The sleeping car or sleeper (often wagon-lit ) is a railway passenger car that can accommodate all passengers in beds of one kind or another, for the purpose of sleeping. George Pullman was the American innovator of the sleeper car.
123-616: The Dixie Flagler was a streamlined passenger train operated by the Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) between Chicago , Illinois and Miami, Florida . It began in 1939 as the Henry M. Flagler , a regional service between Miami and Jacksonville, Florida ; the FEC renamed it and extended it to Chicago a year later. It was one of the few Chicago to Florida trains that passed through Atlanta. As an overnight streamliner it
246-594: A 1,200-+-900-horsepower (890 + 670 kW) cab/booster locomotive pulling nine cars of the same form. Automotive-styled cab/booster locomotive sets with 1,200-horsepower (890 kW) engines powered the Union Pacific's City of San Francisco and City of Denver sets. The two City of Denver sets started service two cars shorter than the M-10002 and M-10004 sets, with roomier and heavier straight-sided cars. The Union Pacific's initial streamliner service to
369-694: A Family Bedroom for as many as two adults and two children; and an "Accessible Bedroom" (formerly "Special Bedroom") for a wheelchair-using traveler and a companion; plus toilets and a shower. The Viewliner cars contain an Accessible Bedroom (formerly "Special Bedroom") for a wheelchair-using traveler and a companion, with an enclosed toilet-and-shower facility; two Bedrooms (formerly "Deluxe Bedrooms") for one, two, or three travelers, each Bedroom containing an enclosed toilet-and-shower facility; "Roomettes" (formerly "Economy Bedrooms", "Standard Bedrooms", or "Compartments") for one or two travelers, each Roomette containing its own unenclosed toilet and washing facilities; and
492-581: A chance for travel, and it was a well regarded job in the African-American community of the time. The Pullman attendants, regardless of their true name, were traditionally referred to as "George" by the travelers, the name of the company's founder, George Pullman . The Pullman company was the largest employer of African Americans in the United States. Railway porters fought for political recognition and were eventually unionized. Their union,
615-443: A choice of single- or double-occupancy bedrooms. These services operate all week, except Saturdays and usually depart London from Euston and Paddington stations in the evening, arriving at their destinations at approximately 08:00. The Night Riviera service uses British Rail Mk3 sleeper coaches, whereas Caledonian Sleeper uses Mk5 coaches . In Canada, all regularly scheduled sleeping car services are operated by Via Rail , using
738-522: A deluxe option with a private bathroom and shower. Night train numbers have been reduced significantly, as the quality of the rail infrastructure is declining and repairs are insufficient, which leads to longer ride times between cities. A journey from Gara de Nord station in Bucharest to Arad (599 km) usually lasts 11 hours 20 minutes when there are no delays. Most night trains in Romania cross
861-665: A fuel similar to kerosene. The two trainsets were star attractions at the 1934 World's Fair (" A Century of Progress ") in Chicago, Illinois . During its set's demonstration period, the Union Pacific named the M-10000 as the Streamliner , providing the first use of the term with respect to trains. The Streamliner ' s publicity tour in February–May 1934 attracted over a million visitors and gained attention in national media as
984-415: A mixture of relatively new cars and refurbished mid-century ones; the latter cars include both private rooms and "open section" accommodations. In the United States, all regularly scheduled sleeping car services are operated by Amtrak . Amtrak offers sleeping cars on most of its overnight trains, using modern cars of the private-room type exclusively. Today, Amtrak operates two main types of sleeping car:
1107-777: A modest degree of innovation in the bogie suspension systems and the passenger compartment design. Some other post-Soviet nations rely more heavily on the rolling stock fleet inherited from the Union, to a large extent based on vintage life-prolonged cars assembled in East Germany or Soviet Latvia back in the 1980s. Modern, air-conditioned sleeping cars and couchette cars are part of Croatian Railways rolling stock. Croatian sleeping coaches include single, double or 4-bed compartments with washbasin and many additional hygienic accessories. Passengers also have catering services at their disposal and are given complimentary breakfast, depending on
1230-767: A more streamlined nose than do previous TGVs. In 2015, Eurostar began to operate the electric multiple unit (EMU) British Rail Class 374 , also known as the Eurostar e320, on its high-speed services through the Channel Tunnel . The train serves destinations beyond Eurostar's core routes to the Gare du Nord station in Paris and the Brussels-South railway station . Owned by Eurostar International Limited and capable of operating at 320 km/h (199 mph),
1353-577: A practice used in Italy and Austria, adopted by the CFR in the early 2010s, thus enabling it to increase the capacity on sleeping trains. The sleeping cars of the CFR in the 1990s consisted of Bautzen and Görlitz-made sleeping cars, standard in the Eastern Bloc. They were replaced by Grivița-made WLABmee 71-70 and Hansa-made WLABmee 71–31, bought second-hand from Deutsche Bahn. The most recent sleeping cars are
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#17327799217581476-663: A private shower cubicle. In addition, each Superliner sleeping car has two special lower-level accommodations, each taking up the full width of the car: the Accessible Bedroom, at the restroom/shower end of the car (below the Deluxe Bedrooms), is a fully wheelchair-accessible accommodation for two, with a roll-in cubicle for the toilet and shower; the Family Bedroom, at the Economy Bedroom end of
1599-462: A shower room at the end of the car. China Railway operates an extensive network of conventional sleeper trains throughout the country, covering all provincial capitals and many major cities. The Chinese "hard" sleeping car in use today is very basic, consisting of 6 fixed bunk beds per compartment, which can be converted into seats in peak season. The middle level bunk bed will be folded and top level bunk bed will still be sold as sleeper, while
1722-453: A single car to increase the number of sleepers over a conventional sleeping car of private rooms. A Roomette , in the historically correct sense of the word, is a private room for a single passenger, containing a single seat, a folding bed, a toilet ( not in a private cubicle of its own), and a washbasin. When a traditional Roomette is in night mode, the bed blocks access to the toilet. Like open sections, Roomettes are placed on both sides of
1845-414: A small closet, and no in-room washbasin or toilet, on both sides of both the upper and lower levels of the car. Effectively, they are open sections with walls, a door, and a built-in access ladder for the upper berth (which doubles as a nightstand for the lower berth passenger). Superliner Deluxe Bedrooms are essentially the same as historic Compartments and Double Bedrooms, with the toilet cubicle doubling as
