William Bushnell Stout and the Pullman Railplane

[sswcharlie]

Hi

 

I am looking for information on the Railplane while in scheduled service on the GM&N in 1935, between Tylertown MS and Jackson MS.  Also Railplane was on 'demonstration' in 1933 to DT&I and other railroads.

Would like to locate a copy of the timetable, advertising, photos, etc, while on the GM&N. 

Also there is somewhere!  reports that discussed the reasons for this vehicle not being successful in terms of sales etc.

Have drawings I found with Google etc and very few photos, and a small video on Y outube.

Appreciate your help

Charles Harris

 

 

[Wizlish]

My understanding is that the Railplane was too small and too light for the services the GM&N wanted to run -- the result (as on UP and other places) was the substitution of motor trains (in GM&N's case, Rebels) for single cars, and ultimately full-size streamliners for motor or short-consist trains.  I considered Tylertown-Jackson to be something of a glorified local service... perhaps similar to the 'City of Salina' operation... the sort of niche so well filled by the RDC a couple of decades later.

I also suspect the Railplane was far too light for 'general' railroad service, particularly a route with less-than-perfect track, and that it would have been about on a par with the plywood Pendulum Car in meeting buff and draft standards.  A potentially interesting comparison might be to the Goodyear-Zeppelin Comet, which had a somewhat similar approach to design... and similar disappointing sales history.

[daveklepper]

The Comet was a just a bit more successful,  since it was of use to the New Haven in Boston - Providence local service and then Boston -Waterbury via Hartford service.  Rode it several times 1949-1952.   It was not retired until the New Haven had a sizeable Budd RDC fleet.

[tomikawaTT]

Having just looked at an article on the Railplane that included quite a few detail drawings, I suspect that the main sticking point was that it was basically an aircraft fuselage on wheels.  Now, what would happen if a DC-3 happened to be sitting on the rails when a Baldwin, Alco or Lima product came through at speed?  (If you said confetti, you got it in one.)

The original design didn't even have a pilot.  As for couplers, what couplers.  Ordinary buffing forces would have been ba-ad news to that flimsy structure, even if there had been a practical way to apply draft gear.

Could you imagine the reaction at the FRA if someone proposed running the Railplane today?  They're the people who've decreed that there should be a battering ram at the front of every passenger train.

Chuck

[sswcharlie]

Thanks guys for all the info.

[Sawsyon]

Hi Chuck, Could you give the citation for that article on the Railplane, please? I'd like to find it and drawings. Thanks. Steve

[sswcharlie]

Contact me on swchuck at gmail dot com Are you going to build a model ?

[Jones1945]

Note the size of it

[Former Car Maintainer]

Saw the YouTube video of the railplane showing the engine service panels, etc.

Supposedly there is an article on the railplane in Railway Age (Gazette) but haven't found a link to it. Ive found Railway Age to have the best technical descriptions.

The flurry of these one off early thirties prototypical streamline designs were incubated in part by Government grants for post depression stimulus.

Its clear to see, the soft point of the Railplane design is the engine, clutch, transmission truck that mirrored the weak design of the McKeen.

Its a shame the Railplane, the Silver Slipper, the M10000, the New Haven Comet, the Rebel werent saved from the welders torch...

[Jones1945]

Former Car Maintainer

Its a shame the Railplane, the Silver Slipper, the M10000, the New Haven Comet, the Rebel werent saved from the welders torch...

The New Haven Comet is one of my favorite streamlines. If I was a multimillionaire, I would have built a streamliner museum for all these beautiful machines.

[Former Car Maintainer]

How about the Pullman railplane with the installed engines tossed and replaced with dual quad Chevy 409 engines?

 

[Overmod]

Former Car Maintainer

How about the Pullman railplane with the installed engines tossed and replaced with dual quad Chevy 409 engines?

You don't need the dual quads -- this is not a high-acceleration application so simple forced induction and displacement get the job done on minimal fuel.  And you don't need high-end rpm so I'd argue that 396 is fine for even a Mark 4 engine if you have to have a Chevy... or go straight to the magic number in the W-engine if you want displacement.

 A far better approach would be to replicate a couple more of the injected A864 Hemis as recently restored in Goldenrod, with something like Megasquirt to optimize injection economy; those engines have the required effective low-end torque to work best in the Railplane.  Put twins on 'em for thermal economy.   

Of course it's hard to beat what Clark used in the Auto-Tram.  Just think what might have occurred if that had gotten a good-looking carrosserie...   All the work has been done on building its modern replacement (by that I mean the engine for the Cadillac Sixteen)... all you need is the application and some enthusiast financing...