The streamliner cars are a class of streamlined passenger railroad cars built from the 1930s through the 1960s for long distance passenger train services in North America.
30-532: The North Coast Limited was a named passenger train operated by the Northern Pacific Railway between Chicago and Seattle via Bismarck, North Dakota . It started on April 29, 1900, and continued as a Burlington Northern Railroad train after the merger on March 2, 1970 with Great Northern Railway and the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad . The next year, it ceased operations after
60-779: A barber shop, separate bath and shower facilities for men and women, a soda fountain and radios on board. By 1937 most cars were air conditioned; in 1942 the lounge observation cars with open platforms were replaced by buffet solarium sleepers. In 1946 the Northern Pacific board of directors authorized the purchase of new streamlined equipment for the railroad, beginning with the North Coast Limited . The new train began service in 1948. A stewardess-nurse would later be added in June of 1955. In summer 1950 Train 1 left Chicago at 2300 CST and took 58 hr 30 min to Seattle; it
90-534: A manufacturer for his invention, the lightweight articulated streamlined Talgo . ACF and Goicoechea signed the contract on December 8, 1945 and ACF began fabricating three trainsets, two for Spain and one for demonstration and experimental purposes in the USA. ACF built the Talgo using a lightmetal body like Budd's Pioneer Zephyr including the non-European observation cars at the rear. It wasn't until 1955 that ACF could sell
120-515: A thin white line below the window band, and pale mint green lower sides with black trucks; most car names were replaced with numbers. In 1954 the Northern Pacific introduced dome cars to the consist and advertised it as "the Vista-Dome North Coast Limited ." There were two dome coaches and two dome sleepers (all built by Budd ) in each train. The dome sleepers had four roomettes in the short end, four double bedrooms in
150-498: A year-round daily train in 1902. The North Coast Limited then ran as Number 1 westbound and Number 2 eastbound. Until the rail line was completed to Vancouver, WA in 1908 and the swing Burlington Northern Railroad Bridge was constructed between Vancouver and Portland, the train was put on a specially constructed railroad ferry which crossed the Columbia River between Goble, Oregon and Kalama, Washington . The ferry,
180-548: Is Amtrak's Empire Builder which primarily traverses much of the former Great Northern route west of St. Paul, Minnesota via Grand Forks and Minot, ND; Havre, Whitefish, and Glacier National Park in Montana; and Wenatchee and Everett in Washington State. The original heavyweight North Coast Limited carried head-end cars , coaches, sleeping cars , a dining car , and an observation car . A distinguishing feature of
210-446: Is a list of named trains . Lists of these have been organized into geographical regions. Trains with numeric names are spelled out. For example, the 20th Century Limited is listed under "Twentieth Century Limited". Named trains are sometimes identified through a train headboard , drumhead , lettering on the locomotive or passenger cars, or a combination of these methods. Streamliner cars (rail) The first streamliner in
240-760: The Alaskan . At the same time, it made the North Coast Limited an all-Pullman train, including Pullman parlor cars for part of the route but no tourist sleepers or coaches. Due to the Depression, this didn't last long, and by 1931 the Pacific/Atlantic Express was off the timetable and tourist sleepers and coaches were back on the North Coast Limited . On May 14, 1930 the North Coast Limited got new heavyweight steel cars. The new trains had brass windows, barber and valet services,
270-546: The Empire Builder between Spokane and Seattle. On June 11, 1973, the North Coast Hiawatha began operating as a separate train (still tri-weekly, except during some summer and holiday periods) all the way from Chicago to Seattle; the segment between Spokane and Seattle used was the former Empire Builder route via Cascade Tunnel. The North Coast Hiawatha was discontinued on October 1, 1979. Much of
300-524: The Heritage Fleet . This rebuild program extended the lifetime of most of the cars by about 20-40 years, as most were used until the late 1990s/early 2000s, with some cars, chiefly baggage and dining cars, used into the late 2010s, until Amtrak retired all of its heritage equipment in 2019. The Canadian , now operated by Via Rail , is the only train in North America that still operates with
