![]() Trucks went from six wheels to four, non-revenue space was decreased by using a vestibule on only one end of the car, and lighter, stronger, more rust resistant steel alloys came into widespread use. It succeeded in creating a general interest in railroading practically unknown since the opening of the first transcontinental line… According to Railway Age, ‘For the first time in many years, the words ‘sold out’ re-entered the ticket clerk’s vocabulary.’”īut as White notes, the real change in passenger car construction was in weight, not the streamlined appearance that was largely for show: “Weight, not air friction, was the chief obstacle to economic operation.” Unlike the heavyweights, the lightweight cars that debuted in the mid-1930s featured sides and roofs that contributed to their structural strength, eliminating the need for the heavyweights’ massive underframes. What had been an obscure technical term in aerodynamics was made into a household word through an astute publicity campaign mounted by several It presented a sleek, modern image of speed and innovation. put it in The American Railroad Passenger Car, “Some hope during these gloomy years was offered by a new designĬoncept called streamlining. Little to lift the spirits at a time when the entire nation needed a pick-me-up. While the heavyweight steel cars built in the teens and 1920s were dependable and often luxurious, their dark colors and solid, battleship-like exteriors did The lightweight, streamlined passenger car was a product of the Great Depression.
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