Two between Seattle and Vancouver, and one between Grand Forks and the Twin Cities, provide fast, deluxe daytime service—Cars built by American Car & Foundry
During June the Great Northern inaugurated new passenger-train services between Seattle, Wash., and Vancouver, B. C., and between Grand Forks, N. D., and Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn. For these two services equipment for three trains was delivered to the railroad by the American Car & Foundry Co. The cars include three mail-baggage cars, seven coaches, two cafe-coach cars, two parlor-lounge cars, and one café-parlor car.
Two of the trains, known as “The Internationals,” went into service between Seattle and Vancouver on Sunday, June 18, where they make a total of three round trips between the two cities daily. This is an increase in the service of one round trip daily. The trains now depart from Seattle at 7 :45 a.m., 1 :3() p.m., and 6 p.m., and from Vancouver at .10 a.m., 12:30 p.m., arid 6.25 p.m., respectively. The schedule time for all trains for the 155 miles in each direction, including six intermediate stops, is 3 hr. 55 mm. Prior to the inauguration of the new trains the service comprised morning and evening trains in each direction, those operating northbound on a 4-hr. 30 min. schedule; southbound, on 4-hr. 25-min. and 4-hr. 20-min. schedules.
Each of the new “Internationals” is made up of a mail-baggage car, two coaches, a cafe-coach car, and a parlor-lounge car. Each coach seats 60 passengers and there are coach seats for 28 in the cafe-coach. The parlor-lounge car provides parlor-car seats for 29. The dining room in the cafe-coach seats 24.
The third train, known as “The Red River,” which went into service on Sunday, June 25, provides a new service from Grand Forks and important intermediate points to Minneapolis-St. Paul in the morning and a return service to Grand Forks in the evening. Routed by way of Fargo and St. Cloud, the train leaves Grand Forks at 7:30 a.m. The return trip departs from St. Paul at 5:30 p.m. The schedule for the 320 miles in each direction, including eight intermediate stops and two flag stops west of Minneapolis, is 6 hr. between Grand Forks and Minneapolis and 30 mm. between Minneapolis and St. Paul.
This train consists of one mail-baggage car, three 60-passenger coaches, and a cafe-parlor car which provides 20 parlor-car seats, seats for 12 in the dining room, and seats for 9 in the coffee shop.
Each of the three trains is powered by a single-unit Electro-Motive 2,000-hp. Diesel-electric locomotive. The cars and locomotives for the three trains represent an investment by the railroad of $1,902.000.
The exteriors of all the trains are finished in olive green and deep orange. The skirt, a broad band below the windows, the roof, letter board, and ends of the cars are green, with the lower portion of the side sheathing and panels in the window area orange. The striping above and below the windows and between the two colors on the sides of the car below the windows is in imitation gold. Lettering and numbering are in imitation gold color Scotchlite. A silver stripe is painted at the sill line. Trucks are black.
The coaches for all three trains have a main compartment with a seating capacity of 60. The seats are of the Sleepy-Hollow type with rotating frames and individually reclining backs. Cushions and backs are foam-rubber filled. Foot rests are adjustable. The men’s lounge is at the vestibule end of the car; the women’s lounge, at the opposite end. Between the men’s lounge and the main compartment in one coach of each train is a conductor’s room. In the other coaches this space is used as a luggage compartment.
The color scheme of the interiors of “The International” coaches is ivory, gray and ocher. That of the “The Red River” is cream, gold, gray and coral. In “The International” cars the ceilings are ivory; the frieze, including baggage rack, gray; the pier panels, gray and ocher, and the wainscot, gray. The floor is covered with marbleized rubber tile in patterns of black, gold and red, and red and white. Upholstery is brownish tan and green. In “The Red River” cars the ceilings are cream; frieze and wainscot, gray, and the pier panels, coral or gray. The floor covering is the same in all cars.
To break the monotony of the repetition of seats and pier panels in the long passenger compartment, the three end pier panels at each end of each side of the car are in one color, while the three central piers are in another color. All are covered with leather and divided into four equal areas with three horizontal stainless-steel snap-on moldings. Carrying out the same feature, the four seats at each end of each side of the car are upholstered in a color and texture contrasting with that on the seven seats at the center. In “The International” cars, the end pier panels are in beige and the center panels in golden ocher.
The upholstery on the end seats in these cars is a needlepoint in brownish tan, while that of the center seats is a smooth green with a silk screen print of a decorative pine tree in dark green and brown to symbolize the forests of the northwest. On “The Red River” cars the leather covering of end pier panels is gray and the central pier panels, coral. The upholstery on the end seats is gray petitpoint, while the remaining seats are in gold with a stencil print of a stylized head of wheat.
