the American Aerotrain

GM advert from 10 December 1955

The term Aérotrain was used in France in the 1960s for an experimental monorail (see earlier post) but the first use of the term was in America.  The photo by Chard Walker shows Union Pacific's Aerotrain on its first run as the City of Las Vegas over Santa Fe's Cajon Pass main line at Summit, California, on 18 December 1956. The train eventually found itself relegated to Chicago commuter service on the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad.

The locomotive up front was an EMD LWT12 designed specifically to power the late-1950s experiment in lightweight Talgo high speed passenger equipment. The unusual look, created to match the aerodynamic shape of the low-slung passenger equipment, was complemented by an equally unusual wheel arrangement; B-1 --the front two-axle bogie only was powered; an unpowered single axle was at the rear. 

The cars were a set of modified GM Truck & Coach Division 40-seat intercity bus coach bodies. The cars each rode on two axles with an air suspension system, which was intended to give a smooth ride but had the opposite effect.

Three were built. In February 1956, the Pennsylvania Railroad introduced the Pennsy Aerotrain between New York City and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, operating it for nine months. Pennsylvania Railroad's schedule was timed so that westbound passengers traversed Horseshoe Curve (see earlier post) at lunchtime, while eastbound passengers traversed the curve at dinner time.

The same year, Aerotrain No. 2 was leased as a demonstrator to the New York Central, and operated between Cleveland and Chicago.

In March 1956, the Aerotrain made a series of experimental runs for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway in California as a San Diegan consist, running between Los Angeles and San Diego. Thoughts of placing it in permanent service were subsequently abandoned, however, because the entire trainset had to be turned around at each end of the line, and the train required helper locomotives on AT&SF's Sorrento Grade north of San Diego.

GM's "lightweight with a heavyweight future" was introduced at a time when US passenger train revenues were steadily declining due to competition from airlines and private cars. Although it featured an eye-catching, streamlined design, the Aerotrain failed to capture the imagination of the American public. The cars were rough riding and not very comfortable for the passengers. The design of the locomotive section rendered even routine maintenance extremely difficult and time-consuming. The locomotive unit was also underpowered. Eventually, both trainsets were retired in 1966 after only a decade's use. The National Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, Missouri, and the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin, each have one of the locomotives, and two of the cars.