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1942 Quiz Book on Railroads and Railroading
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Page 4 of 1942 Quiz Book on Railroads and Railroading
PASSENGER TRAINS
114. How many passenger-train cars are operated on the American railroads?
There were 45,218 passenger-train cars on the railroads of the United States at the beginning of 1941. Of the total, 17,470 were coaches, 13,087 were baggage, express and other non-passenger cars; 7,221 were parlor and sleeping cars; 1,536
were dining cars; 1,829 were U. S. Mail cars; 3,300 were combination coach cars; 370 were observation, club and lounge cars and 405 were other passenger-train cars. The Pullman Company owned 6,910 of these cars.
115. What is the length of a passenger car?
Passenger cars range in length from about 60 feet to 88 feet, the average length being approximately 72 feet, outside over-all measurements. Most of the newer passenger cars are from 75 to 89 feet in length.
116. How many drawings are required in the design of a railway passenger car?
From 100 to 400 separate drawings (tracings) are made by the railway company; around 400 are made by the manufacturer, and from 300 to 500 are made by the firms which supply special parts. From these tracings many hundreds of blue prints are made for the guidance of the builders.
117. How much does a railway passenger-train car weigh?
Weights of passenger train cars vary considerably. Average weights on December 31, 1940, were as follows: standard coaches, 61.14 tons; baggage, express and other non-passenger cars, 53.00 tons; dining cars, 83.11 tons; club, lounge and observation cars, 76.49 tons; parlor cars, 71.01 tons; mail cars, 61.81 tons; Pullman sleeping cars, 82.45 tons,
118. How many passengers could be seated in all steam railway passenger-carrying cars at one time?
There were 27,682 passenger-carrying cars in operation on the Class I railroads of the United States, with Pullman cars included, at the beginning of 1941. Their aggregate seating capacity was 1,662,411.
119. When was steam heat introduced in passenger trains?
Steam heated passenger cars, doing away with stoves or hot water heaters, were introduced in 1881. The system was greatly improved in 1903 by the introduction of the vapor system of heating.
120. When were all-steel passenger train cars introduced?
The first all-steel baggage car was introduced in 1904; the first all-steel express car in 1905; the first all-steel postal car in 1905; and the first all-
steel passenger coach in 1906.
121. What is the cost of passenger-train cars?
The average cost of new passenger-train cars installed by Class I railroads in the 5-years, 1936-1940, was as follows: Coaches, $51,240 each; combination cars, $45,417; parlor cars, $56,577; dining cars, $78,285; club, lounge and observation cars, $73,092; sleeping cars, $85,250; postal cars, $36,724; baggage cars, $16,131; articulated and other passenger-train cars, $72,061 each.
122. When were light-weight streamline passenger trains successfully introduced in the United States?
The first successful trains of this type were operated in 1934. The Union Pacific aluminum alloy streamliner M-10,000, later christened the "City of Salina," equipped with a distillate - electric locomotive, was delivered to the Union Pacific by the manufacturer at Chicago on February 12, 1934. During the next few months the train made a 12,625-mile exhibition tour of the United States. It visited sixty-five cities and was visited by 1,196,000 per-
sons. It was later one of the stellar attractions at the Century of Progress Exposition, Chicago. In a special test run the train attained a maximum speed
of III miles per hour. On January 31, 1935, the train was placed in regular daily operation between Kansas City, Missouri, and Salina, Kansas.
The stainless steel streamliner "Pioneer Zephyr" of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, the first train of this type to use Diesel power and the
first to be placed in scheduled passenger service, was delivered by the manufacturer at Philadelphia on April 18, 1934. On May 26, 1934, during an
extended exhibition tour, the "Zephyr" ran nonstop from Denver to Chicago, a distance of 1,015 miles, in 13 hours 5 minutes, an average speed of 77.5 miles an hour. It attained a maximum speed at one point of 112.5 miles an hour. On November 11, 1934, the train made its initial run in scheduled passenger service between Kansas City, Missouri, and Lincoln, Nebraska. It was transferred to the St. Louis-Burlington run on April 30, 1940.
123. How many stream-line passenger trains were operating in 1941?
One hundred seventy-two streamline passenger trains were in scheduled service on the railroads of the United States in 1941. One was installed in 1934, ten in 1935, thirteen in 1936, twenty-three in 1937, thirty-eight in 1938, twenty-one in 1939, thirty-two in 1940, and thirty-four in 1941.
124. What is the cost of a streamline passenger train?
Light-weight, Diesel-powered, air-conditioned streamline passenger trains have cost from $107,000 to $1,450,000 each, depending on size of power unit, length of train and other factors. The cost of twenty-eight streamline trains purchased by the railroads in 1936-1940 totaled $18,466,000.
125. When was fluorescent lighting introduced in railway passenger trains?
The first passenger car equipped with fluorescent lights was operated on the New York Central Railroad in 1938. The first passenger train to be equipped with fluorescent lighting throughout was the Streamliner "General Pershing" of the Burlington Railroad, placed in scheduled service between St. Louis and Kansas City on April 30, 1939.
126. What has been the development of air-conditioning of passenger cars?
Air-conditioning of railway passenger cars began as "air-cooling" in 1884 when the Baltimore & Ohio equipped a passenger car with an ice-cooling system and the New Haven Railroad tried out cars similarly equipped. In 1906 the Baltimore &
Ohio ice-cooled a dining car. The Santa Fe installed air-cooling in 33 dining and buffet cars in 1911-1914 and operated them until 1926. Mechanical air-conditioning was tested by The Pullman Company in 1927-1929. The Baltimore & Ohio successfully tested mechanical air-conditioning in a passenger coach in 1929. In 1930 the Baltimore & Ohio put in operation the first mechanically air-conditioned passenger train car to remain in continuous service to date. On May 24, 1931, the Baltimore & Ohio began operating the world's first completely air-conditioned passenger train. The first completely air-conditioned sleeping car trains began operating on the Baltimore & Ohio on April 20, 1932, and on the Chesapeake & Ohio on April 24, 1932. Thenceforth progress throughout the country was rapid, 11,986 air-conditioned passenger cars being in daily operation by July 1, 1940.
127. What is the cost of air-conditioning a passenger-train car?
Average costs of air-conditioning systems, installed, range from $4,000 to $8,500, depending upon type of installation and other factors.
128. How many passenger trains are designated by names?
There are about 770 passenger trains operated by the railroads of the United States which bear names, many of them world-famous.
129. Where can a list of named passenger trains be obtained?
Such a list may be obtained from the Association of American Railroads, Transportation Building, Washington, D. C.
130. Are there any passenger trains named for women?
There are three: the "Nellie Bly," running between New York and Atlantic City on the Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore lines; the "Ann Rutledge," running between Chicago and St. Louis on the Alton Railroad, and
"The Pocahontas," running between Norfolk and Cincinnati and Columbus on the Norfolk & Western Railway. Nellie Bly was a newspaper woman who, in 1889, established a new globe-girdling record of 721/4 days. Ann Rutledge was a tavernkeeper's daughter whose name is linked romantically with that of Abraham Lincoln. Pocahontas was an Indian princess who is said to have saved the life of Captain John Smith. She later married John Rolfe.
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