Aerotrain

The Aerotrain is a streamlined trainset introduced by General Motors Electro-Motive Division in the mid-1950s. It utilized the experimental EMD LWT12 locomotive (essentially an EMD SW1200 switcher engine geared for high-speed passenger service and wrapped in an aerodynamic shell), coupled to a set of modified General Motors 40-seat intercity bus coach bodies. The cars each rode on two axles with an airbag suspension system, which was intended to give a smooth ride but had the opposite effect.

History

The two Aerotrain demonstrator sets logged over 600,000 miles and saw service on the following railroads:

• the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway;
• the New York Central Railroad;
• the Pennsylvania Railroad; and
• the Union Pacific Railroad.

In 1956 Aerotrain No. 2 was leased as a demonstrator to the New York Central, and operated between Cleveland and Chicago. In the summer of 1957 it was operated by the Union Pacific as the City of Las Vegas running between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

GM's "lightweight with a heavyweight future" eventually found itself in Chicago commuter service on the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad. Due in part to the cutting-edge design, even routine maintenance on the locomotive section was extremely difficult and time-consuming. The Aerotrain failed to capture the imagination of the American public, however, and both train sets were retired after only a decade's use in 1966. Today, Aerotrain No. 1 is on permanent display at the Museum of Transportation in Saint Louis, Missouri, while No. 2 resides at the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Disneyland operated a scale version of the Aerotrain, known as the Viewliner, from 1957 to 1958 (see below). Since 1958, the Washington Park and Zoo Railway in Portland, Oregon has operated a scale, diesel-powered replica of the Aerotrain (dubbed the Zooliner) to transport zoo patrons along a one-mile route around the perimeter of the zoo grounds.