1968-547: A streamlined style. The South Manchuria Railway , which was under Japanese control at that time, also designed the Pashina class streamlined locomotive. The Railway operated the Asia Express , whose style was coordinated with that of Pashina locomotives. These streamlined steam locomotives took many man-hours to repair due to their casing. After the outbreak of World War II , the lack of an experienced labor force made
2091-557: A streamlined style. The selected locomotive was No. 43 of class C53. However Hideo Shima , the chief engineer of the conversion, thought streamlining had no practical effect on reducing air resistance, because Japanese trains at that time did not exceed a speed of 62 mph (100 km/h). Shima therefore designed the locomotive to create airflow that lifted exhaust smoke away from the locomotive. He had expected no practical effect on reducing air resistance completely, therefore he never tried to test fuel consumption or tractive force of
2214-453: A style that was as much nautically as aerodynamically inspired. The McKeen cars were unsuccessful because the internal combustion drive technology for that application was unreliable at the time. Further, the lightweight frames dictated by the cars' limited power tended to break. Streamlined rail motorcars would appear again in the early 1930s after the internal combustion-electric propulsion technology that General Electric developed and that
2337-535: A top speed of 112.5 mph (181.1 km/h). This was the fastest authenticated speed reached by a steam locomotive at the time, making #2 the rail speed record holder for steam and the first steam locomotive to top 110 mph (180 km/h). That record lasted until a German DRG Class 05 locomotive exceeded it the following year. The Illinois Central 121 trainset was the first of the Green Diamond streamliners running between Chicago and St Louis. It
2460-522: A train factory in Minsk , or in Uzbekistan , which has established a 600 km Afrosiyob high-speed rail service between all of its major cities. In the larger Soviet Union successor states like Kazakhstan , Russia , and Ukraine , on the other hand, night trains are to this day a prime method of railway travel, as a shift towards faster daytime trains with seating rather than sleeping arrangements
2583-465: A whole and for manufacturers of motorized railcars whose primary markets, branch line services, were among the first to be cut. The interests of lightweight equipment manufacturers and rail operators therefore focused on the development of a new generation of lightweight, high speed, internal combustion-electric powered streamlined trainsets that were primarily designed for mainline service. The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad (Burlington) and
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#17327799217582706-662: A year during the end of World War II the United States government banned sleeping cars for runs of less than 450 miles (720 km) in order to make sleepers available for transporting troops returning to the US from Europe , many being deployed in the Pacific Theater . The development of the Interstate Highway System in the 1950s and the expansion of jet airline travel in the same decade negatively affected train travel. One unanticipated consequence of
2829-699: Is a low-cost night train between Madrid and Barcelona served by berth carriages, with compartments for up to 6 people. While most of Turkey's overnight trains operate within Anatolia , in Asia , TCDD Taşımacılık operates one train from Istanbul to Sofia and Bucharest . The train runs through Turkey as a single train and later splits in Bulgaria. Formerly, overnight trains departed Istanbul to several European destinations such as Thessaloniki , Belgrade , Budapest , Warsaw and Kyiv but were all discontinued in
2952-552: Is a term applied to the long, slender, custom built, high-speed vehicles with enclosed wheels. The earliest known streamlined rail equipment in the United States were McKeen rail motorcars that the company built for the Union Pacific and the Southern Pacific Railroads between 1905 and 1917. Most McKeen cars sported a pointed "wind splitter" front, a rounded rear and round porthole style windows in
3075-721: Is hampered by insufficient investments in the railway infrastructure restricting the speed, lack of train sets, and most importantly, the distances involved. While certain numbers of high-speed trains have been acquired by the national railways of these countries (such as Talgo 250 in Kazakhstan, Siemens Sapsan in Russia, or Hyundai Rotem HRCS in Ukraine), all of them continue to operate a large number of sleeper trains both on domestic and international routes. The need to compete against aviation with its soaring passenger numbers forces
3198-912: The 20th Century Limited on the New York Central Railroad , the Broadway Limited on the Pennsylvania Railroad , the Panama Limited on the Illinois Central Railroad , and the Super Chief on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway . Pullman cars were normally a dark "Pullman green", although some were painted in the host railroad's colors. The cars carried individual names, but usually did not carry visible numbers. In
3321-612: The Burlington Zephyr . The two railroads' trains each entered service as three-car articulated sets (including the power car). The Winton Engine Corporation , a subsidiary of General Motors (GM) , manufactured the engines for both locomotives. The prime mover for the Burlington Zephyr' s diesel-electric propulsion was a new 600 hp diesel engine. The Union Pacific's M-10000 had a 600-horsepower (450 kW) spark-ignition engine that ran on "petroleum distillate",
3444-466: The Chicago Defender , gained a national circulation in this way. Porters also used to re-sell phonograph records bought in the great metropolitan centres, greatly adding to the distribution of jazz and blues and the popularity of the artists. From the mid-19th to the mid-20th centuries, the most common and more economical type of sleeping car accommodation on North American trains was
3567-614: The Pioneer Zephyr in honor of that train's status as the first of the fleet. In April 1935, two Twin Cities Zephyrs that bore the same three-car configuration entered service on the railroad's Chicago and Minneapolis-St. Paul route. Larger trainsets with more powerful Winton engines were built for the Burlington and put into service over longer routes. Twin-engine power units and eventually booster power units met
3690-659: The Simplon-Orient Express , Nord Express , Train Bleu , Golden Arrow , and the Transsiberien (on the Trans-Siberian railway ). Today it once again specializes in sleeping cars, along with onboard railroad catering. In modern Europe, a number of sleeping car services continue to operate, though they face strong competition from high-speed day trains and budget airlines, sometimes leading to
