Does any one knows who invented this concept and how long it lasted?
The go-to book on what I call the “lightweight experimental” era is NEW YORK CENTRAL AND THE TRAINS OF THE FUTURE. By Geoffrey H. Doughty. TLC Publishing, Inc., 1387 Winding Creek Lane, Lynchburg, Va., 25043-3776. (804) 385-4076 – don’t try ordering from TLC because it is out of print. I understand Santa is getting me a copy for Christmas by way of used book broker – can anyone tell me where to get a copy of David Wardale “The Red Devil and Other Tales from the Age of Steam”?
You had steam traction and “heavyweight” cars. Then you had the Budd Pioneer and the Union Pacific M1000 equipment – aluminum or Shotweld stainless construction, Jacobs bogie (articulated 2-axle truck like on the TGV), streamlined underframes and truck sideframes, and such. Following that came the standard AAR “lightweight” cars and locomotives like the E7, E8, and F3 and F7’s in passenger service. This was the last major upgrade of passenger rolling stock prior to Amtrak – it is the Amtrak and VIA “Heritage Fleet.”
By the mid 1950’s there was one last shot by the freight railroads to revamp passenger service with new equipment, but it didn’t catch on, partly because the equipment was too far off standard practices, partly because rail passenger service was in decline and there wasn’t the money or inclination for for-profit railroad companies to purchase a generation of passenger equipment beyond the “lightweight” cars. The lightweight experimentals (the mid 1950’s stuff) got a bad rap in railroad writing, from Peter Lyons “To Hell in a Day Coach” on forward, but one of the lightweight experimentals (the Budd Pioneer III) is still with us in the form of Amfleet.
The Patrick McGinnis New Haven was one railroad that tried to “save” its extensive but money-losing passenger operation with new trains. There were three of them named after historical figures relating to New England: Rog
Paul:
Thanks for the information.[bow]