On the four bulkheads of each “International” coach are reproductions of pen-and-ink drawings by Vincent Maragliotte. etched in stainless steel. a different drawing on each bulkhead. Themes of these decorative pieces are activities, points of interest, and industries of the Pacific northwest. Each etching is mounted on a panel of patterned stainless steel which serves as a mat for the decoration.
On the end bulkheads of “The Red River” coaches are edge-lighted engraved plastic murals, their themes drawn from the flowers of the country through which the train runs.
The cafe-coaches of the “Internationals” are divided into three compartments, including a coach section containing Sleepy Hollow seats for 28 passengers. The kitchen is in the center of the car, with a passageway around it communicating with both end compartments. A propane-gas range and broiler, the principal piece of equipment, is surrounded with the usual adjuncts.
The third section is a dining room. Four square tables are placed diagonally along one side wall, with banquette seats holding two persons each behind them. On the aisle side are two chairs at each table. On the opposite side of the car the fixed seats are the same as on the other side, but the four tables are triangular and accommodate only two persons each.
The coach section of these cars has the same color scheme and decorative treatment as the full coaches. The dining section has a basic color scheme of green, gold and rust. The decorative theme is based on the fauna of the Pacific northwest, with the outstanding feature the engraved, edge-lighted frieze panels with a rhythmic pattern of flying ducks. The background for the plastic panels is gold. The pier panels of walnut Realwood Formica have small bas-reliefs, carved from Oregon myrtlewood, of wildlife indigenous to the Pacific northwest.
To add spaciousness to the room mirrors are used on the bulkheads at the locker end and on the wide partition at the kitchen end.
Light ocher leather is used on the diagonal banquette seats as a repeat of the gold in the frieze panels. A needlepoint type of upholstery in a light warm brown is used on the dining chairs. This color is a repeat in a higher value of the walnut pier panels. A complementary color note for the green ceiling and the green Moonglo Formica of the table tops is carried by the rust color carpet.
The lighting is from a side wall trough light, which also lights the plastic frieze panel, and from an indirect ceiling cove light.
A compact arrangement of the facilities in the parlor-lounge cars of “The Internationals” utilizes every space. Because of the international run of this train, it was necessary to provide a hand-baggage inspection room and customs office in this car. The main part of the car is arranged as a parlor and lounge-observation room having a combined seating capacity of 29 persons. Occupying the tapered and rounded end of the floor space is a two- passenger settee upholstered in copper-rust color. Ahead of this are ten observation chairs placed back to back along the center line of the car. These are covered with green Velpoint. Between this group of observation chairs and the parlor section is a square table with Formica Moonglo top placed diagonally for convenience of the passengers. Facing the observation end is a copper-rust upholstered settee for two, while at the opposite side of the table are two chairs in gray. Separating this settee from the lounge at the end of the car is a low transparent partition of edge-lighted plastic. This panel is engraved on both sides to give a three-dimensional effect with a Douglas fir bough. This was executed by Henry F. Pearson, a specialist in plastic engraving.
In the main portion of the parlor-lounge are 17 Hey wood-Wakefield parlor-car revolving chairs, nine covered in green and eight in gray, spaced on 40-in, centers along both sides of the car.
The floor of the parlor-lounge is covered with rust color carpet. All windows have Venetian blinds, except in the passageway where curtains are installed.
At the vestibule end there are two toilets on opposite sides of the car. These have ceramic tile floors. Next to the women’s toilet is a customs office. In it are a table, a chair and hand-baggage racks. The electric locker takes up some space in one corner of this room. A small barroom is provided with a refrigerator, sinks and locker, all compactly arranged. The floor in this room is Monel metal covered with a wood rack.
There is a single-occupancy bedroom adjacent to the barroom with a bulkhead separating it from the parlor-lounge room. In it is a bedroom type sofa, the berth placed transversely.
As noted, the basic color scheme of these cars is green, gray, tan and rust. The piers are of Panelled Oregon myrtlewood and the wainscoting is covered with tan Tolex, a vinyl plastic material of high abrasive resistance. Being of a different texture, it breaks the monotony of wood surfaces and paint.
The principal decorative pieces in the car besides the pier panels are two myrtlewood bas-reliefs. One is a large sculpture covering the bulkhead at the forward end which symbolizes the principal industries of the Pacific northwest. The other is a small panel on the frieze over the body end door. A swimming salmon is the theme of this panel.