3813-782: The Twin Cities Hiawatha run. The Hudsons could cruise above 110 mph (177 km/h) and were said to exceed 120 mph (193 km/h) on occasion. Otto Kuhler designed the Milwaukee Road's speedsters with "shovel nose" styling. Some of the class 7's details were evocative of those of the Zephyrs . Also in 1937, the Electro-Motive Corporation (EMC)—later incorporated into GM's Electro-Motive Division (EMD) —started production of streamlined diesel-electric passenger locomotives, incorporating
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3936-850: The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad and the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad until 1969. As a daytime streamliner, the Henry M. Flagler operated entirely over the Florida East Coast Railway, however, this particular train ended in 1940. To travel from Chicago to Florida, the Dixie Flagler used six separate railroads. The train left Chicago's Dearborn Station on the Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad (C&EI). Between Evansville, Indiana , and Nashville, Tennessee , it used
4059-468: The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (established, 1925), became an important source of strength for the burgeoning Civil Rights Movement in the early 20th century, notably under the leadership of A. Philip Randolph . Because they moved about the country, Pullman porters also became an important means of communication for news and cultural information of all kinds. The African-American newspaper ,
4182-592: The City of Denver trains. The train's cars then became spare equipment. The two City of Denver trainsets ( M–10005 and M–10006), after cannibalizing power from the M-10001 and M-10004 , remained in service until 1953. Class GG1 electric locomotives brought streamlined styling to the Pennsylvania Railroad 's fleet of electric locomotives in late 1934. Meanwhile, the Boston and Maine 's Flying Yankee , identical to
4305-663: The Denver Zephyr ' s six-cat sets to the Twin Cities Zephyr , transferring that train's original streamlined cars to other Burlington routes. The last of the classic Zephyrs was built for the Burlington's Kansas City–Saint Louis General Pershing Zephyr route. That trainset, which contained GM's newest 1,000-horsepower (750 kW) engine and conventional coupling, entered service in June 1939. The Burlington's original Zephyr trainsets remained in service in
4428-643: The ETR 401 ("Pendolino") , the ETR 450 ("Pendolino") and the ETR 500 . Streamliner service temporarily ended in the United Kingdom with the outbreak of WWII. During the war, the LNER and LMS streamlined locomotives had part of their streamlining removed to aid maintenance. By the late 1940s and early 1950s, the state of the railways was improving as deteriorated track conditions caused by delayed maintenance work were corrected. The repairs and new improvements enabled
4551-630: The Electro-Motive Company (EMC) promoted became the accepted technology for use rail motorcars in the 1920s. Streetcar builders sought to build electric cars with improved speed for interurban lines through the 1920s. In 1931, the J. G. Brill Company introduced the Bullet , a lightweight, wind-tunnel designed car with a rounded front that could run either singly or in multiple-unit sets, capable of speeds over 90 mph (145 km/h). Although Depression -era economics cut into sales,
4674-532: The Grand Trunk in 1858, then the Great Western . The Great Western's sleeping cars were manufactured in-house, with the first three built in 1858, and the railway operating six by 1863. The man who ultimately made the sleeping car business profitable in the United States was George Pullman , who began by building a luxurious sleeping car (named Pioneer ) in 1865. The Pullman Company , founded as
4797-538: The Hobart to Launceston expresses. Despite — or perhaps because of — the strategic priorities of World War II, some new streamliner locomotives were built in Australia during and immediately after the war. The first five New South Wales C38 class locomotives were modestly streamlined with distinctive conical noses, while the twelve South Australian Railways 520 class locomotives featured extravagant streamlining in
4920-649: The Louisville and Nashville Railroad (L&N). From Nashville south to Atlanta, Georgia 's Union Station , via Chattanooga, TN, it used the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway (NC), a subsidiary of the L&;N. From Atlanta southeast to Waycross, Georgia , it travelled over the Atlanta, Birmingham and Coast Railroad (AB&C), a subsidiary of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad (ACL). At Waycross it joined
5043-422: The M-10000 as a three-car set until the railroad was retired the set in 1941. The trainset's 1942 scrapping provided Duralumin that was recycled for use in war-time military aircraft. The Union Pacific also commissioned the construction of five modified trainsets that had evolved from the initial M-10000 design. Those streamlined trains inaugurated the railroad's high-speed service out of Chicago while bearing
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5166-698: The New York Central Railroad 's Ohio Xplorer and the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad 's Dan'l Webster . The pair were problematic and were withdrawn from service by 1960. GM 's project, originally called Train Y , was marketed as the Aerotrain . It featured a futuristic, automotive-styled EMD LWT12 diesel–electric locomotive pulling aluminum coaches adapted from GM's long-distance bus design. Two trainsets were produced in 1955 and were trialed by several railroads, but no orders were forthcoming. The two demonstration units were eventually sold to
5289-700: The Northlander until 1992. From 1961, the SBB used for TEE service the RAe TEE II , a set of five streamlined electric trains compatible with four different railway electrification systems . Italy used pre-war trains and new trains that the Italian State Railways—Ferrovie dello Stato (FS)—developed. The new trains included the FS Class ETR 250 ("Arlecchino") , the ETR 300 ("Settebello") ,
5412-547: The Portland–Seattle run until the railroad took it out of service again in March 1943. After running for 18 months as the City of San Francisco M-10004 , the locomotive spent six months being refurbished and then served from July 1938 as a second unit on the City of Los Angeles . The Union Pacific retired the locomotive in March 1939. The Union Pacific converted the M-10001 and M-10004 power units to additional boosters for
5535-624: The Railplane encouraged the railroad to increase its efforts in partnership with Pullman-Standard. In 1931, the Budd Company reached an agreement with the French tire company Michelin to produce pneumatic-tired rail motorcars in the US, as an improvement on the heavy, underpowered and shimmy-prone " doodlebugs " that ran on American tracks. In that endeavor, Budd would produce lightweight rail equipment utilizing unibody construction and
