Nostalgia & History > Past & Past-er? Dome-volution?

It's outside the bounds of the photo contest, but here's the effect of less than ten years of change.

SP's 'three-quarter' domes -- from original and intact interiors in the late 1960's, through early Amtrak circa 1977, to later Amtrak circa 1979 -- when they decided to plug the upper windows with button-tufted vinyl instead of washing or replacing the glass!

Here's the odd thing: in a way, the Amtrak version has aged better than I thought it would!

But still... look at the inviting, clubby greens and wood tones of the Sacramento 1954-55 originals. And then... Denny's, anyone?

Most Amtrak riders of the 70's never knew the earlier incarnation.

I do wish I'd had that 24mm lens in the 1960's, though!

~ BZ



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/22/09 18:30 by Notch16.

Woof...

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Ahhh...

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Here's the top of said Amtrak window-plugger, circa 1979.

Any modelers out there care to do this paint treatment with their brand-new Union Terminal brass Amtrak domes in HO scale? ;-)

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I loved those domes BUT I don't recall the "Red" covers on the seating. The other was part of the western "motif" of the rest of the car.

When I rode 98 & 99 those domes were not on the train too often in the 60s. (65-67)


Nudge

Summer and Christmas after 1965

It's more of a burnt orange. That was Amtrak circa early 70's -- orange, purple, black & blue. It may have been the hippest of the hip as far as design cliché, but it was headache-inducing for the traveler!

They threw out the book on railroad design, so as to appear 'fresh'. Instead, the black paint flaked off, and the garish upholstery (airline-style fabric) looked threadbare and dated in just a few years. It was a very painful time for anyone who loved railroad decór of the 50's and 60's.

But they were trying. And Amtrak is still with us against all odds. So here's to burnt orange vinyl... it got us to the next step!

Amtrak orange makes me puke! I will not rest until every speck of it disappears from my car.

-john

How much is left to remove? (From the lovely Silver Splendor, I gather?)

~ BZ

Outstanding interior photos of the classic SP dome lounges. Note that photo #5 appears to be the prototype dome lounge, SP 3600. There were quite a few differences between this car and the 6 "production" dome lounges, among which were the coach style seats visible in the upper dome terrace. Also in photo #5, note at the far end of the car the "SP" pre-war style speaker grill above the bar. To my knowledge, the 3600 was the only SP dome lounge with those speaker grills.

In the last photo - #7 - note the formed "end cap" for the dome section roof that includes the 3 small end windows. These parts (one at each end of the dome) were actually made of fiberglass, instead of steel as one might expect. Very unusual for the time.

Thanks for posting! Most informative shots and information I've seen about these unusual cars. Wish I had ridden them.

B&OB

A very nifty and distinctive car--can't BELIEVE Amtrak went to the trouble and expense of actually making fabric covers for the windows, and negating half the appeal of the cars, rather than cleaning the glass! I mean, okay, the windows would've been expensive to replace, but was that an issue? Sheeeesh, I tell you! Thanks for sharing. Kurt.

I only had the opportunity to ride an SP dome once, on the Coast Daylight down the coast to LA in August 1968 with Lee Hower. The top section did not compare with the few other domes I've ridden (UP City of LA, CZ, Amtrak's lone remaining dome and, in my opinion the best, Santa Fe's full length dome), but the bottom section, with those big windows on the sides and open to the top, was great to ride along the coast.

Lee, do you have any photos of that trip down the coast?

1372 Wrote:
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> A very nifty and distinctive car--can't BELIEVE
> Amtrak went to the trouble and expense of actually
> making fabric covers for the windows, and negating
> half the appeal of the cars, rather than cleaning
> the glass! I mean, okay, the windows would've been
> expensive to replace, but was that an issue?
> Sheeeesh, I tell you! Thanks for sharing. Kurt.


I wonder if it had to do with climate contol? As a/c systems aged some of those domes could get quite hot.

Dave

Another vote for an a/c issue, hoping to reduce maintainance if nothing else.

Are any of these running at this time, or even existing?

Oops, forgot about this site: http://www.trainweb.org/web_lurker/SPf/



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/23/09 20:00 by TCnR.

Notch16 Wrote:
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> It's more of a burnt orange. That was Amtrak circa
> early 70's -- orange, purple, black & blue. It may
> have been the hippest of the hip as far as design
> cliché, but it was headache-inducing for the
> traveler!
>
> They threw out the book on railroad design, so as
> to appear 'fresh'. Instead, the black paint flaked
> off, and the garish upholstery (airline-style
> fabric) looked threadbare and dated in just a few
> years. It was a very painful time for anyone who
> loved railroad decór of the 50's and 60's.

Those colors were vile and what Anthrax did to the cars criminal. It was easier to block 1/2 of the dome windows with crappy tuck and roll upholstery than to straighten out the air conditioning. Rode those 3600s several times in SP days and they cooled very well. Anthrax couldn't maintain the Waukesha Ice Engines but that was their problem, not anything intrinsically wrong with the cars.
>
> But they were trying. And Amtrak is still with us
> against all odds. So here's to burnt orange
> vinyl... it got us to the next step!