Names of the Vista-Dome cars used on the Californa Zephyr train Chair Cars The car was completely rebuilt to a dome-sleeper in 2001 and named Bella Vista. Initially assigned to the UP "City of Portland" train which ran between Chicago and Portland, Oregon.Īcquired by the original Auto-Train in 1973.Ĭonverted to private car by Golden Spike Tours and named Native Son. This car was built by ACF, American Car and Foundry, in 1955 as Union Pacific 9006. History of the Native Son, the first photo on this page WP Silver Planet in Amtrak colors LA-108 "san fernando"ģrd Dome In Cal Zephyr Train No17 7-16-57 Twin Cities Zephyr train with 5 Vista-Domes Silver Lariat at LA Union Station in 1993 Photos of VistaDome carsģ Union Pacific domes, 1 is the City of SFĬity of Sanfrancisco on the end of the UP City of Los Angeles trainīurlington Silver Dome, orginal Vista Domeĭenver and Rio Grande Western Silver Bronco There's a photo of the Silver Lariat when it was in regular service and a couple of photos I took of it at Los Angeles Union Station in 1993. In 2001 it was sold and became the Bella Vista, available for private charter. I photographed the vista dome, Native Son, at the station inįullerton, California in 1992 or 1993. įor your viewing pleasure I present photographs I've assembled of Vista Dome cars. On my 2004 Alaska Rail journey on the Alaska Railroad Denali Star. I've ridden in dome cars on my trip across Canada on VIA Rails The Canadian in 2002 and On CPR's, now Via, The Canadian train the dome cars are named Skyline cars. Missouri Pacific used the name Planetarium Dome. I've found some of the ads and other marketing literature used by the Burlington and other railroads in the United States and Canada andĬB&Q, the Burlington, coined and used the name Vista Dome. The operators of the California Zephyr used the Vista-Dome as a powerful marketing tool issuing advertisements and brochures featuring the Vista-Dome. For more information about the California Zephyr train visit Other railroads were soon running with dome cars built by theīudd Company, Pullman-Standard, and American Car & Foundry. The Burlington coined the name Vista-Dome for it's line of dome cars. The Budd Company was the first company to deliver dome cars to theīurlington in 1947. It was such a hit that before the end of that year the Burlington placed orders for 40 dome cars to be built. This prototype car was named Silver Dome and was put into service in 1945. Mr Osborn and converted one of the railroad's passenger cars into a dome car. The president of the Burlington Railroad saw Overtaken with the views that were not obscured by the walls of a passenger car, he contemplated a method to provide passengers with the sameĮxperiencing and started sketching a way to provide train passengers a means of viewing the scenery. The Vista-Dome car was conceived by Cyrus Osborn, a General Motors vice president, in 1944 as he rode in the diesel locomotive of a freight train in The domes were a part of the Columbian and Capitol trains. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the only pre-Amtrak east coast railroad that Budd builtĭomes with a 19 1/2 inch dome top for eastern service. Standard height dome cars, 24 inches over the roofline were not suitable for service on most eastern railroads because of clearance problems. It was part of the standard equipment of the California Zephyr train when that train started running on March 20, 1949. The Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad, the Burlington Railroad, introduced the Vista-Dome passenger car into regular service in 1947 on it's It is not the place to hide from a ticket collecting conductor. ![]() A Vista-Dome has only one set of stairs up and down. At night only the only lights used are to illuminate the floor Curved glass is used to transition from the side toĪll of this glass allows passengers to view the all the great and vast scenery. The entire side of the dome is made of windows. The front and rear walls of the dome are windows. ![]() This railroad passenger car has a second floor with 24 or 30 seats, The Vista-Dome is a deluxe coach with a glass compartment rising out of the roof.
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