| Bullet | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Overview | |||
| Service type | Interurban trolley | ||
| Locale | Pennsylvania; also Utah, New York | ||
| First service | 1931 | ||
| Last service | about 1990 | ||
| Current operator(s) | Philadelphia and Western Railroad, Fonda, Johnstown, and Gloversville; later Bamberger Railroad. | ||
| Route | |||
| Start | Upper Darby (P&W) | ||
| End | Norristown (P&W) | ||
| Distance travelled | 13.5 mi (21.7 km) (P&W) | ||
| Average journey time | 16 min (P&W) | ||
| On-board services | |||
| Seating arrangements | (P&W) 52; (FJ&G) 48 | ||
| Sleeping arrangements | No | ||
| Technical | |||
| Gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) Standard gauge | ||
| Operating speed | (P&W) 92 mph (148 km/h) maximum 50.6 mph (81.4 km/h) average (FJ&G) 75 mph (121 km/h) maximum . |
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The Bullet was a high-speed interurban railcar produced by J. G. Brill and Company in Philadelphia for the Philadelphia and Western Railroad (P&W) in 1931, and then the Fonda, Johnstown and Gloversville Railroad in 1932. Few were sold because of the Great Depression and the public transport decline in the 1930s.[1] However, some of them ran for almost 60 years.
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The Bullets were a result of a broad research program. This program was led by Philadelphia and Western's vice-chairman W. L. Butler, who had been largely responsible for development of the Cincinnati and Lake Erie Railroad's Red Devil car's design, in collaboration with the J. G. Brill Company. Unlike the Red Devils, the Bullets had all-aluminum bodies. Their design was improved over earlier styles of railcars after a lot of wind tunnel research – the first in the railway industry[3] – the Bullet was streamlined to minimize the air resistance. According to Prof. Felix W. Pawlowski of University of Michigan, this would save 40% or more of the energy required by the conventional type of suburban car at speeds in excess of 60 mph (97 km/h). They also developed an improved low-level bogie (truck) design, and the Bullets could run as multiple-unit trains. Like the Red Devils, the Bullets had four 100-horsepower (75 kW) motors. The Bullets as built for the P&W were longer at 55 feet (17 m) and a bit heavier at 26 short tons (24 t), but with only about half the weight as typical railcars of that time.[1] They could receive power from a trolley, by a third rail, or both.
The Bullet was a forerunner of the high-speed trains, of which the first were inaugurated later in the 30s. Among other trains, the Japanese Odakyū 3000 series SE Romancecar was inspired by the sleek and streamlined Bullets. In 1957, the Romancecar set a speed record for narrow-gauge trains of 145 km/h (90,1 mph). The Bullets are called "ancestors of the TGV, ICE, Shinkansen, and the Acela Express"[4] (in English, the first Shinkansens were named Bullet Trains). The Bullets' maximum speed was 92 miles per hour (148 km/h).[5] And they are strikingly similar to the Fliegender Hamburger.
Already in 1907, the P&W had laid trackage with a quality never seen before by an interurban – free from grade crossings with both railroads and roads, and with a block signal system. Double tracks improved the safety and capacity (the deadliest interurban wrecks were caused by head-on collisions). To further utilize the Bullets' potential, more improvements were made to track and signal systems to permit extremely high speeds on the Norristown line.[1] In a test run one of the cars covered the 13.5-mile (21.7 km) P&W line from Norristown to the 69th Street Terminal in Upper Darby in 11 minutes.[5]
P&W bought ten double ended Bullets.[3] In addition, five shorter 47 feet (14 m), single ended, Bullets with a slightly different front and rear design were sold to Fonda, Johnstown and Gloversville Railroad (FJ&G) in 1932. P&W used a third rail; FJ&G ran the Bullets as trolleys.
The decline of the interurban business as a result of the Great Depression of the 1930's and increasing use of automobiles and buses helped prevent any further manufacture and sale of the Bullet cars. The interurban cars, as were ordinary streetcars, were delayed by traffic congestion in the streets, too. The interurban (and railroad) companies must build and maintain their own right-of-ways while roads for private cars and buses are paid by the taxpayers of which the railroad and interurban companies were among the greatest. In addition, a group named National City Lines but led by General Motors bought streetcar and interurban companies, dismantled the infrastructure and resold the companies to new owners who committed themselves to buy and use buses – from General Motors.[6]
FJ&G's bright orange Bullets ran hourly into Schenectady where they terminated in front of the New York Central railroad station. In 1935, the FJ&G's Mohawk River bridge was condemned by New York State as too dangerous for any public transport as a result of river ice damage a decade earlier. With that, interurban service now had to terminate at Scotia across the Mohawk from Schenectady. And in 1936, the company abandoned their passenger service. The five Bullets went to the Bamberger Railroad (BR) interurban in Utah and served the line from Salt Lake City–Ogden hourly, although operating at lower speeds than on the FJ&G.[7]. In 1952, however, the BR's shops burned, and the company gave up the passenger traffic on the 6th of September that year. After being retired from railroad service, many railcars - including Bullets - were sold to the public as cheap “pre-fab” buildings. [8] Some of both styles of Bullets are preserved in different museums and one is a prominent part of a restaurant building in Springville, UT.[9]
If the Red Devil cars were the inspiration for the Bullets, in 1939 13 of the 20 Red Devils were sold to Lehigh Valley Transit Company (LVH) where for a time they shared the Norristown to Upper Darby tracks with P&W's Bullets. Under the name of Liberty Bells the Red Devils ran until LVH ended the service in 1951. Other high speed interurban cars joined the Philadelphia suburban scene also. From the North Shore Line's Chicago–Milwaukee route a pair of high-speed interurban trains named Electroliners were sent eastwards in 1963, after 22 years and more than 3.3 million miles (5.3 million km) each[10] – a mileage which probably surpassed any other interurban car. They were acquired by the Red Arrow Lines, which renamed them Liberty Liners and operated them on P&W's rights-of-way until about 1976. Interestingly, different kinds of equipment in use on the Norristown line later resulted in the Bullets' being restricted to less busy times (weekends) when the ten of them could provide 100% of the service. Their lower profile, intended to reduce air resistance at speed, included a lower anticlimber (bumper) than the other cars had and safety rules in the 1980's forced the Bullets not to share the route with other cars.
The P&W's Bullets had a remarkably long life thanks to their building quality.[4] P&W's excellent track condition contributed to reduction of wear and tear. Some Bullets survived almost 60 years, until 1990, in an active role serving commuters in the Philadelphia area as part of the SEPTA rail stock.[4] Even today, Philadelphia's light rail system, which encompassed the surviving interurban lines (see Norristown High Speed Line, is number five in the U.S. by ridership.