Nostalgia & History > 'Turbo' Tuesday: UA Turbo Train in Toto land (at night!

Here's another trio of gems from the camera of Mr. Tony Fey. Tony, who just recently retired from a long career in train service with Missouri Pacific/Union Pacific had the great fortune to have grown up in Newton, KS. Pretty cool if you're a Santa Fe fan! He got started with railfan photography in the 60s. This is his 2nd in a series of Toto Tuesday guest-host spots. This week we have 3 shots of United Aircraft's fairly new Turbo Train making a visit to his home town. This next paragraph about the Turbo Train is quoted from Wikipedia:

[They were] acquired by Amtrak on May 1, 1971 when the national passenger carrier began services on that date. Under Amtrak ownership they were given an all white livery with blue and red pinstripes and continued to be used until 1972 when they were finally retired altogether. Interestingly, they remained on Amtrak's roster until 1980 when they were sold for scrap.

Enjoy this look back at a Turbo Train's special visit in the regular Santa Fe passenger train service stop & key junction point of Newton, KS 42 years ago courtesy of Tony's night time photography talents.

1. The United Aircraft "Turbo Train" is stopped WB at Main St in Newton, KS.

2. & 3. Two more views of the train with a freight passing by on the Middle Main.
(3 photos taken by Tony Fey on May 19, 1971)

Thanks for looking back!
Lance Garrels (santafe199)
Tony Fey (mopacrr)



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 05/24/22 22:56 by santafe199.

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Thanks for the memories. I saw them on VIA in Canada. How sad that none were preserved.
Bob

Been there, done that! Photo #2 shows a much slimmer wag216 and has his big butt right in front of the "power". wag216

Had a chance to ride on one of these back in the very early 70s when they were running on the Northeast Corridor. The dome seats were directly behind the engineer with a full head-end view of the railroad--an incredible "railfan" seat to say the least.

Marty Harrison
Knob Noster, MO

wag216 Wrote:

> Been there, done that! Photo #2 shows a much slimmer wag216 and has his big butt right in front...

Whoa Nellie! (hee hee hee) If I'd have just known that!! Lemme see now... I wonder how many points you get for Photoshopping an unsightly blemish out of an image???

;^)

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..."Interestingly, they remained on Amtrak's roster until 1980 when they were sold for scrap."

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Didn't some of that turbo equipment get sent up to CN/VIA? I thought they had used some of it to extend the length of the Canadian versions.

Interesting observation: I was going through slides about a month ago, cataloging stuff I shot in the late 70s. Turns out I caught the UA turbos on the road only 5 times. Once at Pelham, NY and four times in Canada. Every single encounter in Canada was a rescue, with a diesel towing the train into town after a lengthy delay. Specifically, once with an FPA-4, twice with an RS-10, once with a CN GP9.

Like the Rohr machines later on, fires seemed to be a big issue with these guys. One of the CN sets burned to a puddle.

march_hare Wrote:

> Didn't some of that turbo equipment get sent up to CN/VIA?

I went back to the Wikipedia site and found the main entry to be entirely in French. However, here is a partial quote:

"...Via Rail Canada pris le relais du transport ferroviaire pour passagers au Canada et hérita des « Turbos ». Via les retira finalement du service le 31 octobre 1982 pour les remplacer par les rames de train LRC."

I'm not at all conversant in the French language, but it seems pretty easy to deduce the Turbo Trains were indeed in Canadian service until 1982.

Lance

I rode in one of these from Montreal to Toronto.It was cool as I sat
in the "lounge" behind the engineer.I could see the speed on
curves at 95.Might have been K's but at the the time I thought
MPH,not really sure.


Uncle Joe,Seffner,Fl.

CN had originally intended to launch Turbo service between Toronto and Montreal in 1967 but it was late 1968 before they were running...... and then only briefly. They would be in/out of service for the next couple of years before all the bugs were worked out.

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livesteamer Wrote:
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> Had a chance to ride on one of these back in the
> very early 70s when they were running on the
> Northeast Corridor. The dome seats were directly
> behind the engineer with a full head-end view of
> the railroad--an incredible "railfan" seat to say
> the least.

A view of the Corridor in June 1975....

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Cool photos. I bet Tony knew Lloyd Stagner from Newton. He was a good friend of mine.

Bob Krieger
Cheyenne, WY

It sounds like they had some problems with the turbine power. But out of curiosity, how were they from the passenger's point of view?

retcsxcfm Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I rode in one of these from Montreal to Toronto.It
> was cool as I sat
> in the "lounge" behind the engineer.I could see
> the speed on
> curves at 95.Might have been K's but at the the
> time I thought
> MPH,not really sure.
>
>
> Uncle Joe,Seffner,Fl.


Canadian railroads use mph unlike roadways that use kph.

Sneebly

Bob3985 Wrote:

> Cool photos. I bet Tony knew Lloyd Stagner from Newton. He was a good friend of mine.

Yes sir, Tony & Lloyd go quite a ways back. Here is a shot of them together. 5 of us were making on some forgotten excursion.
Left to right are: John Arbuckle, Tony Fey, Norm Walters & (the late) Lloyd Stagner.

Lance

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Only had one Turbotrain ride, NYC to Boston. Sat in what may be the finest railfan seat in the passenger train business, in the front dome, right behind the hogger. On the way to NYC from DC, rode a Metroliner, and stood at the front window, next to the hogger compartment. Exciting stuff for this California native. AA

Stanford White
Carmel Valley, CA