5658-441: The Rock Island Line , which was already operating an EMD LWT12 paired with Talgo II cars from ACF Industries as the Jet Rocket . Rock Island operated them in commuter service until 1966. The Speed Merchant project also produced only two examples. They consisted of Fairbanks-Morse P-12-42 locomotives paired with Talgo II cars from ACF Industries, and were used by the Boston and Maine Railroad for commuter service and by
5781-480: The United States with a car named "Chambersburg", between Chambersburg and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania . A couple of years later a second car, the "Carlisle", was introduced into service. In 1857, the Wason Manufacturing Company of Springfield, Massachusetts – one of the United States' first makers of railway passenger coach equipment – produced America's first specifically designed sleeping car. Canadian railways soon followed with their own sleeping cars: first
5904-417: The aluminum trains are sixteen-unit versions of the Siemens Velaro . High-speed steam service continued in the United States after World War II, but became increasingly uneconomical. The New York Central's Super Hudsons went out of service in 1948 as the line converted to diesel for passenger service. The Milwaukee Road retired its high speed Hiawatha steam locomotives between 1949 and 1951. The last of
6027-415: The "open section". Open-section accommodations consist of pairs of seats, one seat facing forward and the other backward, situated on either side of a center aisle. The seat pairs can be converted into the combination of an upper and a lower " berth ", each berth consisting of a bed screened from the aisle by a curtain. A famous example of open sections can be seen in the movie Some Like It Hot (1959). In
6150-445: The 1830s; they could be configured for coach seating during the day. Possibly the earliest example of a sleeping car (or bed carriage , as it was then called) was on the London & Birmingham and Grand Junction Railways between London and Lancashire , England. The bed carriage was first made available to first-class passengers in 1838. In the spring of 1839, the Cumberland Valley Railroad pioneered sleeping car service in
6273-598: The 1920s, the Pullman Company went through a series of restructuring steps, which in the end resulted in a parent company, Pullman Incorporated, controlling the Pullman Company (which owned and operated sleeping cars) and the Pullman-Standard Car Manufacturing Company. Due to an antitrust verdict in 1947, a consortium of railroads bought the Pullman Company from Pullman Incorporated, and subsequently railroads owned and operated Pullman-made sleeping cars themselves. Pullman-Standard continued manufacturing sleeping cars and other passenger and freight railroad cars until 1980. For nearly
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#17327799217586396-417: The 1930s to 1950s, and to their successor " bullet trains ". Less commonly, the term is applied to fully faired upright and recumbent bicycles . As part of the Streamline Moderne trend, the term was applied to passenger cars, trucks, and other types of light-, medium-, or heavy-duty vehicles, but now vehicle streamlining is so prevalent that it is not an outstanding characteristic. In land speed racing , it
6519-412: The 1990s and 2000s. A privately operated overnight train, the Optima Express , runs between Edirne and Villach in Austria with an average trip time of 35 hours. In the United Kingdom, a network of trains with sleeping cars operates daily between London and Scotland ( Caledonian Sleeper ), and between London and the West Country as far as Cornwall ( Night Riviera ). These services offer
6642-505: The ACL itself, and stayed on it until reaching Jacksonville, the northern terminus of the FEC. From there, the train proceeded over the FEC to Miami. At Jacksonville it had sections that split and joined with the ACL's West Coast Champion and went to Sarasota via Orlando and Tampa, and St. Petersburg via Gainesville. Separate connecting Atlantic Coast Line branches from Jacksonville served Gainesville, Orlando, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota and Ft. Myers. The Budd Company delivered
6765-407: The Dutch NS procured five diesel-electric RAm TEE I (Swiss) and NS DE4 (Dutch) trainsets for Zürich - Amsterdam and Amsterdam- Brussels -Paris services. One set was lost in an accident 1971. The remaining four sets operated as TEE trains until 1974, were transferred to Canada for use on the Ontario Northland Railway (ONR) in 1976. The ONR operated three trains on its Toronto – Moosonee line as
6888-459: The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad's John Quincy Adams . Both were retired by 1964. In 1956, the Budd Company produced a single streamlined, lightweight, six car DMU trainset that the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad operated as the Roger Williams . After a short period of time in high speed service, the train was split up and the cars were used in service with the New Haven's other RDCs . The advent of jet air travel in
7011-423: The Pennsylvania Railroad's class K4 locomotives. In 1937, Otto Kuhler used a variation of the bullet-front design on a 4-6-2 locomotive constructed for the Baltimore & Ohio 's streamlined Royal Blue . Henry Dreyfuss used a similar variation for the J-3a Super Hudsons that pulled the 20th Century Limited and other NYC express trains. In 1937, the Milwaukee Road introduced the class F7 Hudsons on
7134-539: The Pennsylvania Railroad's short-lived T1 class locomotives went out of service in 1952. All of those iconic locomotives were scrapped. The last steam streamliners built were three Norfolk and Western class J locomotives in 1950, which operated until 1959. In 1951, the Interstate Commerce Commission implemented regulations restricting most trains to speeds of 79 mph (127 km/h) or below unless automatic train stop , automatic train control , or cab signalling were installed. The new regulations minimized one of
7257-414: The Prague - Košice line. Another of the more substantial examples of current European sleeping-car service is the Train Bleu , an all-sleeping-car train. It leaves Paris from the Gare d'Austerlitz station in mid-evening and arrives in Nice at about 8 in the morning, providing both first-class rooms and couchette accommodation. The train's principal popularity is with older travelers; it has not won
7380-410: The Pullman Palace Car Company in 1867, owned and operated most sleeping cars in the United States until the mid-20th century, attaching them to passenger trains run by the various railroads; there were also some sleeping cars that were operated by Pullman but owned by the railroad running a given train. During the peak years of American passenger railroading, several all-Pullman trains existed, including
7503-408: The Spanish rail network operator Renfe . It was operated by Renfe and CP where it operated International Sud-Express and Lusitanea services between Spain and Portugal, and by its subsidiary Elipsos (a joint venture between Renfe and French SNCF with a 50% share each) when operating in France , Switzerland and Italy . Trenhotel services were discontinued during the COVID-19 pandemic , this
