So, yesterday I ran across the Marlboro Unlimted. I don't care bout the Marlboro, or want this tot turn into a smoking flame war thread. But I do want to know about the Hot Tub car. What I;ve read has ranged from "Impossible" to "Actually, they did have a good team working out the bugs" and supposedly, there is one in Japan running. I know someone in another forum said it wasn't stble at speed due to water sloshing, he was told he was wrong. Could that be fixed if the tubswere staggerd over the trucks, at the ends and having one set digonal from the other? Or is the better place to be off of the trucks themselves?
I'd love to hear what you guys know about this fascinating concept. I think it would be fun for the American Orient Express.
-Morgan
I read up on the Marlboro train a few years back. The Hot Tub car was partially built. I saw a pic somewhere of a carbody with internal framing on shop trucks. It was at the then Colorado Railcar Facility. I think I read about it being sold as is.
As for putting a hot tub in a passenger car: how would an 85-foot car handle the 4,000-lb weight of a 500-gallon tub? Perhaps build 3-6 four person tubs in dividable rooms? A concrete floor in the car could keep the car's center of gravity reasonably low. The sides of the tubs could be designed to handle the water sloshing. Would 480V HEP be sufficient to heat the water and run the pumps to keep the water circulated? Being new construction, would the cars be required to be ADA accessible?
All it takes it money.
As for the Marlboro Unlimited, point a browser here: http://www.pmdocs.com/
That website has a vast, vast collection of internal Philip Morris documents. P-M referred to the train as "Project Thunder". That's a useful keyword as is the builder: "Rader Railcar". The project was well planned and thought out at the time it was scrapped. A persistent searcher can find interesting info on the train, and how P-M planned to use it.
/JB
The end of the Hot tub car
The Hot tub car survived at Colorado Railcar until its liquidation. Since there were no takers for the car it was sent to scrao. The car had never been completely built and as part of the agreement between Philip Morris and Radar, the car was to be made un-usable for rail service.
The last time I saw the car it was off trucks, and covered in a tarp.
Hope this information helps!
Here are a couple articles pertaining to the hot tub cars and The Marlboro Express
oldspa.html
http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,1120438
Will
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