the Pullman Railplane of 1933, self propelled, designed by Stout (of the Stout Scarab)

Feeling the effects of the Depression and declining business, America's railroads (in the 1930s) were looking for ways to reinvigorate passenger travel. As Ralph Budd, president of the Chicago Burlington & Quincy, later explained, railroads had to continue running trains on short routes to handle mail and baggage "whether or not anyone rides the trains." After seeing GM's powerful diesel engines, Budd concluded that what the railroads needed was a new kind of train that was fast, convenient, ultramodern and luxurious enough to fire the public imagination. The Union Pacific Railroad also saw the two exhibits and came to similar conclusions. A race was on to see which of the two railroads would be the first to develop an ultramodern railcar

 1934 Century of Progress Fair in Chicago The Union Pacific selected the University of Michigan to find the best aerodynamic shape while CB&Q turned to M.I.T.. The new designs looked like nothing else that had ridden the rails. They looked more like Buck Rogers's space ship than a train. People were tired of living in the Depression and they were ready for a change. 

 the Pullman-Standard wondertrain powered by 600 HP Winton petrol engine

 Union Pacific М-10000 City of Salina weighed 20 per cent as much as a conventional railroad car, but using only two minuscule (by railroad standards) 320-hp six-cylinder truck engines, was able to hit 100 miles per hour, while delivering 5 miles per gallon. By comparison to conventional railcars, the ride was superb, engine noise and fumes were all but eliminated and the seating arrangement - using aircraft-type seats as fitted to the Scarab automobile - made the Railplane quite luxurious

It is Pullman-Standard Railplane

In 1933, the Pullman Car & Manufacturing Company constructed the Railplane to Stout's design (some improvements were later patented by the company, see the positives below). This was merely Stout's familiar triangulated space-frame aircraft fuselage, this time adapted to railroad use. Here too, he was able to preserve his all-time important triumvirate: simplicity, practicality and comfort. The self-propelled car had an aluminum body, 60' in length. It was exhibited at the Chicago World's fair 1934 and then leased to the Gulf, Mobile & Northern in 1935 for service between Tylertown and Jackson, Mississippi. From the railroad point of view, all running gear could be easily serviced from outside, tracks and roadbed lasted longer and operating costs were significantly less. Despite proven advantages, there were no buyers. Union Pacific ordered a three-car version (future City of Salina) , but that's as far as it went.

from http://www.dieselpunks.org/profiles/blogs/sunday-streamline-12-pullman  and  http://www.dieselpunks.org/profiles/blogs/flying-americans

Vintage photos of the Clara B Stocker railcar, compared to the gallery I took this March

for the gallery I just took: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2011/05/private-pullman-palace-railcar-century.html
and for the gallery Tere (JustaCarGal) took:
http://justacargal-s.blogspot.com/2011/03/nethercutt-museum-train.html

Pullman baggage and mail cars, 1889 - 1909

Just some of the Pullman photos from http://csrrm.crewnoble.com/dbtw-wpd/exec/dbtwpub.dll?BU=http%3A%2F%2Fcsrrm.crewnoble.com%2FSearchPullmanAll_Images.htm&QF0=ImageName&QI0=*&MR=30&TN=Pullman&RF=WebDisplay&AC=QBE_QUERY
thanks to Mary D who is writing a book about a young woman and her escapades running away from home with her families Pullman palace car (if I recall correctly) and doing a ton of research to get her Pullman info straight

Pere Marquette Railroad parlor car No. 25, 1905

http://www.shorpy.com/node/9955?size=_original
assigned to the western shores of the lower peninsula of Michigan between Ludington and Frankfort. vacation service on trains No. 1 and 5, and Nos. 9 and 10, the Resort Special.

 for 1905 of the Great Central route stopped at Little Manistee River (Fishing Camp) when signaled, an indication of casual operation in good old summer days. The car was characterized by a curved rear bulkhead with plate-glass windows to match, giving onto an observation platform of uncommon depth.

