Pete Piszczek Posted April 3, 2010 Share Posted April 3, 2010 I'll take a Raymond Loewy Sharknose over GM inspired designs any day of the week, but interesting none the less... I stumbled across this unit in St. Louis on Thursday. Sort of hidden, away from the main displays at the St. Louis Museum of transport, you'd miss it if you didn't poke around in all the corners. It's a shell, the prime mover is gone, although a lot of the bits and pieces are still there. Designed in the mid 1950s by General Motors, it was essentially a 1200 HP "automobile" pulling bus bodies. The locomotive was apparently a nightmare from a maintenance standpoint. Underpowered as well, 1200 HP simply wasn't enough for it's designed 100 MPH operation, much less pull the long rakes of coaches pictured in the advertisements of the day... The rear of the locomotive. The internal couplers were these funky custom jobs that had what looked like they had integral air connections. At least it thinks it's an F unit, there's a back-up light there, I suppose you would have to go to the diesel shop on occasion without your bus bodies... The short wheelbase 2 axle coaches had air suspension. A comfortable ride it was not, especially anywhere close to design speeds. Looks like a bus to me, on the inside too... The light cluster at the nose of the beast, right out of War of the Worlds... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve1 Posted April 3, 2010 Share Posted April 3, 2010 It's a '57 Chevy mated with a Covered Wagon. Con-Cor do an excellent RTR HO version with very innovative coach connections incorporating electrical contacts. steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWB Posted April 3, 2010 Share Posted April 3, 2010 It's actually a 58 Oldsmobile: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pH Posted April 3, 2010 Share Posted April 3, 2010 By the 1960s, they had moved on to this: "Black Beetle". Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pointstaken Posted April 3, 2010 Share Posted April 3, 2010 Always looks to me as if they shaved the top off a 'B' unit and stuck an automobile body on the top (with superglue ?) Dennis Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim H Posted April 3, 2010 Share Posted April 3, 2010 If Gerry Anderson designed a locomotive, it would look something like that. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bennyboy Posted April 3, 2010 Share Posted April 3, 2010 If Gerry Anderson designed a locomotive, it would look something like that. Well he did sort of.... http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g222/spiffer_1958/Anderson_Stuff/Monorail/T-Birds-Monorail-web_2.jpg Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertiedog Posted April 3, 2010 Share Posted April 3, 2010 Gordon Varney did an HO scale version in the 1950's, never did run very well....and the real things were plagued with noise problems from the aluminium body resonating badly.....Bowser own the moulds and did once market them, but they are not available any more. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Piszczek Posted April 4, 2010 Author Share Posted April 4, 2010 Kinda makes you wonder what the Blue Pullman might have looked like if it had been designed by BMC, Standard-Triumph, or Vauxhall... :icon_wink: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brisbane King Posted April 5, 2010 Share Posted April 5, 2010 Its right up there with the more fanciful designs, thats for sure. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CraigZ Posted April 5, 2010 Share Posted April 5, 2010 Its right up there with the more fanciful designs, thats for sure. The bodies were in fact GM's "Forward Look" bodies but widened...three of the "Aerotrains" were built, two demos and one to order by the Rock Island...the two demos also ended up on the Rock, used in commuter service. Gads... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
thnksno Posted April 6, 2010 Share Posted April 6, 2010 I grew up in the backseat of GM Cadillacs and Oldsmobiles... Today, it's all about Fords if you want to be American. The Aerotrain is just another foreshadowing of the demise of this once great country! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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