Nostalgia & History > Four Amtrak French Turboliners in the Midwest

1. The Twilight Limited (train 354), a NYC name for a Chicago/Detroit train, and used by Amtrak for a few years, on the south leads of Chicago Union Station on July 3, 1978. You got to love the puzzle switches (double-slip switches).

2. The Twilight Limited (Train 353) at Niles, MI on August 25, 1977.

3. Turboliner 59 (Train 354) poses with ATSF 2379 (an ALCo S2) on August 20, 1976 taken from the Roosevelt Rd. Bridge in Chicago.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/27/13 18:27 by MartyBernard.

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4. Train 320 at Glenview, IL on June 24, 1977

Thanks for looking,
Marty Bernard

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Rode them many times btween Chicago and St. Louis, and loathed them. Amtrak could not get ride of them fast enough for me.

MC
Columbia, Missouri

Had the same front crashworthiness issues as the original Zephyrs. This ain't a motor car, it's a train. Would not want to be an Engineer running this and hit a truck at a crossing, not enough height or leading nose protection. That DID happen to the CB&Q 9900 Pioneer Zephyr in service from Denver to Cheyenne on the C&S in the 1960's, hit a truck by Longmont and the Engineer was in fact killed. If you look close, at the Museum of Science and Industry where it is displayed in Chicago, there are still signs of that wreck on the inside of the right side of the little bit of nose that is there. That incident probably hastened the demise of the early shovelnoses from service. === === = === JLH

Hard to believe the French had this humble beginning yester-year to today's TGV and AGV train sets.

Comparing these to heritage equipment (dome coach, diner, parlor); then yes, the Turbo fails. But I had some nice smooth trips on the turbo trains. I remember about 1976? northbound from Bloomington to Joliet nonstop we did 90 miles in 73 minutes. It was all jointed rail and we did not take any passing siding. 73 mph average speed.

Sadly the Ill. DOT, having spent a lot of money, is not up to this speed even now!

ironmtn Wrote:
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> Rode them many times btween Chicago and St. Louis,
> and loathed them. Amtrak could not get ride of
> them fast enough for me.
>
> MC
> Columbia, Missouri

The French loved them and a lot of sadness when they were withdrawn from service.

I thought they were great on the CHI-MKE corridor. Loved the big windows. A breath of fresh air from the old heritage coaches at the time.

3rdboxcar Wrote:
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> ironmtn Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> > Rode them many times between Chicago and St.
> > Louis, and loathed them. Amtrak could not get
> > rid of them fast enough for me.
> >
> > MC
> > Columbia, Missouri
>
> The French loved them and a lot of sadness when
> they were withdrawn from service.

That is the privilege of the French. While I appreciate a great many things about French culture, they did have a taste for unusual design on occasion (think: Citroen automobiles). And while the Turbos were not quite that unusual, and externally were at least interesting (before you endured a trip in them), I still loathed them.

Rode them a few times, Milwaukee-Chicago and remember them as some of the roughest rides I've ever been on. At one point my coffee cup actually left the drop down tray when we went through (I think) a crossover. I caught it in mid air, at about 30 degrees off the vertical, and didn't spill a drop. Actually got applause from my fellow passengers for that one.

But I also rode them literally dozens of times when rebuilt for Empire Service, and they rode just fine. So maybe it was just crappy, 1970s era track that was the culprit on earlier trips?

They never did get the end doors to work, though. Tough going car to car when there was snow around. I take it the French didn't send those things up into the Alps?

Love those images, Marty.