Each car of a conventional train rode on a pair of heavy cast
metal trucks (bogies) in which the wheels turned. In some cases,
the new streamliners shared trucks under adjoining cars which
reduced additional weight.
The internal mechanisms of streamliners were hidden beneath
aerodynamic forms, almost as if they were powered by some
magic force. Created by industrial designers and artists, these
new trains were finished with flashy, attention-getting color
schemes or had polished corrugated stainless steel exteriors.
Demonstration runs were staged to drum up publicity, and speed
records all over the country were broken by the streamlined trains.
PART 1 – SP PASSENGER TRAINS |
7
4. Diagram of the Daylight train, shown in the inaugural con-
sist of 1937 and the consist of January 1938.
PART 1 – SP PASSENGER TRAINS |
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Newspaper stories and radio broadcasts focused the public’s atten-
tion on these media events, and there were movies starring the
new streamliners, such as RKO’s “Silver Streak” made in 1934. (See:
All of this attention paid off, for passenger ridership began to
increase on both streamliners and on conventional trains. In 1934,
the Southern Pacific began planning its own streamliner for the
Coast Line between Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The first streamlined trains had short, fixed consists that could
not be mixed with other passenger equipment. Maintenance
of the engine or any car required taking the whole train out of
service. The inability to add or remove cars also meant that the
railroad would have to turn customers away at peak travel times,
and would have to haul empty cars in periods of light travel.