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#17327799217587626-405: The Union Pacific sought to increase the efficiency of their passenger services by looking to the lightweight, petroleum-powered technology that Budd and Pullman-Standard were developing. The Union Pacific named its project the M-10000 (designated first as The Streamliner and later as the City of Salina when in revenue service from 1935 to 1941). The Burlington initially named its first train
7749-485: The WLABmee 70-91 made by Astra Arad, which is the same type used by Astra Rail (although the liveries differ), starting from 2014, 2 of the WLABmee 71-70 cars were refurbished, but no other examples have received the same treatment. Other examples that have been withdrawn since were second-hand examples of the TEN MU and T2S types. In Spain, Trenhotel was a long-distance, overnight train service which used Talgo tilting trains technology and sleeping cars developed by
7872-399: The advantages of diesel became compelling enough for a growing number of rail lines to select diesel over steam for new passenger equipment. The power and top speed advantages of state-of-the-art steam locomotives were more than offset by diesel's advantages in service flexibility, downtime, maintenance costs and economic efficiency for most operators. The American Locomotive Company (ALCO),
7995-428: The bi-level Superliner sleeping cars, built from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s, and the single-level Viewliner sleeping cars, built in the mid-1990s. Superliners are used on most long-distance routes from Chicago westward, while Viewliners are used on most routes east of Chicago due to tunnel clearance issues in and around New York City and Baltimore . In the most common Superliner sleeping car configuration,
8118-422: The boiler in shrouding, streamlining of the GS-3/GS-4 series locomotives consisted of skyline casing flush with the smokestack and smoke-lifting skirting along the boiler that left the silver-painted smokebox on full display. The trend of streamliners also came to Japan. In 1934, the Ministry of Railways ( Japanese Government Railways , JGR) decided to convert one of its 3-cylinder steam locomotives class C53 into
8241-489: The builder of the Hiawatha speedsters, saw diesel as the future of passenger service and introduced streamlined locomotives influenced by the design of the E units in 1939 . The replacement of steam with diesel power was interrupted by the US entry into World War II, with a military premium on diesel technology that stopped all production of diesel locomotives for passenger service between September 1942 and January 1945. Streamlined steam locomotives continued to be produced into
8364-476: The cancellation or consolidation of services. In some cases, trains are split and recombined in the dead of night, making it possible to offer several connections with a relatively small number of trains. Generally, the trains consist of sleeping cars with private compartments, couchette cars, and sometimes cars with normal seating. In Eastern Europe, night trains are still widely used. In Western Europe, they have been in decline for decades. However, in December 2020
8487-564: The car, accommodates two adults and up to three small children, without private toilet or shower facilities. When the Viewliner sleeping cars were built, the accommodations were patterned after the Superliner accommodations, except that the Economy Bedrooms (or "Viewliner Roomettes") include Roomette-style washbasins and toilets, as well as windows for the upper berths. In Europe , the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits (French for "International Sleeping Car Company") first focused on sleeping cars, but later operated whole trains, including
8610-577: The car, with a corridor down the center. Duplex Roomettes, a Pullman-produced precursor to the Slumbercoach, are staggered vertically, with every second accommodation raised a few feet above the car's floor level, in order to make slightly more efficient use of the space. Single-passenger Slumbercoach accommodations are a particularly spartan form of roomette; Slumbercoaches also included a few two-passenger units. Compartments and Double Bedrooms are private rooms for two passengers, with upper and lower berths, washbasins, and private toilets, placed on one side of
8733-443: The car, with the corridor running down the other side (thus allowing the accommodation to be slightly over two thirds the width of the car). Frequently, these accommodations have movable partitions allowing adjacent accommodations to be combined into a suite. The drawing room was a relatively rare and expensive option for travelers. It could comfortably accommodate three people, again with a washbasin and private toilet on one side of
8856-455: The car. Even rarer are larger rooms accommodating four or more. Generally the needs of large parties were better served with multiple rooms, with or without the ability to combine them into a suite. Amtrak's Superliner Economy Bedrooms (now called Superliner Roomettes, although they are structurally closer to open sections) accommodate two passengers in facing seats that fold out into a lower berth, with an upper berth that folds down from above,
8979-495: The co-owner of Le Monde newspaper. However, the project later collapsed due in part to a lack of funding. In 2021 Europe saw a increase in the provision of sleeper trains which is thought to be the result of increasing awareness of the environmental effects of long-distance travel. In 2022 the design and engineering faculties of three European universities – Aalto , KTH and TalTech – discussed plans to reshape sleeping cars for flow production. The ADLNE project aims to create
9102-479: The converted locomotive. The Japanese government planned to use this one converted streamline locomotive on the passenger express route between Osaka and Nagoya. The converted locomotive gained much popularity from the public. JGR therefore decided to build 21 new streamlined versions of the class C55 locomotive . Additionally, JGR built 3 streamlined class EF55 electric locomotives. Kiha-43000 diesel multiple units and Moha-52 electric multiple units also received
9225-588: The country, covering distances of 400 to 750 km, usually to end at certain international destinations or in large cities at opposite ends of the country. The overwhelming majority of night trains with sleeping coaches are owned and operated by CFR Călători (Romanian Railways). Recently, private operators such as Astra Rail Carpatica , the newly founded private operator of Astra Vagoane Arad , has started offering sleeping train services, using own-made sleeping cars and Servtrans locomotives. CFR today prefers operating more couchettes than sleeping cars in its trains,
9348-465: The day and "privacyless" double- or triple-level bunk beds at night. In 2021 the French start-up company, Midnight Trains , announced plans to set up a network of sleeper trains, centered in Paris . Planned destinations include Edinburgh , Copenhagen , Berlin , Venice , Rome , Barcelona , Madrid , and Porto , with some intermediate stops. The plans were backed by telecoms billionaire Xavier Niel ,