Forward of the kitchen, with a shoulder-high double swinging door connecting, is a coffee shop. At the Formica-top lunch counter are nine stools covered with antique red leather. The tops of the stools are rotating and self-returning. The front of the lunch counter is stainless steel with a rolled-in pattern. Front and upper portions of the back bar and the kitchen partition are also of stainless steel. The step-tread rubber is mahogany color. There is a lighted Plexiglass purse shelf under the counter.
Equipment of the coffee shop includes a coffee urn, ice-cube maker, liquor locker, ice-cream well, refrigerators, sinks, drainboard and locker.
Adjoining the coffee shop, with only a slight separation between them, is a dining room seating 12. This section of the cafe has continuous banquette seats along either side. In front of the seats on one side of the car are two triangular tables, each seating two. Opposite are two square tables placed diagonally with chairs on the aisle side. The seats have cushions of tan leather and quilted backs in the same material. The chairs are up- holstered in red leather.
The parlor section at the rear seats 20 persons. At the tapered and rounded observation end is a two-passenger settee upholstered in needlepoint of wine color.
Ahead of the settee are 18 observation chairs placed with their backs towards the sides of the car. Half of the chairs are upholstered in wine needlepoint and the other half in green Velpoint.
Floor covering varies in the different sections of the car. In the kitchen and coffee-shop work section the floor is Monel metal with wooden floor mats. The dining room and coffee shop and the passageway to the parlor section are covered with 6-in. rubber tile in a pattern of green and white and black and white squares outlined with mahogany, white and black strips. In the parlor section is a green carpet.
The color scheme of the parlor section is ivory, tan, wine and green. Ceiling, frieze panels and Venetian blinds are ivory. Pier panels are covered with Realwood Formica Prima Vera, a very light color tropical wood also known as white mahogany. Wainscoting is covered with tan Tolex. The chairs are green and wine.
There are three bas-reliefs in the parlor section. Two of these are on the end bulkheads at the forward end of the car and have as their themes a farming scene and a grain elevator, symbolic of the principal activity of the Red River country. The background of these bas-reliefs is Prima Vera Realwood Formica. A third panel is located on the frieze over the body end door; its subject is flying Canada geese.
Illumination in the parlor section is from fluorescent side-wall trough lights. Face plates of the lights have two horizontal wine color lines as a repeating note for the wine upholstery.
The basic color scheme in the table dining section is ivory, gray, tan, red and green. Ceiling and frieze panels are ivory, and pier panels have concealed vertical fluorescent lights with the light shields covered with tan leather, Table tops are covered with a tan linen Formica.
Three carved-glass mirrors carry a design theme inspired by the country which “The Red River” serves. Two of these are located at the locker end of the section and run from the seat hacks to the ceiling. Sugar-beet and potato raising and dairy farming are the themes. The third mirror, on the large wing partition at the coffee-shop end, has wheat harvesting as its theme. All the carvings are colored in gold, silver, green and red and are highly formalized.
All the bas-reliefs in the parlor-lounge cars and dining section of the cafe-coach cars of The Internationals and in the cafe-parlor car of “The Red River,” as well as the plastic murals in the coaches of the latter, are the work of K. George Kratina, an American sculptor.
The mail-baggage cars of all the trains are equipped with a mail compartment 30 ft. 1 in. in length. The remainder of the car consists of a baggage compartment 51 ft. 6 in. long, having a 5-ft. door opening on each side.
A gravity water supply is installed with two 25-gal. tanks over each toilet, one in the mail room and one in the baggage room. The main portion of the baggage compartment is lined with corrugated aluminum placed vertically, while the remainder of the car, including headlinings, is finished in flat aluminum.
Basically, all the cars are of similar design, built to carry the vertical loads on the side frames which are of girder construction. Likewise, the principal dimensions ofall the cars are the same, as shown in the table.
The A. A. R. standard contour for new passenger cars has been used in the cross-sectional overall dimensions. Body framing consists mainly of members made of low-alloy, high-tensile steel. The vertical end members are of open-hearth steel. The underframe, side frames and roof frames are assembled by arc welding in jigs as subassemblies, the side sheets being applied by spot welding and the roof sheets by shielded arc seam welding. The subassemblies are finally joined together by riveting, using streamline head rivets.
On all cars, except the mail-baggage cars, the floor is composed of aluminum chanarch laid crosswise. Over this, lightweight Tucolith is applied to a total thickness of 13/16 in.
In the kitchen of the cafe-coach the floor is covered with Monel metal welded at the joints and a wooden floor rack placed over it. Supporting the floor are pressed Z-stringers of low-alloy high-tensile steel.
The mail compartment of the mail-baggage car has a single-course tongue-and-groove yellow pine floor applied to wood furring strips bolted to the steel floor stringers. In the baggage compartment there are two courses of yellow pine wood flooring. A galvanized copper-bearing steel floor rack resting in a tray of the same metal is applied in the ends of the baggage compartment. Suitable floor drainage is provided.
