Great Dome
| Great Dome | |
|---|---|
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The top level of a Great Dome on the Empire Builder in 1974 | |
| Manufacturer | Budd Company |
| Constructed | 1953–55 |
| Entered service | 1955 |
| Number built | 6 |
| Capacity | 57 coach + 18 lounge (dome level) |
| Operator | |
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The Great Domes are a fleet of six streamlined dome lounge cars built by the Budd Company for the Great Northern Railway and Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad in 1955. The cars were used exclusively on the Empire Builder from their introduction in 1955 until the end of private passenger service in 1971. Amtrak retained all six cars and they continued to run on the Empire Builder before new Superliners displaced them at the end of the decade. One dome has been scrapped; the rest remain in use. The Great Domes were similar in design to the Big Domes Budd built for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.
Design
The Great Domes were "virtually identical" to the Big Dome lounges Budd constructed for the Santa Fe in 1954. The top level featured coach-style seating for 57, plus a lounge area which could seat an additional 18 on sofas and in booths. The lower level featured a cocktail lounge decorated with the art of the Haida people, who hailed from the Pacific Northwest.[1]
Service history
The Great Northern was slow to adopt dome cars for its passenger trains. Management thought that the cost of heating and cooling the dome interiors would be prohibitively expensive given the hot summers and cold winters along the Hi-Line. Further, they thought the Empire Builder, which had already been re-equipped twice in 1947 and 1951, could attract passengers without adding domes. News that the Northern Pacific Railway and Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (the "Milwaukee Road") were adding domes to their transcontinental trains changed the Great Northern's mind. In 1953 the Great Northern ordered six Great Domes and sixteen "short" domes, enough to add one Great Dome and three "short" domes to the regular consist of the Empire Builder.[2] One of the six cars was owned by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (CB&Q).[3]
Amtrak acquired all six Great Domes from the Burlington Northern Railroad, successor to the Great Northern and CB&Q, on its startup in 1971.[4] The Great Domes remained on the Empire Builder until October 28, 1979, when they and other single-level cars were displaced by Superliners and Hi-Level cars.[5]
Notes
- ↑ Zimmermann 1998, pp. 77–79
- ↑ Hidy et al. 2004, pp. 271–272
- ↑ Zimmermann 1998, p. 79
- ↑ Randall 1974, p. 30
- ↑ Sanders 2006, pp. 170–171
References
- Hidy, Ralph W. et al. (2004) [1988]. The Great Northern Railway: a history. Minneapolis: Minnesota University Press. ISBN 978-0-816-64429-2. OCLC 54885353.
- Randall, W. David (1974). Railway Passenger Car Annual, Volume I, 1973-1974. Park Forest, IL: RPC Publications.
- Sanders, Craig (2006). Amtrak in the Heartland. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-34705-X. OCLC 61499942.
- Zimmermann, Karl (1998). Domeliners: Yesterday's Trains of Tomorrow. Waukesha, WI: Kalmbach Publishing. ISBN 978-0-890-24292-6. OCLC 38575409.
External links
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Media related to Great Dome cars at Wikimedia Commons
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