What is a streamliner to begin with?
Probably because they are streamlined with rounded noses and flat sides.
GPs and SDs are a lot more boxy, and the cabs stick out.
cat992c What is a streamliner to begin with?
I think the first use of the word "Streamliner" was by the Union Pacific regarding their train M-10000 in 1934.
A 'streamline" is the path followed by an element of fluid, water or in this case air as it passes something. An object is said to be streamlined if its design has a smooth surface that allows fluid to pass it in a smooth manner, not disturbing the streamlines of the fluid flowing past.
Normal rectangular objects disrupt this flow, causing turbulence and drag, particularly at sharp corners on the trailing edges.
By the 1930s, aircraft had become fast enough to need a streamlined shape and the shape became popular in the public mind so cars and other forms of transport became streamlined to look "modern".
The streamlined trains of the late 1930s could run at around 100 miles per hour and there was some value in streamlining at these speeds.
Of course, the whole train needed to be streamlined with the gaps between the cars filled, and this was rarely done, but the curved end of the observation car was important and did help.
The original E units were streamlined - B&O EA, ATSF E1, UP E2 and this style was followed by all E and F units. The later PA units were not as streamlined, having vertical fronts.
M636C
Many of the first diesels were built as box units. In addition they were completing with v steamers that too were considered streamlined and very aerodynamic.
Streamline can apply to lots of things. The DC-3 airliner, the Chrysler Airflow, the GG1, the S.S. Normandie, the Chrysler building, pencil sharpeners designed by Raymond Loewy, the list goes on!
The early covered wagon diesels were designed to run with and complement the smooth, continuous lines of the Budd lightweight cars introduced in the 1930s. At the same time, aerodynamics was maturing as a science and the designs were being applied to everything that moved through the air. The term 'streamlined' came from the practice of forming things for minimum resistance to fluid flow.
Interestingly, the principles of streamlining, at least of the wetted surfaces, had been known to hydrodynamicists and naval architects for a long time before. I recall the big whoop-de-do when aircraft designers finally figured out the significance of a smooth curve of areas. I had read about it as a fundamental rule of naval architecture years before. (The curve of areas for a streamlined passenger train with full-width diaphragms is a close approximation of a steep-ended trapezoid with a notch out of one upper corner.)
Chuck
Here's something else that's streamlined:
http://www.autos.ca/classic-cars/motoring-memories-the-labatt-streamliners-1937-1947/
I've been in the cab of this thing, it's all varnished wood like a fine old boat. Awesome!
The Labatt Streamliner has a similarity to some motor home designs in the prewar era from Brooks Stevens.
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