Caught a full-length dome car, known as the OCEAN VIEW on a northbound Hiawatha on Thanksgiving Day. Does anyone know why Amtrak decided to use this suddenly?
watch?v=d94hw1Ji9pY&feature=g crec u
The Land of the Lime Green and Yellow!
[View:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4ivk2zhp5E]
Good question but I don't have the answer. I can think of 2 possibilities:
The desire to utilize all available equipment somewhere in the system during the holiday rush.
Perhaps some group chartered it, but it seems a strange time for a group to want to travel.
Seems to me that if Amtrak wanted another Super Dome it could easily charter the Friends of the 261 Milwaukee Road Super Dome and use that for capacity periods as well. It's fully Amtrak certified and compatible. For some reason they won't lease a Privately own Car. Hasn't stopped other Railroads like Canadian Pacific from leasing it and using it on employee specials. Wonder why Amtrak is hesitant to.
This thread is titled, "SUPER DOME on Hiawatha Train!"
But it wasn't.
Amtrak 10031, is an ex-Great Northern full length dome lounge built by Budd. The Super Dome was built by Pullman Standard.
In Jim Scribbins' book "The Hiawatha Story," a caption under an interior photo of one of the Super Domes states, "From a passenger viewpoint, the Super Domes were not the most successful of cars. The true advantage of a dome - forward visibility - was lost because the bulkheads were too high and the seats were too low. Also, the 12-wheel cars rode rough, at least by CMStP&P standards."
The Great Northern full-length "Great Domes" had excellent forward visibility as did all such Budd products.
So, please don't insult this car by calling it a "Super Dome."
Mark Meyer
Maybe the rental price 'Friends of 261' charges is too high for Amtrak...
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
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