McKeen Railcars.

[Murphy Siding]

     About 100 years ago, E.H. Harriman, of UP fame, set up one of his emplyees, William J. McKeen, in the gas powered railcar business.  His primary customers were UP, and SP, with SP owning the biggest fleet of cars.  Some of these cars, although apparantly not the most dependable, ran into the 30's.  Anybody know where some of these cars would have been used?  They looked like a submarine on wheels, and seem to have been designed for hauling passengers on little used branchlines.

[erikem]

The Virginia & Truckee used one at least into the 30's. I remember the body was attached to part of a building in the south end of Carson City back in the 60's.

[Railway Man]

Murphy, the book you want is "Interurbans without Wires," Edmund Keilty, 1979, which is the bible of gas-electrics. 

There were 152 McKeen cars built between 1905 and 1916.  As might be expected given his corporate sponsor many of them were built for UP and SP, but other significant customers included Ann Arbor, Queensland Govt. Railways and Victoria Railways (Australia).  Many class Is sampled at least one, including PRR, Erie, NP, CGW, C&NW, Rock Island, and Santa Fe.

Technically and commercially the McKeen car was a failure.  The engine and mechanical transmission were terrible.  As Keilty recounts, "After the relatively brisk sales years of 1910 and 1911, orders fell off drastically and McKeen began spending much of his time answering bitter complaints from his railroad mechanical colleagues."

Some of the McKeen cars ran into the late 1930s but usually not with the factory drive train.  Since there is nothing particularly interesting about the steel shell -- though the torpedo shape was pretty cool -- they were hardly McKeen cars at that point.

RWM 

[Murphy Siding]

     Thanks Railway Man- another book to add to my look-for list.  Most mention I've seen of the McKeen cars does paint them as being failures.  I have a hard time picturing UP and SP as having lightly used branchlines, where those would have been usefull.

     You have to admit though, the guy at least had some styling imagination.  Captain Nemo couldn't have designed a more futuristic submarine/spaceship type of look in 1908.  All the pictures I've seen of doodlebugs looked like wallowing whales on wheels.

[Railway Man]

UP and SP both had zillions of low-traffic branch lines that at their best could only generate a daily mixed or a daily freight and daily passenger.  UP was branchline heavy in Nebraska, Kansas, northeastern Colorado, northern Utah, southern Idaho, and eastern Washington; SP in California, western Oregon, and Texas.

RWM

[Murphy Siding]

UP and SP both had zillions of low-traffic branch lines that at their best could only generate a daily mixed or a daily freight and daily passenger.  UP was branchline heavy in Nebraska, Kansas, northeastern Colorado, northern Utah, southern Idaho, and eastern Washington; SP in California, western Oregon, and Texas.

RWM

Hmmmm   Must be time for me to go looking for more maps.

[cnwfan51]

I know a former General Manager for the Chicago Great Western and he told ne the few that the CGW had were a nightmare and they re enginerred them with either winton engines or emc power plants   Larry

[erikem]

I know a former General Manager for the Chicago Great Western and he told ne the few that the CGW had were a nightmare and they re enginerred them with either winton engines or emc power plants   Larry

If I recall correctly, the CGW made them into a 3 car proto streamliner called the 'Bluebird' that ran from Chicago to Rochester, MN. If my memory hasn't failed me, that train was first run in 1929. My recollection is that they did use Winton angines with an electric drive. 

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

The original straight mechanical drive on McKeen cars was an engineering nightmare which was difficult to operater properly and didn't hold up on the poor track of most branchlines.  A fair number of them were re-engineered with Winton engines and electric drive.

The CGW "Blue Bird" actually ran between Minneapolis and Rochester and was probably the most advanced passenger train to operate regularly on CGW.  The January 1968 issue of TRAINS has an article about CGW passenger trains which includes a description of the "Blue Bird".

[wjstix]

I think the Duluth Missabe and Northern used McKeen cars in the 1910's. I'm not sure if the Dan Patch Line (Minneapolis St.Paul Rochester and Dubuque Electric Traction Co.) used McKeens but I know they used railcars in the teens also. I think some were McKeens and some were homebuilt??

[mudchicken]

[erikem]

The CGW "Blue Bird" actually ran between Minneapolis and Rochester and was probably the most advanced passenger train to operate regularly on CGW.  The January 1968 issue of TRAINS has an article about CGW passenger trains which includes a description of the "Blue Bird".

Thanks for the correction. One interesting detail was the provision for accomdating passengers bound for the Mayo Clinic (better be careful - might start another Mayo vs DM&E flamefest).