The Aerotrain was a streamlined trainset introduced by General Motors Electro-Motive Division in the mid-1950s.[1] Like all of GM's body designs of this mid-century era, this train was first brought to life in GM's Styling Section. Chuck Jordan was in charge of designing the Aerotrain as Chief Designer of Special Projects. It utilized the experimental EMD LWT12 locomotive (U.S. Patent D177,814), coupled to a set of modified GM Truck & Coach Division 40-seat intercity bus coach bodies (U.S. Patent D179,006). The cars each rode on two axles with an air suspension system, which was intended to give a smooth ride, but had the opposite effect.
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Legend
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The two Aerotrain demonstrator sets logged over 600,000 miles (970,000 km) and saw service on the following railroads:
In February 1956, the Pennsylvania Railroad introduced the Pennsy Aerotrain between New York City and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, operating it for nine months. Pennsylvania Railroad's schedule was timed so that westbound passengers traversed Horseshoe Curve at lunchtime, while eastbound passengers traversed the curve at dinner time.[2]
The same year, Aerotrain No. 2 was leased as a demonstrator to the New York Central, and operated between Cleveland and Chicago.
In March 1956, the Aerotrain made a series of experimental runs for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway in California as a San Diegan consist, running between Los Angeles and San Diego. Its use in permanent service were later abandoned because the entire trainset had to be turned around at each end of the line, and the train required helper locomotives on the Sorrento Grade north of San Diego.
In the summer of 1957 the Aerotrain was operated by the Union Pacific as the City of Las Vegas, running between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. The train was eventually relegated to Chicago commuter service on the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad.
GM's "lightweight with a heavyweight future" was introduced at a time when US passenger train revenues were steadily declining due to competition from airlines and private automobile travel. Although it featured an eye-catching, streamlined design, the Aerotrain failed to capture the imagination of the American public. The cars, based on GM bus designs and using an air cushioning system, were rough riding and not very comfortable for passengers. The design of the locomotive section rendered routine maintenance difficult and time-consuming. The locomotive unit was also underpowered. Eventually, both trainsets were retired in 1966 after only a decade's use. The Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, Missouri, and the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin each have one of the locomotives, and two of the cars.
Disneyland operated a scale version of the Aerotrain, known as the Viewliner, from 1957 to 1959 (see below). Since 1958, the Washington Park and Zoo Railway in Portland, Oregon has operated a scale, diesel-powered replica of the Aerotrain (dubbed the Zooliner) to transport zoo visitors.
On June 26, 1957, the narrow-gauge Santa Fe and Disneyland Viewliner (billed by Disneyland as "the fastest miniature train in the world") commenced operation. Two separate trains, designed and built as scale replicas of the futuristic Aerotrain, traveled a figure-eight track through parts of Tomorrowland and Fantasyland parallel to a portion of the DLRR main line. The Tomorrowland train featured cars that were named for the planets, while the cars of the Fantasyland train were named after various Disney characters.
The modern, streamlined trains were placed in service to represent the future of rail travel, in contrast to the steam-powered DLRR which represented its past. Motive power for each train consisted of an integral head-end unit driven by an Oldsmobile "Rocket" V8 gasoline engine. Oldsmobile also furnished the windscreen, doors and instrument console for each of the two 5,000 lb (2,300 kg) locomotives. The attraction operated until September 15, 1958, when construction began on the Matterhorn and Submarine Voyage; the Disneyland Monorail System took the place of the Viewliner in June of the following year.
The Zooliner, one of three trains on the Washington Park and Zoo Railway in Portland, Oregon, is a scale replica of Aerotrain. Zooliner entered service in 1958. On June 14, 2008, the Oregon Zoo held a "50th Birthday" celebration for the locomotive, and it remains the primary train for the zoo.
Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Aerotrain_(GM) Aerotrain (GM)] at Wikimedia Commons
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