330-697: The Canadian National Railway (CN) and the Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) also operated trains with streamliner cars, such CP's The Canadian and CN's Super Continental . In 1971, Amtrak took over all intercity passenger rail service in the United States. Approximately 1200 streamliner cars were inherited by Amtrak to run these services. In the late 1970s Amtrak began a program to rebuild these cars to use Head-end power (HEP). These rebuilt cars were known as
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#1732780896836360-513: The North Coast Limited was known for its dining car service. Inaugurated on April 29, 1900, between St. Paul, Minnesota , and Puget Sound , the Northern Pacific's North Coast Limited was pulled by NP 300, one of the two 4-6-0 E-5 class locomotives built by the Schenectady Locomotive Works in 1893. The other locomotive was NP 301, later renumbered as 387. The train started as a summer-only service but expanded to
390-759: The Tacoma (originally christened Kalama ), was built in Portland in 1883 out of 57,159 pieces which had been shipped from New York around Cape Horn on board the Tillie E. Starbuck (1883–1907), the first iron sailing vessel built in the United States. In 1909 the train received new heavyweight cars built by Pullman-Standard and added a Portland section which operated via the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway between Spokane, Washington and Portland, Oregon. The railroad began its through train service between Chicago and
420-576: The Talgo concept but ACF got familiar with the techniques needed. After World War II the railroad companies in the United States wanted to modernize their fleets of passenger cars. They chose the flexibility of individual cars instead of multiple-units or Talgo. However the design of the streamlined cars was derived from the Pioneer Zephyr , although the Pullman cars got a smooth body surface and
450-611: The Amtrak takeover. The last trains left their originating stations on April 30, 1971, seventy-one years and one day after the inaugural. On June 5, 1971 service was reinstated over much of the former North Coast Limited route by Amtrak as the North Coast Hiawatha . The train's name was an amalgam of North Coast Limited and Olympian Hiawatha , the Milwaukee Road's former Pacific Northwest train. The train
480-567: The Great Northern Railway’s Empire Builder . SP&S Train 1 carried a diner and lounge-sleeper, as well as the NP and GN cars. The balance of the train continued as NP Train 25 from Pasco, WA over Stampede Pass into Seattle King Street Station . List of named passenger trains In the history of rail transport , dating back to the 19th century, there have been hundreds of named passenger trains . The following
510-572: The Pacific Northwest on May 23, 1909, announcing it in newspaper ads. On December 17, 1911 service was extended to Chicago over the Chicago and North Western Railway . In 1918 the route east of St Paul became the Mississippi River line of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad , which ran to Chicago's Union Station instead of Northwestern Station . In summer 1926 the schedule for 2331 miles between Chicago and Seattle
540-730: The United States was the M-10000 in service with the Union Pacific Railroad in February 1934. The second was the Pioneer Zephyr in service with the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad . Both were built as Diesel Multiple-Units ; the M-10000 was made of aluminum and the Pioneer Zephyr of stainless steel . In 1944 American Car and Foundry (ACF) was visited by the Spanish inventor Goicoechea looking for
570-913: The combination was combined with the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy 's Twin Cities Zephyrs between Chicago and Minneapolis. The eastbound North Coast Limited / Empire Builder was combined with the Morning Zephyr , while the westbound train combined with the Afternoon Zephyr . The Burlington Northern Railroad resulted from the March 1970 merger of NP, GN, CB&Q, and the SP&;S . The North Coast Limited ran combined with its former rival Empire Builder between Chicago and Minneapolis, between Spokane and Portland, and between Spokane and Seattle. The original train ceased operation with
600-838: The dome sleepers, since below the dome two of the four single bedrooms were replaced with a buffet, and 24 lounge table seats were installed on the dome level, which allowed Northern Pacific to advertise the rebuilt dome sleepers as “Lounge in the Sky.” The scenic route went west across northern Illinois on the Burlington to the Mississippi River at Savanna, Illinois and then followed the Mississippi through La Crosse, Wisconsin , St. Paul, and Minneapolis as far as Little Falls, Minnesota . North Dakota cities served included Fargo , Bismarck , and Dickinson . Crossing Montana ,
