coast. B&O used the acquired C&O observation sleeping cars on the Capitol Limited train and the Shenandoah train. Contemporary advertising publications called the observation cars uniformly "Strata-Dome", although the cars were built by different manufacturers.

During the 1960s, B&O occasionally leased the cars made by Budd to other railroad lines, including the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad , Canadian National Railway, and Seaboard Coast Line Railroad . The Atlantic Coast Line used these observation cars on the Florida Special trains, but only on the route from Richmond ( Virginia ) to Miami ( Florida ) because of the small tunnels in Washington State . They were the first observation cars on the Florida route. The Seaboard Coast Line, the successor to the Atlantic Coast Line, bought the three observation cars in September 1969 together with 8 other conventional sleeping cars from B&O and used the observation cars again in the Florida Special trains.

B&O converted two observation cars so that they had a snack bar on the lower floor. They were used on the Cincinnatian train , among others . The High Dome was painted blue and labeled "American Railroads 1869-1969" to celebrate the centenary of the first transcontinental railroad in 1969 at the Golden Spike Centennial Limited . Both cars were eventually used on the last run of the Capitol Limited trains on April 30, 1971. These trains were taken out of service with the creation of Amtrak.

Amtrak acquired all 5 observation cars and used them until the 1970s. High Dome was damaged in 1975 and scrapped in 1980. Amtrak decommissioned the last observation car, Starlight Dome , in October 1981. The four other observation cars are now privately owned.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Craig Sanders: Limiteds, locals, and expresses in Indiana, 1838–1971. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, IN 2003, ISBN 0-253-34216-3 .
  2. ↑ a b c d Robert J. Wayner (Ed.): Car Names, Numbers and Consists. Wayner Publications, New York 1972, OCLC 8848690 .
  3. ↑ Train Travelers Can See Speed. In: Popular Science . August 1949, accessed June 15, 2014 .
  4. ^ Trains Provide Their Own Moonlight for Night Rides. In: Popular Science . September 15 , 1952. Retrieved June 15, 2014 .
  5. ^ John H. White: The American Railroad Passenger Car 1. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD 1985, ISBN 0-8018-2722-1 .
  6. ↑ Kirk Reynolds, Dave Oroszi: Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. MBI, Osceola, WI 2000, ISBN 0-7603-0746-6 .
  7. ↑ a b Chesapeake & Ohio . Retrieved November 3, 2013.
  8. ^ Dome Cars Due On Florida Special. In: Palm Beach Post. November 21, 1965, accessed June 15, 2014 .
  9. ^ Baltimore & Ohio . Retrieved November 3, 2013.
  10. ↑ Elbert Simon, David C. Warner: Amtrak by the numbers: a comprehensive passenger car and motive power roster, 1971-2011. White River Productions, Kansas City, MO 2012, ISBN 978-1-932804-12-6 .