Nostalgia & History > Ex-SP&S dome

Oct 79
9211 - Ex-SP&S 306 - a dome, 4 duplex single rooms, 4 roomettes and 4 double bedrooms.
Built by Budd in 1954 - used on the North Coast Limited.
It is on the "extended" version of the Lone Star at Houston.
The train was discontinued Oct 1,1979 but a judge gave it a temporary reprieve and it ran a few more times.
Those trains had oddball consists compared to the regular Lone Star.
This was one of those trains with a dome.

Gary

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Great shot, Gary!

RC Lundgren

Looks like all opaque brown-tint Lexan in the dome.  Not much visibility up there on this day.

This car became the Anshutz "California".  So while it still exists, it has been heavily modified inside.

the hotel california

Riding rght behind the power.
No rest for the sleepers and
exhust oil on the dome windows.
Usual Amtrak ALA Lake Shore.

Uncle Joe
Seffner,Fl.

Interesting. What's up with that siding near the door??

Interesting dome - I did not know the SP&S had a dome.
Bob

Great catch Gary ! Does seem an odd position for a dome though...

Roger Durfee
Akron, OH

It looks like the panel below the top level of siding has experienced a big dent.  The top panel above the dent looks like it is bulging, but I think that is an optical illusion.  If the siding were indeed bulging out and loose, I CANNOT imagine the Houston Amtrak Mechanical allowing it to leave.  But the dent probably was more cosmetic in nature and probably not a problem on the short term.  I bet that car was headed to Beach Grove when Chicago yard dispatched it to cover that half alive Lone Star.



41 Wrote:
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> Interesting. What's up with that siding near the
> door??

The siding on Budd flat-sided domes like this one was prone to detaching. It's only cosmetic, there's structure underneath it. It could be removed and replaced with fluted panels to match regular Budd domes. The pic at the link below shows a damaged ex-Amtrak exx-GN Budd dome with the flat siding panels removed. What's underneath almost looks like fluting, but the fluting or flat side panels were attached on top of the underlying ribs.

http://trainweb.org/DOMEmain/picGN1324g.jpg



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/11/21 07:23 by davew833.

Topfuel Wrote:
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> Looks like all opaque brown-tint Lexan in the
> dome.  Not much visibility up there on this day.
>
The air conditioning was probably bad order also.

davew833 Wrote:
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> The siding on Budd flat-sided domes like this one
> was prone to detaching. It's only cosmetic,
> there's structure underneath it. It could be
> removed and replaced with fluted panels to match
> regular Budd domes. The pic at the link below
> shows a damaged ex-Amtrak exx-GN Budd dome with
> the flat siding panels removed. What's underneath
> almost looks like fluting, but the fluting or flat
> side panels were attached on top of the underlying
> ribs.
>

Actually, the the panels underneath the flat side panels are fluting, at least the narrow part of it.  When this car was converted to the California by Northern Railcar in Milwaukee, the flat panels were removed and large flute panels were pounded in between the narrow ribs that are part of the girder panel, resulting in fluting.  The whole side was then carefully polished revealing the sides the California displays today.  On "Girder-side" Budd cars, the panels below the windows are part of the car structure and the narrow sections of the fluting are rolled as part of the panel to function as stiffeners.  On Truss Side Budd Cars, there is truss structure behind the fluting that supports the car, and the fluting is just cosmetic panels the cover the truss.  In that design, the narrow section of the fluting is a cap strip that covers the screws affixing the larger sections of the panels. 

A good comparison is the Santa Fe Pine Series 10-6 sleepers and the Union Pacific Pacific Series.  Both ended up on Amtrak and are essentially the same car, except, the Pines are Truss Side and the Pacific's are Girder Side.  The telltale signs are the welded on window panel and integral full-length letter board of the Girder Side cars.  The window panel on the Truss Side cars are screwed on and often separate sections between the windows.