9471-598: The design was highly successful in service, lasting into the 1980s. In 1925, the recently-formed Pullman Car & Manufacturing Corporation experimented with lightweight self-propelled railcars in co-operation with the Ford Motor Company concurrent with Ford's development of its Trimotor aircraft. In 1931, Pullman enlisted the services of the Trimotor design contributor William Bushnell Stout to apply airplane fuselage design concepts to railcars. The result
9594-520: The destination. Some of the Nightjet train units have a maximum speed of 230 km/h. In the Soviet Union overnight train travel formed the most common and accessible mode of long-distance travel, distances between the capital of Moscow and many outlying cities being ideal for overnight trips that depart in late evening and arrive at their destinations in the morning. Sleeping cars with berths are
9717-646: The earlier EMC 1800 hp B-B development design locomotives, the twin-engine format and multiple-unit control systems that facilitated cab/booster locomotive sets. The E-units brought sufficient power for full-sized trains such as the B&;O Capitol Limited , the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway 's (AT&SF's) Super Chief , and the Union Pacific's upgraded City of Los Angeles and City of San Francisco , which challenged steam power in all aspects of passenger service. EMC introduced standardized production to
9840-632: The early postwar era. Among the most distinctive were the Pennsylvania Railroad's duplex-drive 6-4-4-6 type S1 and 4-4-4-4 type T1 locomotives that Raymond Loewy styled. In terms of service longevity, the most successful were the Southern Pacific GS-3 Daylight locomotives introduced in 1938 and the Norfolk and Western class J locomotives introduced in 1941. In contrast to designs that completely encased
9963-520: The east coast of Florida. Originally intended as a winter-season-only service, the public response was strong enough that the trains were placed into permanent year-round service by the summer of 1941. The FEC dropped the Dixie Flagler name in 1954 in favor of Dixieland ; it discontinued the service altogether in 1957. However, the Dixie Flyer , operating over the same route, with a night departure from Chicago, endured until 1965, and carried on by
10086-695: The fastest sleeper trains in the world. A new variant of CRH2E consists of double level bunk capsules in lieu of sleeping berths. These trains have been dubbed "moving hotels". A major portion of passenger cars in India are sleeper/couchette cars. With railways as one of the primary mode of passenger transport, sleeper cars vary from economical to First Class AC (air conditioned). Most Indian trains come in combinations of first class A/C and non-A/C private sleeper cars with doors, and A/C 3-tier or 2-tier couchette arrangements. Japan used to have many sleeper trains, but most of these routes have been removed because of
10209-445: The following configuration: The train carried a full dining car for the entire trip: a C&EI dining car operated between Chicago and Jacksonville, after which an FEC dining car replaced it. The FEC's tavern-lounge-observation car made the entire trip. Streamliner A streamliner is a vehicle incorporating streamlining in a shape providing reduced air resistance . The term is applied to high-speed railway trainsets of
10332-463: The following years. After its Worlds Fair display and a nationwide demonstration tour, the Zephyr entered revenue service between Kansas City, Missouri, and Lincoln, Nebraska, on 11 November 1934. A total of nine Zephyr trainsets were built for the Burlington between 1934 and 1939. Each ran as named trains on various Burlington midwestern routes. The Burlington later renamed the Burlington Zephyr as
10455-405: The herald of a new era in rail transportation. On 26 May 1934, the Burlington's Zephyr made a record-breaking "Dawn to Dusk" run from Denver, Colorado , to Chicago for its grand entry as a Century of Progress exhibit. The Zephyr covered the distance in 13 hours, reaching a top speed of 112.5 mph (181.1 km/h) and running an average speed of 77.6 mph (124.9 km/h). The fuel for
10578-473: The high strength alloy stainless steel , enabled by shot welding , a breakthrough in electrical welding technique. The venture produced articulated power-trailer car sets with streamlined styling, which left the Budd Company just a (much) more powerful engine away from producing a history-making streamlined trainset. The Great Depression caused a catastrophic loss of business for the rail industry as
10701-458: The introduction of two new overnight all-coach streamliners on cooperating railroads, the Henry M. Flagler equipment was placed in service on a rotating once every three days overnight schedule between Chicago and Miami as the Dixie Flagler beginning December 17, 1940. Together with its counterparts the South Wind and City of Miami , the trains offered daily service between Chicago and
10824-778: The key advantages of rail travel over the automobile, which became an increasingly attractive alternative as postwar construction of highway systems progressed. Rail operators marketed their services on the basis of luxurious sightseeing, as airlines increasingly competed with rail lines for long-distance travel. In the mid-1950s, there were several attempts to revive the lightweight custom streamliner concept. None of these projects achieved any lasting impact on passenger service. The Train X project, first promoted by Robert R. Young no later than 1948, resulted in low-profile Baldwin RP-210 locomotives paired with articulated aluminum cars from Pullman-Standard . Two trainsets were built in 1956 for
10947-469: The late 1950s brought forth a new round of price competition from airlines for long-distance travel, severely affecting the ridership and profitability of long-distance passenger rail service. Government regulations forced railroads to continue to operate passenger rail service, even on long routes where, the railroads argued, it was almost impossible to make a profit. Sleeping car The first such cars saw sporadic use on American and English railways in
11070-604: The lightweight carbody construction and raked, rounded front end introduced with the Zephyr and the high-mounted, behind-the-nose cab of the M-1000x locomotives. One of the first, EMC's TA , was a 1,200-horsepower (890 kW) version produced for the Rock Island Rockets , a series of six lightweight, semi-articulated three and four-car trainsets. EMC/EMD manufactured streamlined E-unit diesel-electric locomotives from 1937 to 1963. These incorporated two features of
11193-595: The limitations of the locomotives' technology when meeting the demands of long-distance and higher capacity service. The M-10001 ran for only 32 months as the City of Portland before it was replaced, re-entered service on the Portland–Seattle run and retired in June 1939. Similarly, the M-10002 spent 19 months as the Union Pacific's City of Los Angeles , 39 months as the City of Portland and ten months out of service starting in July 1941. The locomotive then served on
