Turboliner Trains to be disposed of

[The Davy Crockett]

Not only did Amtrak run the French designed Turboliners from Grand Central and later Penn Station to Albany, but they ran the earlier DOT United Aircraft TurboTrains from New York (both GCT and Penn) to Boston. With their railfan-favorite power-dome coaches.

I rode on these once from BOS to NYP with my Dad when I was a kid. IMHO, a combination of the ugliest trains to ever grace American rails, with one of the best 'riding experiences' - in the dome.

 

[AutoTrDvr]

Saw the news that Gov. Cuomo of NY put out a press release today announcing the Turboliners and all the parts and components are to disposed of. The state has been spending $150K a year to storage the trains and parts, so the stuff goes up for sale. Probably most of it will get scrap value only.

I fondly recall the Turboliners from when they were used between Chicago and the Detroit area. I also recall seeing a Turboliner set in (of all places), NY Penn station! A very rare occurrence. I guess it was part of that experimental rebuilding program. You could smell the jet fumes for hours on end...

These Turboliners that are being disposed off operated between New York and Albany under the auspices of Amtrak for many years, and were a common sight at Penn Station. They even ran to Montreal for a while. Some of them were originals, and some were rebuilds of those that ran in the midwest before (RTG IIs). They were naturally all equipped with third rail electric traction capabilities to operate first out of Grand Central and later out of Penn Station. Normally they did not operate under turbine power in the tunnels.

This one appeared not to be a "convert." You could smell it up in the passenger area of NY Penn. I guess the same reason why they had to run P32AC-DM locomotives for LD service that passes through or originates from NY Penn.

Not only did Amtrak run the French designed Turboliners from Grand Central and later Penn Station to Albany, but they ran the earlier DOT United Aircraft TurboTrains from New York (both GCT and Penn) to Boston. With their railfan-favorite power-dome coaches.

I knew I'd smelled jet fumes from somewhere! Good to know my mind isn't playing tricks on me!

 

[Rover]

AMTRAK Turboliners are featured today on the Wikipedia main page:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

 

[Montreal Ltd]

I remember the turbo which I rode quite frequently between Montreal and Toronto. The trip took 4 hrs (OK 3 hrs 55 min) versus 5 hours on the Rapids, which had older solidly maintained cars and much better food. There was a famous photograph of passengers getting off the Turbo in a field somewhere and getting on to a Rapido.

 

[Montreal Ltd]

The dome in the front power car was used as a bar by CN.

 

[jis]

The one with the dome was called "Turbo Train" in the US I think. The Turboliners (Rohr or ANF) did not have any dome.

 

[railiner]

The one with the dome was called "Turbo Train" in the US I think. The Turboliners (Rohr or ANF) did not have any dome.

That's right....the Turbo Trains were built by United Aircraft, and predated the French design Turboliners in North America by about 5 years. They had a Dome-Power-Coach at either end of the consist...3 or 4 cars in the US, and 5 to 7 cars in Canada....

 

[Palmetto]

Rode in the dome once. A railfan's delight.

 

[railiner]

Rode in the dome once. A railfan's delight.

Agreed!The ultimate "Railfan Seat" was directly behind the engineer...you could watch him operate the train through the plexiglass bulkhead. Or you could sit behind the fireman on the opposite side...

 

[Montreal Ltd]

That was fun watching the crew. The front dome was the CNR's most popular bar.

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

When I was a younglin' back in the 70s I was able to ride the Turboliner between Chicago and St. Louis a couple times. I fondly recall those massive windows and electric bright (centered around purple) interiors, not to mention the nuclear hamburgers served on Styrofoam. And I can still hear Mom bitching and groaning the entire 5 hours she had to ride facing backwards on one trip!

 

[railiner]

When I was a younglin' back in the 70s I was able to ride the Turboliner between Chicago and St. Louis a couple times. I fondly recall those massive windows and electric bright (centered around purple) interiors, not to mention the nuclear hamburgers served on Styrofoam. And I can still hear Mom bitching and groaning the entire 5 hours she had to ride facing backwards on one trip!