Two types of body insulation are used. On all the mail- baggage cars, the cafe-parlor car of “The Red River,” and the parlor-lounge cars of the “Internationals” 3-in. Ultralite Fiberglas is installed in the floor, sides, ends and roof. On all of the coaches and the cafe-coaches of The Internationals” 3 in. of Stonefelt Type A is used. Windows are Adams & Westlake breather type, double glazed with laminated Safety glass inside.
The passenger-carrying cars are equipped with a combination incandescent and fluorescent lighting system. The mail-baggage cars have incandescent circuits only. Exide storage batteries of 1,176 amp. hr. capacity are carried in two battery boxes per car.
The electrical current is supplied by a Safety Genemotor on all cars except the mail-baggage cars, where an axle generator is used. The Genemotor is a 20-kw., 32-40-volt machine with a 25-hp., 220-volt, three-phase, 60-cycle a.c. motor. The Spicer drive is equipped with a magnetic clutch. The axle generator on the mail-baggage cars is of 5 kw. capacity, 32-40-volt, with Dayton endless V-belt and pulley drive.
Heating is provided in all the passenger-carrying cars by the Vapor zone system with unit fin side-wall radiation, supplemented by an overhead unit built into the air-conditioning system. The mail-baggage cars have the Vapor system as well, thermostatically controlled in the mail compartment and manually controlled in the baggage compartment, with fin side-wall radiation and bulkhead radiators at doors of the mail compartment. An overhead unit heater is applied in the baggage compartment.
All cars of “The Red River,” except the cafe-parlor car, are also equipped with a Vapor Simplex auxiliary hot-water heater. The heater system is filled with a solulion of 60 per cent Prestone and 40 per cent water by volume.
The passenger-carrying cars have air-conditioning apparatus of the Frigidaire electro-mechanical type with an eight-ton unit and Trane evaporative condensers, the latter being located under the car. The conditioned air is forced through aluminum ducts and fed through Anemostats and Pyle-National Multi-Vent air distributing panels where desired. The Frigidaire evaporator unit is located above the ceiling. The mail-baggage cars are not air conditioned, but suitable cooling fans are installed in the mail compartment.
New York Air Brake Company air-brake equipment, Schedule HSC with D-22 BR control valve, e1ectro pneumatic straight-air and speed-governor control is furnished on all cars. The reservoirs are of lightweight steel and the brake pipe is hard copper tubing with sweated fittings. Extra.heavy steel pipe nipples are at the ends of the train line. The brake company’s sanding equipment is installed for emergency stopping only.
All cars are equipped with National Malleable & Steel Castings Type H tight-lock couplers and radially connected coupler yokes, with Waugh twin-cushion draft gears. The rear ends of the parlor-lounge cars of “The Internationals” and the cafe-parlor car of “The Red River” are equipped with Type E couplers.
Buffers of the built-up type having adjustable stayrod suspension supports outside of the diaphragms are applied to blind and vestibule ends. The suspension supports and side stems are cushioned with sound-deadening material. The foot plates are of the fixed type made of steel covered with rubber. The upper buffers are of the Fowler type. The diaphragms are of the Morton three-fold type with sloping top section. All canvas is impregnated with a water-repellent and fireproof material.
Openings between the ends of the cars have the builder’s standard closures consisting of low-alloy, high-tensile- steel face plates. The outer diaphragms are rubberized fabric.
The rotary type coupler operating apparatus is operated from both sides of the car.
Each car is carried on two Commonwealth four-wheel, swing-motion trucks with single drop equalizers. The wheel base is 8 ft. 6 in. and the wheels 36 in. in diameter, with semi-cylindrical treads. The equipment includes cushion type bolster anchors, one on each side, and two Houde vertical shock absorbers.
Both the equalizer springs and the bolster springs are of the double helical type of silicon manganese steel. The journal bearings are Timken with stench-bomb hot-box alarms. The nominal size is 5½ in. by 10 in., except on the mail-baggage cars which have 6-in, by 11-in, journals. The truck center plate is a separate steel casting bolted to the bolster and insulated with a 1/8..in, pad of linoleum. Further vibration isolation is effected by Fabreeka pads.
Simplex unit-cylinder clasp brakes with a braking ratio of 250 per cent of the light weight of the car at 100 lb. cylinder pressure are mounted on the trucks. The wheel slide control equipment is of two types, apportioned among the different kinds of cars. On some trucks the American Brake Shoe controller has been applied, and on others the New York Air Brake Company’s AP decelostat.