11316-461: The locomotive industry, with its attendant economies of scale and simplified processes for ordering, producing and servicing locomotives. As a result, EMC was able to offer a variety of support services that decreased technological and initial cost barriers that would otherwise deter conversions to diesel-electric power. With power and reliability of new diesel-electric units improved with the 2,000-horsepower (1,500 kW) EMC E3 locomotive in 1938,
11439-469: The lower bed will be occupied by three passengers. Chinese trains also offer "soft" or deluxe sleeping cars with four or two beds per room. China is the only country to operate high-speed sleeper trains. Sleeper services are operated using high-speed CRH1E , CRH2E and CRH5E trains outfitted with sleeping berths ( couchette ). Services run between Beijing - Shanghai and Beijing - Guangzhou at speeds of up to 250 km/h (160 mph), one of
11562-712: The main cities in Northern Italy and the South , including Sicily using train ferry. Sleeping trains in Poland are run by PKP Intercity . Sleeper cars are used on long-distance domestic trains such as the Przemyślanin as well as international trains. Polish night trains also contain standard first and second class seated cars as well as couchette cars . The sleeper cars offer various types of accommodations, including 4-bed, 3-bed, 2-bed and single accommodations, as well as
11685-441: The mid-to-late 20th century, an increasing variety of private rooms was offered. Most of these rooms provided significantly more space than open-section accommodations could offer. Open-sections were increasingly phased out in the 1950s, in favor of roomettes. Some of them, such as the rooms of the " Slumbercoach " cars manufactured by the Budd Company and first put into service in 1956, were triumphs of miniaturization. These allowed
11808-423: The names City of Portland (June 1935), City of Los Angeles (May 1936), City of San Francisco (June 1936) and City of Denver (June 1936). The M-10001 set had a single power unit that contained a 1,200-horsepower (890 kW) Winton diesel engine. The power unit pulled six tapered low-profile cars that had the form of the original three-car M-10000 trainset. The M-10002 ' s set consisted of
11931-698: The only reasonable solution for railway trips lasting several days (e.g., trains running along the Trans-Siberian Railway , or direct trains from Moscow or Saint Petersburg to the capitals of the Central Asian Soviet Republics). Since then, the railroads in the smaller ex-Soviet nations have largely transitioned to daytime intercity trains, such as in Belarus , where the process is based on government-funded purchases of rolling stock supplied by Stadler , which operates
12054-533: The original Zephyr, entered service between Boston and Portland, Maine , on 1 April 1935. The Gulf, Mobile and Northern Railroad Rebel trainsets were similar to the Zephyr in form, but were not articulated. Designed by Otto Kuhler , the ALCO powered diesel-electrics that the American Car and Foundry Company constructed were placed into service on 10 July 1935. While streamlining on steam locomotives
12177-526: The original equipment set for the Henry M. Flagler in November 1939. The consist matched three sets delivered for the new Champion . Each equipment set consisted of a baggage-dormitory-coach , four coaches, a dining car , and a tavern-lounge- observation car . Originally a coach-only train, the Dixie Flagler later received sleeping cars . In 1950 the train departed Chicago with six sleeping cars, five for Miami and one for Jacksonville. These cars had
12300-511: The postwar era. The railroad retired the last of its six-car sets in 1968 after using it as the Nebraska Zephyr . On 31 January 1935, the Union Pacific's three-car M-10000 went into service between Kansas City, Missouri , and Salina, Kansas , as The Streamliner . The train subsequently became the City of Salina under the railroad's naming convention for its expanding fleet of diesel-powered streamliners. The Union Pacific operated
12423-471: The problems worse. As a result, many of the locomotives had their casings removed. Streamliner locomotives arrived relatively late in Australia. In 1937 streamlined casings were fitted on four Victorian Railways S class locomotives for the Spirit of Progress service between Melbourne and Albury . Similar casings were then fitted on two Tasmanian Government Railways R class narrow-gauge locomotives for
12546-617: The railcar from modules that are themselves composed of interchangeable segments, compartments and fittings, allowing bespoke designs at low cost. ÖBB 's modern Nightjet services operate in Germany , Austria , Italy , Switzerland , France , Netherlands and Belgium , and Nightjet's partners will also take passengers to Slovakia , Croatia , Slovenia , Poland , Hungary and the Czech Republic . The services usually leave at around 20:00 hours and arrive at around 09:00 hours at
12669-620: The railroads to maintain modest ticket prices, starting at below 10 Euros for third-class tickets in Ukraine, if higher in the richer ex-Soviet nations. Rolling stock age and quality also varies by country. In countries like Kazakhstan and Russia, locally-produced cars are purchased regularly to update the fleet, with newly introduced comforts such as showers, dry toilets, or conditioning units in passenger compartments becoming an increasingly common sight; Russian Railroads have also introduced double-deck sleeper cars; yet comfort levels still suffer from
12792-464: The railways to provide additional mainline trackage for high speed trains. The first experiments with diesel streamliner services in the United Kingdom were the Blue Pullman trains introduced in 1960 and withdrawn in 1973. These provided 90-mile-per-hour (140 km/h) luxury business services, but were marginally successful and ran only a little faster than mainstream services. The Blue Pullman
12915-402: The rise of Pullman cars in the US in the 19th and early 20th centuries was their effect on civil rights and African-American culture. Each Pullman car was staffed by a uniformed porter . The majority of Pullman porters were African Americans. While still a menial job in many respects, Pullman offered better pay and security than most jobs open to African Americans at the time, in addition to
13038-485: The run cost US$ 14.64 at 4¢ per U.S. gallon (equivalent to $ 333 and $ 9 per gallon respectively in 2023 after inflation). The Burlington's event was covered live on radio and drew large, cheering crowds as the "silver streak" zipped by. Adding to the sensation of the Zephyr were the striking appearance of its fluted stainless steel bodywork and its raked, rounded, aerodynamic front end that symbolized its modernity. The train's design echoed in steam locomotive styling throughout
13161-429: The same degree of popularity with younger travelers. Recently, the upper-class coaches (wagons lits) have been sold to foreign railroad companies, so that only couchette cars (1st and 2nd class) and seating coaches remain. The Train Bleu is part of the French night service network called Intercités de Nuit . In Italy, Ferrovie dello Stato operates an extensive network of trains with sleeping cars, especially between
