Yesterday, July 3 the westbound Chief had a full dome in Amtrak paint tucked in behind the power and in front of the baggage car. It came by me so fast I could not get the car number but it was definetly a full dome car. Did anybody perhaps catch a photo of this car and can anybody tell me where it may have been going? Thanks.
You probably saw Amtrak 10031.
2nd floor interior:
Does anyone know the lineage of this full dome? It would be interesting to know.
igoldberg Does anyone know the lineage of this full dome? It would be interesting to know.
Budd built 6 of them in 1955 for the Great Northern Railroad.
http://www.trainweb.com/fotosort/trains/dome_cars/index.html
Virtually any questions about the history of Dome Cars can be answered at
http://www.trainweb.org/web_lurker/WebLurkersDOMEmain/
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Would the aforesaid Dome Car, that was spotted between power and baggage, been accessible to riders on the full train? Or, was it simply being moved (say, for a private owner), in which case I would have thought it to be positioned at the tail end?
Forgive my naivete on these matters, and thanks in advance for your information.
If it was between the baggage car and the locomotives, it wasn't accessible to passengers.
And if it's a full dome in Amtrak colors, it's not a private car. I believe Amtrak's sole dome is the only full dome that has a Amtrak paintscheme. Every other full dome Amtrak ever operated has been resold and repainted (The last two being River View and Mountain View about a decade ago) or scrapped.
It has to be the former Great Northern Ocean View (Amtrak #10031) being deadheaded somewhere for another assignment or perhaps for servicing or storage at somewhere like Beech Grove. It's one of 5 Great Domes that were owned by Great Northern for Empire Builder service (The 6th Great Dome was owned by the Burlington due to the pool arrangement of the service).
Thank you, sir, for your knowledgable reply. Since it was still Amtrak-owned, I suppose that is why it was not positioned at the tail.
I wonder if this car might be added to a Southwest Chief consist at some point in the future. I'll be aboard the Chief again within the year, and would love to check it out.
I believe there was a Super Dome at the Railroad Museum in Green Bay Wisconsin for a time 50-60 years ago. Or am I mistaken?
The dome you saw westbound on the Southwest Chief is being positioned for operation on the one Surfliners that operates with Amfleet and Horizon cars. This car operates most of the year on the west coast and on the Adirondack north of Albany in the fall. It really is to bad Amtrak sold the others they owned.
Al - in - Stockton
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