D&H World's Fair Cars
4
8 THE CALL BOARD NEWSLETTER OF THE MOHAWK & HUDSON CHAPTER, N.R.H.S. March 1991 The Delaware & Hudson's World's Fair Cars By Dick Barrett, J.R. Williams and Tim Truscott The Delaware & Hudson purchased six passenger coaches from American Car & Foundry Company in 1939 in the railroad's efforts to capitalize on the popularity of the 1939 New York World's Fair. Conse- quently, these cars have come to be known as the Delaware & Hudson's "World's Fair" coaches. The coaches, which were built to D&H specifications, were styled by the famed industrial designer Raymond Loewy and carried the numbers 201-206. They were the first light-weight passenger cars to be acquired by the D&H, as well as the last new cars to be purchased by the railroad. They were introduced on "The Laurentian," operating between Albany and Montreal. These were probably the only cars of their type to be built by American Car & Foundry Co. and were constructed at ACF's Berwick, PAplant. Specifications for the cars included a length of 84 ft. 9 in. over buffers, with an exterior width of 10 ft. and an interior width of 9 ft. 5 3/8 in. The distance between the centers of the trucks was 58 ft. 6 in., with the wheelbase of each truck being an even 9 ft. Overall height of the cars from rail to rooftop was 13 ft. 6 in. and the cars weighed 112,920 lbs. without passengers or water. (See Table 1;) The lightweight steel construction was performed using semi-automatic spot welding machinery. Side framing and roof framing were constructed on jigs by spot welding. Side sheets and roof sheets were then attached to their respective framing by means of the automated spotwelding tech- nique. Sides, roof and ends were then as- sembled and spot welded to form a complete car shell. Four-wheel trucks were constructed with cast steel frames. The 36 in. diameter wheels were equipped with A.S.F. roller bearing units with SKF bearings. During assembly of the wheelsets, the wheels were balanced before mounting on the axles, the treads were ground after mounting and the wheel pairs were once again balanced to provide a maximum ride. Truck-mounted brakes consisted of Simplex cylinder clasp brakes. The coaches were equipped with New York Air Brake Schedule D-22-A brake equipment. The cars were also equipped with National tight lock couplers and Miner friction draft gear and buffers. A very attractive exterior paint scheme was applied which consisted of a dark green body with a soft gray window band. The window band was accented by an orange stripe near its border, with both the gray window band and the stripe following the contour of the distinctive Raymond Loewy semi-circular end windows. The cars also featured circular windows in the vestibule doors, a characteristic of Loewey's design technique. All lettering and numbering, including the well-known D&H monogram, was done in a golden yellow. Three different attractive color schemes were used on the interiors of the cars (See Table 2). These three schemes involved the walls, ceilings, bulkheads, seats, interiors of the shades and flooring. In addition, soft gray and mahogany red colors were used in the vestibules of the cars, while the wash- D&H Coach #202, one of the "World's Fair Cars" built for the Delaware & Hudson in 1939 by American Car & Foundry Co. at their Berwick, PA, car works. The cars were painted dark green with a soft gray window band area. An orange stripe accented the edge of the window band with numbers and letters in a golden yellow. (Photo collection of the authors)
-
Upload
staustell92 -
Category
Documents
-
view
137 -
download
5
description
This is an article on the six passenger cars which were built for the Delaware & Hudson by American Car & Foundry in 1939 in the railroad's efforts to capitalize on the 1939 World's Fair in New York. The article contains photographs, descriptive data and some technical data.
Transcript of D&H World's Fair Cars
8 THE CALL BOARD NEWSLETTER OF THE MOHAWK & HUDSON CHAPTER, N.R.H.S. March 1991
The Delaware & Hudson'sWorld's Fair CarsBy Dick Barrett, J.R. Williamsand Tim Truscott
The Delaware & Hudson purchased sixpassenger coaches from American Car &Foundry Company in 1939 in the railroad'sefforts to capitalize on the popularity of the1939 New York World's Fair. Conse-quently, these cars have come to be knownas the Delaware & Hudson's "World's Fair"coaches.
The coaches, which were built to D&Hspecifications, were styled by the famedindustrial designer Raymond Loewy andcarried the numbers 201-206. They werethe first light-weight passenger cars to beacquired by the D&H, as well as the lastnew cars to be purchased by the railroad.They were introduced on "The Laurentian,"operating between Albany and Montreal.These were probably the only cars of theirtype to be built by American Car & FoundryCo. and were constructed at ACF's Berwick,PAplant.
