Nostalgia & History > CB&Q 6000 "Silver Pendulum", a Unique Coach

In September 1964 while bumming around the CB&Q coach yard in Aurora, IL, I happened upon something unique, CB&Q Coach 6000 "Silver Pendulum" (first photo).

In rrpicturearchives.net I found these statements.  Robert Bullerman wrote: "Unique pendular suspension 60 seat chair built in 1940 by the Pacific Railway Equipment Company. 1 of 3 such cars, 1 each owned by the Burlington Route, Great Northern, and Santa Fe." And Chuck Zeiler wrote: "A pendulum car truck is designed to support the car body 14 inches above the center of gravity and secure easy riding around curves at high speed".  This is very different from say the Talgo Pendular cars in Oregon and Washington.

A little more research led me to this photo:  http://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/uploads/r/null/9/2/923232/0c64242d-0736-4d76-97b6-20d09433181e-A28537.jpg

And years ago I purchased a slide, photographer unknown, taken January 1, 1955 in in St. Joseph, MO. of CB&Q Doodlebug 9767 (built by EMD-Pullman) pulling, unbelievably, Silver Pendulum.  What an odd combination.  Not exactly high-speed.  The doodlebug like many of CB&Q's was recycled.   It became the Beardstown Engineers Locker Room.

Enjoy,
Marty Bernard



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/24/16 00:35 by MartyBernard.

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MartyBernard Wrote:
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> Robert Bullerman wrote: "Unique pendular suspension 60 seat chair
> built in 1940 by the Pacific Railway Equipment Company.
> 1 of 3 such cars, 1 each owned by the
> Burlington Route, Great Northern, and Santa Fe."

I was the one who uploaded Robert Bullerman's original Kodachrome slide of CB&Q #6000 Silver Pendulum to RR Picture Archives, and I'm attaching it here.  The slide mount said it was taken in Denver in September 1964, but comparing it to Marty's slide, and the fact that both were taken in the same month, it was obviously actually taken in Aurora as well, in the same spot and next to the same cars.  Judging by the broken windows seen both in Marty's slide above and in Robert's slide, both of these were taken after the car had been pulled from revenue service and placed in storage.  According to W. David Randall's "Streamliner Cars Volume Three: ACF - Other Builders", the #6000 was delivered to the Burlington Route in January 1942, was retired in 1965, and was subsequently sold for scrap to Northwestern Steel & Wire in Sterling, IL.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/24/16 03:03 by Rainier_Rails.

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Was the car body aluminum?  Did the small windows have any benefit in weight savings or structural integrity, or where they just considered stylish?

Dave

Would be interesting to see how the pendular suspension worked. I suppose there's a patent filing somewhere that would show it.

Interesting. Looks almost like an Amfleet/Metroliner car in profile.

I have seen pictures of this car on the Galesburg local being pulled by a passenger Geep.I have read that this car did not have window shades or curtains to block the sun. But it did have an adjusting dial that the passenger could rotate  that would shade the window with a gold tint !? I know this last sentence sounds preposterous but I couldn't make up a fact like that.

If it's dimmed by rotation, it would have to be polarized. I thought the UP "Copper King" was the only car like that (it had round windows).

Brian Ehni

run8 Wrote:
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> I have seen pictures of this car on the Galesburg
> local being pulled by a passenger Geep.I have read
> that this car did not have window shades or
> curtains to block the sun. But it did have an
> adjusting dial that the passenger could rotate 
> that would shade the window with a gold tint !? I
> know this last sentence sounds preposterous but I
> couldn't make up a fact like that.

I had a hotel room in Cairns in Australia 25+ years ago where the windows worked like that - there were some kind of gold "particles" that would make the window turn more oblique as you rotated the dial.  The problem was there were spots that the particles weren't taking hold to any more so it had a kind of "Swiss cheese" appearance.

Tim



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/24/16 08:50 by njmidland.

So those aren't blinds in the photo?

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com

Not unique; 1 of three coachs. AT&SF, GN and CB&Q. wag216

Additionally:

http://streamlinermemories.info/?p=637

Bob

ATSF100WEST......Out

DavidP Wrote:
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> Was the car body aluminum?

The GN diagram for their car lists it as HTLA (heat-treatable low-alloy) steel.  (Not to be confused with HSLA [high-strength low-alloy] steel.)

wag216 Wrote:
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> Not unique; 1 of three coachs.
> AT&SF, GN and CB&Q.

Here's the information for the Santa Fe and GN cars:

AT&SF #1100, with 56 seats, was ordered in June 1939, was delivered in November 1941, was retired in 1964, and was subsequently scrapped.

GN #999, with 68 seats, was ordered in July 1939, was delivered in January 1942, was retired in 1966, and was subsequently scrapped.

Also, it is worth mentioning that CB&Q #6000 Silver Pendulum was ordered in September 1939.

MartyBernard Wrote:

> And years ago I purchased a slide, photographer
> unknown, taken January 1, 1955 in in St. Joseph,
> MO. of CB&Q Doodlebug 9767 (built by EMD-Pullman)
> pulling, unbelievably, Silver Pendulum.  What an
> odd combination.  Not exactly high-speed. 

A strange contrast to be sure, but when you think about it, if you have one oddball car that doesn't match anything else in the inventory, it makes some sense to use it in a service that only needs one car.