Great Dome (railcar)

The Great Domes were a fleet of six streamlined dome lounge cars built by the Budd Company for the Great Northern Railway and Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad in 1955. The cars were used exclusively on the Empire Builder from their introduction in 1955 until the end of private passenger service in 1971. Amtrak retained all six cars and they continued to run on the Empire Builder before new Superliners displaced them at the end of the decade, after which they saw service elsewhere in the system before the last one being retired in 2019. The Great Domes were similar in design to the Big Domes Budd built for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.

Great Dome
Ocean View in Amtrak service on the Cardinal in 2011
The top level of a Great Dome on the Empire Builder in 1974
ManufacturerBudd Company
Constructed1953–55
Entered service1955
Number built6
Capacity57 coach + 18 lounge (dome level)
Operator(s)

Design

The Great Domes were "virtually identical" to the Big Dome lounges Budd constructed for the Santa Fe in 1954, save for the fact that their smooth sides lacked the fluting of the Big Domes. The top level featured coach-style seating for 57, plus a lounge area which could seat an additional 18 on sofas and in booths. The lower level featured a cocktail lounge decorated with the art of the Haida people, who hailed from the Pacific Northwest.[1]

Service history

The Great Northern was slow to adopt dome cars for its passenger trains. Management thought that the cost of heating and cooling the dome interiors would be prohibitively expensive given the hot summers and cold winters along the Hi-Line. Further, they thought the Empire Builder, which had already been re-equipped twice in 1947 and 1951, could attract passengers without adding domes. News that the Northern Pacific Railway and Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (the "Milwaukee Road") were adding domes to their transcontinental trains changed the Great Northern's mind. In 1953 the Great Northern ordered six Great Domes and sixteen "short" domes, enough to add one Great Dome and three "short" domes to the regular consist of the Empire Builder.[2] One of the six cars was owned by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (CB&Q).[3]

Amtrak acquired all six Great Domes from the Burlington Northern Railroad, successor to the Great Northern and CB&Q, on its startup in 1971.[4] The Great Domes remained on the Empire Builder until October 28, 1979, when they and other single-level cars were displaced by Superliners and Hi-Level cars.[5] Amtrak rebuilt three of the cars for head end power (HEP) and they remained on the roster into the 1990s on the Auto Train. Amtrak has retained one, Ocean View, as part of its business car fleet and for special use on regular routes,[6][7][8] such as the Downeaster service during leaf peeping season.[9] Ocean View was retired in 2019 by Amtrak, due to the age and expense of maintaining the Great Dome Car.[10]

Notes
  1. Zimmermann 1998, pp. 77–79
  2. Hidy et al. 2004, pp. 271–272
  3. Zimmermann 1998, p. 79
  4. Randall 1974, p. 30
  5. Sanders 2006, pp. 170–171
  6. Simon & Warner 2011, p. 188
  7. "Fall Travel Made Brilliant on the Great Dome Car". Amtrak. Archived from the original on 25 August 2015. Retrieved 23 August 2015.
  8. "Panoramic Views of the California Coast from the Great Dome". Amtrak Pacific Surfliner. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  9. Associated Press (August 19, 2017). "Amtrak brings back 1955 dome rail car to Downeaster train". The Boston Globe. Retrieved August 24, 2017.
  10. "Amtrak's 'Great Dome' car has been retired". Times Union. Retrieved 4 September 2019.

References
  • Hidy, Ralph W.; et al. (2004) [1988]. The Great Northern Railway: A History. Minneapolis: Minnesota University Press. ISBN 978-0-816-64429-2. OCLC 54885353.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Randall, W. David (1974). Railway Passenger Car Annual, Volume I, 1973-1974. Park Forest, Illinois: RPC Publications.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Sanders, Craig (2006). Amtrak in the Heartland. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-34705-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Simon, Elbert; Warner, David C. (2011). Amtrak by the numbers: a comprehensive passenger car and motive power roster, 1971-2011. Kansas City, Missouri: White River Productions. ISBN 978-1-932804-12-6.
  • Zimmermann, Karl (1998). Domeliners: Yesterday's Trains of Tomorrow. Waukesha, Wisconsin: Kalmbach Publishing. ISBN 978-0-890-24292-6.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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