Nostalgia & History > What was your favorite dome to ride? Did it matter?

I haven't rode many dome cars since I was a kid, but it seems there's a big difference in quality of ride between, say, a Budd dome and a full-length dome. See for instance the pics on the "full length dome heads south" thread ( http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,1163851 ) and you can see that the dome has a full set of roof windows (good, it seems, as long as the AC works), but very small windows in the front and back. And the dome is so long you can't sit anywhere and have a decent view out both the front and the back. And if they stick two full-length domes next to each other in the consist, you might as well forget about seeing anything more than you would in an Amtrak Sightseer Lounge Superliner.

The Budd domes seem more intimate, and all seats have a decent view out the front, the back, or both. The extensive curved glass and small seating compartment makes it feel like a 1950s sci-fi space ship experience. And the front windows are bigger, and there's enough car that you'd still have a good view even if domes were back to back (as in this fine CZ video http://www.trainorders.com/avshare/detail.php?737 )

Then there's the angular domes, like the Santa Fe Plaza PV that lives here in Northern Cal, has the good views, has the big roof windows. But did it feel boxy inside? Less like the space ship?

So, was any ride in a dome great regardless? Or were there real differences in the equipment.

Thanks in advance for comments,
Ted in Davis

Recently I spent 3 days in the dome of "The Canadian" going from Toronto to Vancouver. The view is great. It really gives you the engineer's perspective and allows you to see more of a railway's operation. Unfortunately, the glazing in the windows had been badly scratched. Our attendant said that VIA is going to replace the damaged glass.

Later I spent two days riding a Budd dome to Gaspe and back. Again the view was fantastic until dirt and rain obscured the front windows. No wonder vehicles have windshield wipers.

On the same trip, I experienced AMTRAK's Superliner "domes" - especially through the Colorado Rockies. The scenery was still good, but the railway operations are more hidden.

/Bob Meldrum
Ottawa ON

The short domes are great, especially if you can get the coveted front row seat.

I always liked the Budd full length domes. Not much forward visibility but I liked the look, sound, smell and ride of these massive cars. In 1968, I travelled on the eastward San Francisco Chief, riding in the Big Dome lounge. One one long summer evening, the train was travelling thru a massive, black Texas panhandle thunderstorm. Suddenly, a burst of sunlight penetrated the clouds and produced a magnificent double rainbow. The crowd in the dome was completely mesmerized by the experience. The Big Dome was the perfect venue.

Bob

I'd vote for the SP domes. The combination of conventional dome seating upstairs with the high roofed lower cocktail lounge section gave the SP domes a particularly spacious, luxurious, and even spectacular feeling.

The Budd domes (at least those for the California Zephyr) were originally equipped with wipers for the end glass. After a short time, they proved to be more of a maintenance headache than they were worth and so were removed. I've ridden in both Budd and Pullman-Standard/ACF "short" domes and slightly prefer the PS/ACF ones because the curved side windows were one continuous piece glass instead of being horizontally divided into two. Of course the WORST sort of dome is any dome where the end and top windows have been plated over as done by Illinois Central and others later in the passenger game.

It is interesting to compare a ride in an ACF dome to a Budd short dome. At first glance many people won't notice a difference but there are some differences. The ACF cars have a wider dome roof and larger single side windows per course compared to two on Budds. The ACF cars are also taller inside while the ceilings below the dome are lower. One feature I have seen on some privately owned domes and the UP owned domes that I absolutely hate are window shades. Any dome is still a great ride!

For me it was Silver Sky on the rear of the Rio Grande Zephyr, close to its demise when the train was long with several more domes bobbing in front, but only about 20 people in the whole car between Denver and Glenwood Springs and return. I can't believe I only took that ride once... - - - JLH

Most of my dome experiences have been in the ex CB & Q, NP or GN domes on Amtrak trains and I feel these have been the nicest domes used by Amtrak. In 1978, I had the pleasure of riding in a dome just fresh out of Beech Grove which was tacked on to the rear of the National Limited (a train which was not normally assigned dome equipment).

When the Coast Starlight had ex-SP domes, I got a kick out of riding them because I first read about them in a Model Railroader article and I also thought that it was nice to be riding in actual SP equipment on the SP Coast Line. However, the forward view was poor and much of the glass was difficult to see through because of the poor condition of the glass.

My most recent dome experience was on a 2003 Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association excursion from Billings to Whitehall, MT using Montana Daylight equipment. If I recall correctly, there were four domes on this trip of GN and NP vintages. All riders had the opportunity to ride in the domes for at least a portion of the trip. These domes were very nice.

Dave

I remember one SP 3/4 dome with lounge-style seating: semicircles facing outward with room for about four people per semicircle. I think I also remember one with regular 2+2 seating, although the seats might have been angled a bit to face outward. My favorite would be one of the former. Anyone know which were which? Or did the seating perhaps change over the years?

The most memorable dome car rides for me were in the ex-GN 1331,a Budd short dome, formerly owned by Montana Rail tours.I was lucky enough to ride in this car on both Montana by Steam trips as well as the 4449 Bend trip in 2002.The view from the dome was about as good as it gets. Unfortunately, this car is no longer in the area. However, the Milwaukee superdome, now owned by the 261 group, is an excellent ride with a beautiful new paint job. I'm looking forward to riding in it next month from Minneapolis to Milwaukee.

Cal

Here are some photos of the inside of a SP 3/4 dome. The first one shows the aforementioned small forward windows, the second show how much the central air conditioning duct obstructs your view and the third shows the the lower level lounge area with the high ceiling. This is the very car that is currently in transit mentioned in some other threads. The new owner has quite a project now.

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I liked the Budd short domes best. They were smaller so less people
& less noisy.I liked the first seat in front on the RH side & it was fun to be able to watch the block signals change and at night the reflections on curves of the red & green signals were unreal.
I hated the SP full domes because you had to stand up for foreward visability. GN grerat domes were nice but the short budds
were better. I also didnt like the Santa Fe ACF domes because the
curved glass in my opinion looks better and more sleek. I never rode a Santa Fe Great dome but I assume they were basically just
like the GN full domes. It was really neat to sleep in the dome at
nite and watch all the stars etc. Since no one was in the domes after midnite & the crew was in bed I could sprawl out in the aisle and sleep. It was better than sleeping in reclining coach cars.
SP3201

First dome I ever rode was one of the former Wabash (Budd-built, I think) domes that N&W brought east to re-equip the Powhatan Arrow. I rode from Roanoke to Williamson just after Christmas in 1966 or '67 to visit friends. Went to the dome shortly after departure from Roanoke and spent most of the rest of the trip there. Same on the return trip. Rode one of the same cars on D&H/Amtrak Adirondack in 1976 between Albany and Mechanicville. There were other domes on Amtrak's Mountaineer, including an ex-B&O Stratodome. But none were as memorable as those first rides through the hills of Virginia and West Virginia.

Many of the rides mentioned by others (CN superdomes in British Columbia, CZ obs dome across the West, NP sleeper dome lounge across Montana, dome diner on the UP, N&W dome coach through Virginia) were all great experiences for me, but my all-time favorites have to be the Strata-Domes (Sky Dome and High Dome) on the B&O Columbian through the working McKeesport and Pittsburgh steel mills after dark on summer evenings in the mid-1950s.

As far as domes go I liked the UP over the SP, It was a lot of wasted dome in the full length SP dome, made it hard for a kid to get a seat. (and I'm a diehard SP fan) don't recall ever riding in a Santa Fe dome.

I liked the El Cap lounge cars best.

Went through Amarillo and a big lightning storm on the El Cap once. Everybody just at there and oohed and aahed.