More cool vehicles from Steampunkvehicles.Tumblr.com

Which got your attention first, the 6 wheels, the carpet roof, or the three bench seats? What a world's fair looking extravagence. Beautiful vehicle. I wish I had a year or maker. Reminds me of the 1905 Bordeux Cali limo https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR-7d-hIl2QaYRnmXKNqGmgOOIufuD6zxVvrHMbjAftOCMwuyVitkPLp4tJUC5NBPDBYCuw3iEl2FhBkmLZ8GAn5t1-5EUCDJM-AqS8Z9vafXBac4uhlSFF76J9DZrIqwi4q1cT8KWYE8/s1600/1905+Bordeaux+Cali+Limousine..jpg
1934 Mercedes DR rail car
1912 Italian 305mm cannon... what in the world pulled, pushed or powered this beast?
Cool looking but simple railway crane
the Pickwick Coach, sleeps 26

Great 1920's or early 1930's 5th wheel tow and trailer
Notice in the above, the front wheel has a direction vane so the driver way at the back of the cab can tell where it will steer
For any more info there may be on these images http://steampunkvehicles.tumblr.com/

Steampunk Vehicles Tumblr just clued me in on double front ended inspection railcars

When it was not easy to turn them around, and they knew that the car would need to return to its original location, they had to build with two engines, so it doesn't overheat from driving backwards long distance.... as the radiator needs the airflow to keep the engine cool. I just learned this from Johnny at Steampunk vehicles!

1922 B2 Petit Train

found on http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=428585&page=1118

rail inspection cars found on Steampunkvehicles.tumblr.com

above 1926 Chev
Might be Dodge truck cabs, and both the above and below are from New Zealand


Above a Nattrass Rail Tractor



Above photo was in South America

http://steampunkvehicles.tumblr.com/is a source for many cool and unusual cars, highly recommended

Pullman train cars, the epitome of luxury Palace Cars, Superliners (284 of these), sleeping cars and passenger train cars, 1859-1981

When the legendary director Cecil B. DeMille first saw the baroque interior, he supposedly said, "Tell the madame I'll have a drink, but I'm too old to go upstairs."

Original owners of Pullman Palacecars were EF Hutton, the Vanderbilt's (at least 3 of them, Harry, Willie, and Alice had one of their own... cattle barons bought them too.
The most famous stock holders of the Pullman company were JJ Astor, Ellen Banker, Chauncey Depew, Jay Gould, Julia Grant, John Hay, Henry Morgan, J Pierpont Morgan, JD Rockefeller, Russell Sage, Robert Schell, William Scott, and Alice, Cornelius, Fred and William Venderbilt


These are steam locomotives at the factory to move the cars around. Not big, because they weren't moving a whole train

I've posted one photo somewhere in the past of a vehicle like the one above... can't recall where it is. This was just to move things about at the factory
The above shows the accordian wall device to allow people to travel between cars without being exposed to the outside soot from the locomotive exhaust and weather
Above and below show the factory method of moving the cars sideways on the "Table"








The above cutaway is similar to the Pullman Progress poster detail pieces below



the above poster has been put to use on a website http://thelibrary.org/lochist/frisco/history/pullman.cfm so that you can click on each of the railcars (like you see below) and get a full page, big detailed look at them, and their description.

the guys in the above photo are the Chicago White Sox

All of these unless noted otherwise, are from one website http://www.pullman-museum.org/cgi-bin/pvm/newGetSubjects.pl?subject=Pullman%20Train%20Cars which has much much more to see. This is just a quick look at the elegant luxury of the fortunately wealthy from 1860-1940's and the signature way of traveling in style and opulance that very few ever could manage.

For more photos from the Pullman archives: http://csrrm.crewnoble.com/dbtw-wpd/exec/dbtwpub.dll?BU=http%3A%2F%2Fcsrrm.crewnoble.com%2FSearchPullmanAll_Images.htm&QF0=ImageName&QI0=*&MR=30&TN=Pullman&RF=WebDisplay&AC=QBE_QUERY
One of the above articles in 1981 said about 500 Palace cars remained, and only about a handful were upgraded to Amtrak standards of new mechanical and electrical features to get pulled along by the Amtrak trains in America .

I guess very few were ever exported tot he wealithiest of other countries, but that those may have greater numbers that are allowed to ride the rails for he right price, condition irrelevant.

President Lincoln's son, Robert Todd Lincoln, assumed charge of the company after the founder, George Pullman died, 1898-1911, and renamed it 'Pullman Company.' Lincoln preferred a simple elegance to Pullman's previous luxury cars, and began revising the way Pullman cars were created. During Lincoln's tenure, Pullman purchased the Wagner Palace Car Company, and the Union Palace Car Company

The company continued to produce quality train cars. It suffered immensely when automobile ownership began to eschew passenger train travel, but continued working with freight cars and other means. It acquired the competition and enjoyed much success. The History of Pullman Cars eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/about_5142619_history-pullman-cars.html#ixzz1QPNwmuMD

For a big gallery of full size hi-def, hi-res photos of the restored Pullman at the Nethercutt Museum I visited a couple months ago: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2011/05/private-pullman-palace-railcar-century.html

This whole post is due to a link from Mary D, she is writing a book that involves the characters using Pullmans, and shared the link with me to share with all of you. Thanks Mary D!