Specifications for the cars included alength of 84 ft. 9 in. over buffers, with anexterior width of 10 ft. and an interior width
of 9 ft. 5 3/8 in. The distance between thecenters of the trucks was 58 ft. 6 in., withthe wheelbase of each truck being an even9 ft. Overall height of the cars from rail torooftop was 13 ft. 6 in. and the cars weighed112,920 lbs. without passengers or water.(See Table 1;)
The lightweight steel construction wasperformed using semi-automatic spotwelding machinery. Side framing and roofframing were constructed on jigs by spotwelding. Side sheets and roof sheets werethen attached to their respective framing bymeans of the automated spotwelding tech-nique. Sides, roof and ends were then as-sembled and spot welded to form a completecar shell.
Four-wheel trucks were constructed withcast steel frames. The 36 in. diameter wheelswere equipped with A.S.F. roller bearingunits with SKF bearings. During assemblyof the wheelsets, the wheels were balancedbefore mounting on the axles, the treadswere ground after mounting and the wheelpairs were once again balanced to providea maximum ride.
Truck-mounted brakes consisted of
Simplex cylinder clasp brakes. The coacheswere equipped with New York Air BrakeSchedule D-22-A brake equipment. Thecars were also equipped with National tightlock couplers and Miner friction draft gearand buffers.
A very attractive exterior paint schemewas applied which consisted of a darkgreen body with a soft gray window band.The window band was accented by anorange stripe near its border, with both thegray window band and the stripe followingthe contour of the distinctive RaymondLoewy semi-circular end windows. Thecars also featured circular windows in thevestibule doors, a characteristic ofLoewey's design technique. All letteringand numbering, including the well-knownD&H monogram, was done in a goldenyellow.
Three different attractive color schemeswere used on the interiors of the cars (SeeTable 2). These three schemes involved thewalls, ceilings, bulkheads, seats, interiorsof the shades and flooring. In addition, softgray and mahogany red colors were used inthe vestibules of the cars, while the wash-
D&H Coach #202, one of the "World's Fair Cars" built for the Delaware & Hudson in 1939 by AmericanCar & Foundry Co. at their Berwick, PA, car works. The cars were painted dark green with a soft graywindow band area. An orange stripe accented the edge of the window band with numbers and letters ina golden yellow. (Photo collection of the authors)
March 1991 NEWSLETTER OF THE MOHAWK & HUDSON CHAPTER, N.R.H.S. THE CALL BOARD 9
room fixtures were of a "sun tan" color.Pantasote shades which were gray on theirexterior matched the gray panel of the ex-terior of the cars, giving a modem effect.
The color schemes on the bulkheadswas divided into two sharply contrastingpanels. The inner panel carried through tothe ceiling while the outer panel was con-tinuous with the side wall. The floor cover-ing consisted of a simple geometric designof inlayed linoleum in two schemes. Ma-terials which were considered to be themost modem at the time were utilized in
many areas of the cars. Marlite, a tile-likematerial of the time, was used aswainscoating in the lavatories. BlackMicarta, a plastic-like material producedby the Westinghouse Co., was used as win-dow capping on all windows.
Large luggage racks running the fulllength of the car were constructed of satin-finish aluminum. In addition, each car hada luggage locker at one end for the stowageof heavier luggage. This locker was locatedin the restroom end of the cars.
Interior lighting consisted of a combina-
Detail of vestibule area of lightweight streamlined "World's Fair Car"showing semi-circular end window (for restroom) with gray windowband curving around it and round "porthole" window in vestibuledoor. These features were virtual trademarks of industrial designerRaymond Loewy. Note tightlock coupler and folding steps with trap.(Photo collection of the authors)
tion of direct and indirect lighting, with theindirect lighting and air conditioning ductsinvolving a common center ceiling fixturerunning the length of the car. Indirect light-ing derived from this aluminum lacqueredlight trough, which contained 64 thirty-watt Lumiline lamps. The louvers of the airducts were trimmed with a bright red. Di-rect lighting was provided by 38 forty-wattSafety circular ceiling lights with doubleprismatic lenses. One of these light fixtureswas located over each double seat, whiletwo of them were located in the passage-ways and one in the men's room. Thewomen's room used column light fixtures.The vestibule lights were Safety units withsemaphore lenses. The total lighting loadin the car was 3,640 watts.