13284-461: The set in 1950. The visual styling of the new trainsets made the existing fleets of locomotives and railcars suddenly look obsolete. Rail lines soon responded by adding streamlined shrouding and varying degrees of mechanical improvement to older locomotives and re-styling heavyweight cars. The first American steam locomotive to receive that treatment was one of the New York Central Railroad 's (NYC's) J-1 Hudson class locomotives built in 1930, which
13407-580: The speed record that the first DMU "Flying Hamburger" had set 1933 traveling between Hamburg and Berlin. A TGV high-speed test train set a world record for the fastest wheeled train, reaching 575 km/h (357 mph) in 2007. Conventional TGV services operate at up to 322 km/h (200 mph) on the LGV Est , LGV Rhin-Rhône and LGV Méditerranée . The power cars of the TGV Euroduplex (2N2) , which began commercial operations in 2011, have
13530-495: The state railways of Germany , Austria , France and Switzerland announced a 500 million euro investment in a network of cross-border night trains linking 13 major European cities, in the largest extension of Europe's night network in many years. An example of a more basic type of sleeping car is the European couchette car , which is divided into compartments for four or six people, with bench-configuration seating during
13653-645: The style of the Pennsylvania Railroad 's T1 . In all cases, the streamlining on Australian steam locomotives were purely aesthetic, with negligible impacts on train speeds. In Europe, the streamliner tradition gained new life after World War II . In Germany, DRG Class SVT 137 trains resumed service, but at slower speeds than before the war. Based on the Kruckenberg SVT 137, the Deutsche Bundesbahn 's (DB's) streamlined diesel-electric Class VT 11.5 (later renamed to DB Class 601) built in 1957
13776-634: The trainsets' additional power requirements. The Burlington's four-car Mark Twain Zephyr entered revenue service in October 1935 on the railroad's Saint Louis– Burlington, Iowa , route. Two partially-articulated six-car trainsets entered service in May 1936 on the Burlington's Denver Zephyr route, which connected Chicago and Denver. The Burlington then replaced those sets with a pair of partially-articulated ten-car trainsets in November 1936. The Burlington moved
13899-727: The type of ticket bought. A night train with sleeping carriages included operates on the route between the two largest Croatian towns, Zagreb and Split , and Croatian sleeping coaches are included on the Zagreb- Stuttgart -Zagreb and Zagreb- Zürich -Zagreb EuroNight lines. Sleeping car services in the Czech Republic are operated by České dráhy and RegioJet . ČD operates them on the Prague - Leipzig - Zürich line, Prague - Linz - Zürich line, Prague - Humenné line and others. RegioJet provides them on various trains on
14022-400: The upper level is divided into two halves, one half containing "Bedrooms" (formerly "Deluxe Bedrooms") for one, two, or three travelers, each Bedroom containing an enclosed toilet-and-shower facility; and the other half containing " Roomettes " (formerly "Economy Bedrooms" or "Standard Bedrooms") for one or two travelers; plus a beverage area and a toilet. The lower level contains more Roomettes;
14145-471: The west coast consisted of five runs monthly for each route. The railroad maintained its daily overnight service on the Chicago–Denver run by assigning three locomotive sets for two trains. The railroad then augmented that stable with locomotive equipment taken from other runs. Despite the breakthrough schedule times of the long-distance M-1000x "City" trains, the records of the Union Pacific's fleet reflected
14268-604: Was a five-unit (including power car) articulated trainset for day service. The Pullman-built set had the same power format and 1,200-horsepower (890 kW) Winton diesel engine as M-10001, with some style aspects that resembled the later M1000x trainsets. The Illinois Central ran the 121 trainset on the Green Diamond from May 1936 to 1947. After an overhaul, the railroad placed the set on the Jackson Mississippi–New Orleans run until it retired and scrapped
14391-527: Was due to some routes being covered by daytime high-speed trains, the age of rolling stock and the diminishing popularity of some of the services. Renfe announced that trains to and from the Spanish region of Galicia would eventually be reintroduced. This marked the end of sleeper trains in Portugal and it left Celta as the last international train service between Portugal and Spain. The Estrella (Star)
14514-541: Was followed by research into streamlined trains and tilting trains , the first to enter passenger service, in 1976, being the diesel powered InterCity 125 ( Class 43 ), followed by the electric, tilting, British Rail Class 370 , and Class 91 , in combination offering 125 mph (201 km/h) streamlined train services across the United Kingdom. High-speed service with the electric German ICE 1 (Class 401) began in 1991. The train, which has traveled at speeds of up to 280 km/h (174 mph) in revenue service, broke
14637-422: Was more about marketing than performance, newly designed locomotives with state-of-the-art steam technology were able to travel at high speeds. The Milwaukee Road class A Atlantics , built in 1935 to compete with the Twin Cities Zephyr , were the first "steamliners" equipped to back up their styled claim to extra speed. In a 15 May 1935 run by locomotive No. 2 and a dynamometer car, the railroad documented
14760-448: Was part of the every-third-day pool shared by the City of Miami and South Wind . It was renamed Dixieland in 1954 and discontinued altogether in 1957. The train began as the Henry M. Flagler , a daily streamliner between Jacksonville and Miami, named for industrialist Henry Flagler . This service began on December 3, 1939, using a set of equipment built by the Budd Company . With
14883-535: Was re-introduced with streamlined shrouding and named the Commodore Vanderbilt in December 1934. The Vanderbilt styling was a one-off design by Carl Kantola. The NYC's next venture in streamlined styling was Henry Dreyfuss ' 1936 full-length exterior and interior design of the railroad's Mercury trainsets. Raymond Loewy also designed in 1936 art-deco shrouding with a bullet-front scheme for
15006-541: Was the Railplane (not the Bennie Railplane ), a streamlined self-propelled railcar with a tapered cross-section, lightweight tubular aluminum space frame and duralumin skin. In testing with the Gulf, Mobile and Northern Railroad in 1932, it reportedly reached 90 mph (145 km/h). The Union Pacific had been seeking improvements to self-propelled railcars based on European design ideas. The performance of
15129-608: Was used as the " Trans Europ Express (TEE)" for international high-speed trains. From 1965, the DB used the streamlined electric locomotives DB Class 103 with regular trains for high-speed service. From 1973, the DB used the DB Class 403 , a fully streamlined four-unit electric train with tilting technology. In East Germany, the DR Class VT 18.16 [ de ] was built for international express service. The Swiss SBB and
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