630-464: The long end, and four single bedrooms underneath the dome. Each car had 24 unreserved seats in the dome upstairs. The Northern Pacific placed at least one flat-topped car between each dome car to give passengers the best view. In 1959 the Northern Pacific added the slumbercoach , for economy sleeping accommodations, to the train. In 1967 the observation lounge cars were discontinued, but the sleeping car passengers could still enjoy lounge atmosphere in
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#1732780896836660-563: The observation car was a library containing 140 volumes. A Westbound Consist for NP Train 25, the NORTH COAST LIMITED, from the May 27, 1962 NP System Public Timetable Applied for the main NP route from St. Paul, MN to Pasco, WA. The train split at Pasco, WA into Seattle, WA and Portland, OR sections) At Pasco, the Portland cars were switched onto SP&S Train 1, which also carried through equipment from Spokane to Portland from
690-693: The others the typical ribbed body surface. The streamliner cars were built by three railcar manufacturers: the Budd Company , Pullman Standard , and ACF. Nine primary types were produced: From the 1930s through the 1950s, many trains in the United States and Canada were upgraded with streamliner cars. One of the most notable trains equipped with such cars was the California Zephyr , jointly operated by Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (CB&Q), Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (D&RGW) and Western Pacific Railroad (WP). By 1955
720-549: The route today is not served by passenger trains, though Amtrak's Empire Builder does run on some of the same trackage in its St. Paul-Moorhead and Sandpoint-Pasco segments. Additionally, the route in Montana through Butte and over Homestake Pass has been inactive (intact, but without any trains) since 1983, as freight trains (now operated by Montana Rail Link ) use the flatter and more direct route via Helena . The lone remaining Chicago to Seattle/Portland passenger train today
750-601: The train passed through Glendive , Billings , Livingston , Bozeman , Butte , and Missoula . After passing through Sandpoint , the train made stops at Spokane , Pasco , Yakima , and East Auburn (a stop for connecting service to Tacoma ) before terminating at King Street Station in Seattle . Declining ridership and continuing red ink led the train to be jointly operated with the Great Northern 's Empire Builder between Chicago and Minneapolis. By late 1967
780-632: The trains which left their originating stations on April 30, 1971, the day before Amtrak began service (May 1, 1971), arrived at their destinations. After 1918 the Chicago to St. Paul leg of the route was on the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy railroad along its Mississippi River line through Wisconsin . The train had a Portland section which split off the Seattle section at Pasco, Washington and ran over NP subsidiary Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway between Pasco and Portland. For much of its history
810-601: Was 70 hr 25 min westward and 69 hr 55 min eastward. In June 1929 the fastest trains on NP, GN and the Milwaukee started running on a 63-hour westward schedule and 61-1/4 hours eastward, still with no extra fare. During the 1920s, Northern Pacific's secondary train on the Chicago-Seattle route was called the Pacific Express westbound and Atlantic Express eastbound. In 1929, NP added a third train, called
840-639: Was NP's only through train. In November 1952 it was speeded up to match the competition, leaving Chicago at 1130 and taking 46 hr 30 min to Seattle. The North Coast then became trains 25 and 26; numbers 1 and 2 were given to a secondary Chicago-Seattle train, the Mainstreeter , which took its name from the Northern Pacific advertising slogan "Main Street of the Northwest." Until 1954 the North Coast
870-615: Was combined with the Amtrak Empire Builder between Chicago and Minneapolis and between Spokane and Seattle (at the time the Empire Builder used the former North Coast Limited route between Spokane and Seattle, via Yakima) and operated three days per week. On November 14, 1971, the North Coast Hiawatha began operating as a separate train from Chicago to Spokane (and daily between Chicago and Minneapolis on former Milwaukee Road trackage). It still combined with
900-484: Was painted in the “Pine Tree” or "Streamline" scheme: grey roof, dark green letterboards, light green windowband and dark green lower sides with black trucks. The train's more famous two-tone green paint scheme which was added in 1954 and Lewis and Clark -themed interiors of the Traveller’s Rest Tavern car added in 1955 were designed by Raymond Loewy . The train now had a green roof, letterboards and windowband,
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