What are those black smudges on the ends of the roofs of the El Capitan Cars? Onboard generator?
I rode it to LA and back a year later.
The Bi-level El Capitan cars did have on-board diesel generators.
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Thank you! I suspected and explains the smudges. It seems the larger steam heat cars back in the day had supplemental HVAC or electrical capacity? I remember the Milwaukee Super Dome video they had slide out on rails Waukesha Engine HVAC cooling plants…my guess due to all that exposed glass.
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I suspect the bi-levels would have had too much of a power draw to rely on axle driven generators and it was too early for head end power. IIRC, the generators were mounted above the trucks.
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