#domecar

Moffat Tunnel

This image was made from the dome car while riding on the Rio Grande Zephyr. As stated in the previous post, this wonderful train ran between Denver and Salt Lake City. I was headed westward on my ride, and so this is the eastern portal of the famous tunnel.

This 6.2 mile bore, which pierces the continental divide, was built by the Denver & Salt Lake Railway between 1923 and 1927. The first train went through the tunnel in February of 1928. The Denver, Rio Grande & Western took over the line in 1931.

Prior to the building of the tunnel, the Denver, Northwestern and Pacific Railway (DN&P) crawled over the mountain using switchbacks, loops, and very steep grades (4%). David Moffat, on the board of the railway, conceived of the tunnel to eliminate all of that—but would not live to see it built.

Vintage Dome

A couple of weeks ago I saw this dome in Hood River, Oregon. Given the flat window panels on the dome itself, being flat rather than gracefully curved and sculpted, I wondered if this was one of the very first dome cars.

After briefly poking around on-line, I felt this was ATSF 501 as the fluting seemed to jibe. To confirm I asked a group of knowledgeable people on Facebook. Alfred Lynch says,

That is definitely a Pullman Standard dome car that was originally part of the Santa Fe 500 class...built for the 1951 Super Chief. Most likely, that is the original number. Those cars contained the famous Turquoise Rooms, a private dining area...designed to be coupled the 600 class diners.

The car is part of equipment owned by the Mount Hood Railroad; the company does both revenue freight and tourist operations.

Over the White River

This train, a northbound Amtrak Floridian, is on the former Monon, which was owned by the Louisville & Nashville by the time of the photograph being made. The legacy equipment is looking quite good, six years after the creation of Amtrak.

The line has been abandoned for some years, but I believe the track and bridge deck are still in place. The location is the White River just south of Bedford, Indiana; the locomotive is an EMD E9A that was built in 1954 as UP 943.