All of the cars had 64-\'olt DC electricalsystems deriving their power from truck-mounted Spicer drives with half of the carspowered by 20 kw General Electric gen-erators and the other half equipped with 20kw Safety Genemotors. The storage bat-tery equipment consisted of 50 cells ofbatteries with a capacity of 510 amp. hrs. at64 volts. An unusual feature of the batterycompartment was the balanced door, whichwould swing underneath when open; nopart of the door would come closer thanapproximately 6 112 in. to the third rail inelectrified yards. All six of the cars were. airconditioned with seven-ton capacityelectro-mechanical units. Three of the carswere outfitted with General Electricequipment, while the other three had Safetyequipment. Interior temperature regulationwas provided by Vapor Corp. control sys-tems. Supplementing the air-conditioningsystem were four fans behind bulkheadgrilles exhausting to the exterior.
Double window sash manufactured byO. M. Edwards Co. was used, with the innersash being 114 in. safety glass to protectpassengers. The inner sash was hinged tofacilitate window cleaning. Activatedalumena was used between the sash toabsorb moisture from condensation.
In order to provide a comfortable inte-rior temperature year round, the cars werewell insulated. Two inches of insulationwas used in the roof, sides and ends, while1 1/2 inches of insulation was used in thefloor.
The design of the toilet facilities wasunusual for the time in that all of the pipesand fittings were concealed. The spaceunder the wash stands was enclosed withthe waste paper towel receptacle built intothis space; this was apparently a novel ideaat the time.
In conjunction with the acquisition of
10 THE CALL BOARD NEWSLETTER OF THE MOHAWK & HUDSON CHAPTER, N.R.H.S. March1991
the "World's Fair" coaches, the Delaware& Hudson rebuilt two diner-lounge cars,No. 151 and No. 152, for use on the"Laurentian." These cars, which were re-built at Colonie, wore a Raymond Loewy-inspired paint scheme which matched the1939 "World's Fair" cars and had a con-temporary interior design consistent withthem.
The Mohawk & Hudson Chapter ownsthe only known remaining "World's Fair"coach, No. 203. This car, which was dis-covered on a weed-grown siding in Vermonta few years ago, will undergo refurbish-ment soon.
Table 1.
Dimensions & Weights ofD&H "World's Fair" CoachesLength over buffers, uncoupledLength over coupler, putting facesTruck wheelbaseTruck centersWidth over side postsWidth insideHeight, rail to floorHeight, rail to top of roofWeight, light, totalWeight of one truck, without generator driveWeight of truck with Spicer drive
84 ft. 9 in.84 ft. 3 in.9 ft. 0 in.58 ft. 6 in.10 ft. 0 in.9 ft. 53/8 in.4 ft. 33/4 in.13 ft. 6 in.112,920 Ibs.18,140Ibs.18,800Ibs.
References :D&H Lightweight Coaches for the"Laurentian", Railway Age, Vol. 107, No.22, November 25, 1939, pgs. 812-816.
D&H Lightweight Coaches, Railway Me-chanical Engineer, January, 1940, pgs. 8-20.
View looking through car away from restroomend. Note aluminum luggage racks, roundincandescent light fixtures for direct lighting andcombination air conditioning/indirect lightingfixture running the length of the ceiling. (Photocollection of the authors)
View of restroom end of interior of 200-seriesD&H cars showing luggage locker andpassageway at restroom-end of car. Threedifferent attractive color schemes were used onthe interiors of the cars involving the walls,ceilings, bulkheads,seats, interiors of the shadesand flooring, as shown in Table 2. (Photocollection of the authors)
March 1991 NEWSLETTER OF THE MOHAWK & HUDSON CHAPTER, N.R.H.S. THE CALL BOARD 11
Table 2.
Color Schemes for Interiors
Location Scheme No.1 Scheme No.2 Scheme No.3
Ceiling Pale yellow ~ale yellow Suntan
, Bulkhead panels Silver opalescence Silver opalescence Rose opalescence& moss green & delft blue & apple green
. Walls, pier panels, Various tones & Various tones & Various tones &dace and Pantasote shades of moss shades of delft shades of apple
curtains green blue green
Seats Soft gray & Soft gray & Mahogany rosecedar rose cedar rose & Moorish green
Color accents Red & yellow Dusty rose Yellow & autumn red
Headrests Beige Beige Beige
One of the D&H "World's Fair Cars" on the transfer table during construction at A.C.F.'s Berwick, PA,carworks. Note the lightweight welded construction, the curved framework for the roof ends and theopening in the roof on the restroom end (left end) where the air conditioning equipment will be installed.