Those RTG Turboliner's were the first new rolling stock that Amtrak put in service, not counting the SDP40F locomotives...they came out a couple of years before Amfleet arrived, and were highly promoted.

IIRC, they ran them thru from St. Louis to Milwaukee at one time....also from Detroit to Milwaukee....

 

[Don Newcomb]

My wife & I rode the Turbo between NYC and Boston some time in the 70s. It was a bit of a let-down because the tracks limited the train's speed to around 50-60 mph.

 

[Cho Cho Charlie]

That's right....the Turbo Trains were built by United Aircraft, and predated the French design Turboliners in North America by about 5 years. They had a Dome-Power-Coach at either end of the consist...3 or 4 cars in the US, and 5 to 7 cars in Canada....

Rode in the dome once. A railfan's delight.

Wow, it was a pretty unusual looking train set.

 

[Steve4031]

I rode turboliners between Stl-Bloomington once. Several times between Chicago and Milwaukee. And a few times between Chicago and rantoul, il. And once between Chicago and Ann arbor. I preferred then to amfleets.

 

[Don Newcomb]

Here are a couple of photos I took in '76 when my wife and I rode the Turbo between suburban Boston (probably the Rte 128 station) and NYC. Note the bars over the forward-facing windshields. At that time people were dropping rocks off overpasses to try to do whatever damage they could to the train, drivers and passengers. The other photo is from the inside of the rear observation dome.

 

[Don Newcomb]

Wow, it was a pretty unusual looking train set.

Sort of reminds me of a hog-nosed snake.

 

[railiner]

Those TurboTrains were somewhat reminiscent of the old GM Aerotrains of the fifties...

 

[Montreal Ltd]

Good closeup posted today on website of Canadian Passenger Train Enthusiasts. Taken at Gare Centrale in Montreal

 

[Montreal Ltd]

Correction: Facebook group not website. Google Canadian Passenger Train Enthusiasts.

 

[Cho Cho Charlie]

Wow, it was a pretty unusual looking train set.

Sort of reminds me of a hog-nosed snake.

It sort like they were attempting to get the then-new "look" of a 747, with the cockpit and upper passenger level roof budge.

 

[railiner]

Since it was built by an aircraft company, it utilized a lot of contemporary aerospace technology...

The gas turbine engines, the aluminum bodies with the flush windows, the engineers side window was a plug and slide type exactly like an airliner cockpit...

The coach seats were right out of an airliner catalog, seatback tray tables included. So were the Grimes coffee makers in the galley...

 

[Metra Electric Rider]

One wonders if the Turbotrain (and the Turboliner) had been a bigger success and slightly earlier, what state our general railroad culture would be today?

I find the Turbotrain to be very sleek and attractive (but also, yes, hog nose snakeish - my favorite snake for someone who doesn't particularly like snakes).

 

[Anderson]

I suspect that had the difference simply been CN getting a bit luckier with their sets (e.g. no opening day fire) we'd have seen more in operation. IIRC these were able to handle NEC-North pretty well.

The real issue, though, was always going to be PTC and the 79 MPH speed limit.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

The real issue is that turbine powered trains need a fire hose to get fuel from the tank to the prime mover. The TurboTrain was a pre-embargo design, and I think the genesis of the Turboliner was also prior to that.

The idea of high speed trains without actual investment in the expensive infrastructure required for it (I.e. Electrification) is a temptress for those who don't understand the concept of TCO. Which is most Americans, a great deal of non Americans, and the entire legislative branch of this country. And most other countries, come to think of it.

Low-capital test shots like this are useful. For instance, use the machines 125 mph capavibility with a FRA waiver to demonstrate the value of a non-engine change, limited stop, 125 mph high speed service from Boston to Washington. Then use this validity to acquire the funds to electrify the entire line, acquire proper high speed sets, and run the real service.

The disadvantage is the financial watchdog morons that come pouring on to the scene like locusts discussing vaguely defined "waste", "expensiveness" and "unaffordabity". I define waste as "using time for listening to financial watchdogs", "expensiveness" as "the cost of lost oppurtunuty for projects financial watchdogs delay" and "unaffordibility" as "not affording building a wasteful and expensive large container to seal financial watchdogs in and dump into the ocean". But that's me.