M-10001
Encyclopedia
Union Pacific Railroad
The Union Pacific Railroad , headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, is the largest railroad network in the United States. James R. Young is president, CEO and Chairman....
's M-10001 was a record breaking diesel-electric streamliner
Streamliner
A streamliner is a vehicle incorporating streamlining in a shape providing reduced air resistance. The term is applied to high-speed railway trainsets of the 1930s to 1950s, and to their successor "bullet trains". Less commonly, the term is applied to fully faired recumbent bicycles...
train
Train
A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...
built in late 1934 by Pullman-Standard with an engine from General Motors Electro-Motive Corporation and General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
generator
Electrical generator
In electricity generation, an electric generator is a device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy. A generator forces electric charge to flow through an external electrical circuit. It is analogous to a water pump, which causes water to flow...
, control equipment and traction motor
Traction motor
Traction motor refers to an electric motor providing the primary rotational torque of a machine, usually for conversion into linear motion ....
s. It was the UP's second streamliner after the pioneering M-10000
M-10000
The Union Pacific Railroad's M-10000, delivered to the railroad on February 12, 1934, at a cost of $230,997, was the first internal combustion engine, lightweight streamlined express passenger train in the United States. The carbodies and interior fittings were built by Pullman-Standard...
, the first equipped with a diesel engine
Diesel engine
A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber...
and was a much longer train (six cars) than its three-car predecessor. All cars were articulated—trucks
Bogie
A bogie is a wheeled wagon or trolley. In mechanics terms, a bogie is a chassis or framework carrying wheels, attached to a vehicle. It can be fixed in place, as on a cargo truck, mounted on a swivel, as on a railway carriage/car or locomotive, or sprung as in the suspension of a caterpillar...
were shared between each car. It was delivered on October 2, 1934 and was used for display, test and record-setting runs for the next two months before being returned to Pullman-Standard for an increase in its power and capacity, following which it was placed into service as the City of Portland
City of Portland
The City of Portland was a named passenger train operated by the Union Pacific Railroad and Chicago and North Western Railway between Chicago, Illinois, and Portland, Oregon. It started in June 1935, using the refurbished M-10001 streamliner trainset; with only one set of equipment the train left...
train.
Record-setting run
In October 1934 the M-10001, still in its original 900 hp (670 kW) incarnation, set an as-yet unbroken record of 57 hours from coast to coast of the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, leaving Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
at 10 PM on the 22nd and arriving Grand Central Terminal
Grand Central Terminal
Grand Central Terminal —often incorrectly called Grand Central Station, or shortened to simply Grand Central—is a terminal station at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States...
at 9:55 AM on the 25th. When placed in service as the City of Portland the train reduced the Chicago, Illinois to Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
schedule from 58 hours to 40 hours without any upgrades to track or other facilities.
Technical details
When built, the M-10001 was a fully articulated six-car train, 376 ft (115 m) in length, comprising a 48 ft (15 m) turret-cab power car, a Railway Post OfficeRailway post office
In the United States a railway post office, commonly abbreviated as RPO, was a railroad car that was normally operated in passenger service as a means to sort mail en route, in order to speed delivery. The RPO was staffed by highly trained Railway Mail Service postal clerks, and was off-limits to...
/baggage car, three Pullman
Pullman Company
The Pullman Palace Car Company, founded by George Pullman, manufactured railroad cars in the mid-to-late 19th century through the early decades of the 20th century, during the boom of railroads in the United States. Pullman developed the sleeping car which carried his name into the 1980s...
sleeping car
Sleeping car
The sleeping car or sleeper is a railway/railroad passenger car that can accommodate all its passengers in beds of one kind or another, primarily for the purpose of making nighttime travel more restful. The first such cars saw sporadic use on American railroads in the 1830s and could be configured...
s, and a rounded-tail coach/buffet/observation car. It was powered by a 900 hp (670 kW) V12
V12 engine
A V12 engine is a V engine with 12 cylinders mounted on the crankcase in two banks of six cylinders, usually but not always at a 60° angle to each other, with all 12 pistons driving a common crankshaft....
version of the Winton 201-A engine, driving the first two trucks of the train.
The rebuilding lengthened the entire train to 455 feet (139 m) and seven cars. The power car had 12 ft (3.7 m) added to accommodate a larger, 1,200 hp (750 kW) V16
V16 engine
A V16 engine is a V engine with 16 cylinders. Engines of this number of cylinders are uncommon in automotive use.A V16 engine is perfectly balanced regardless of the V angle without requiring counter-rotating balancing shafts which are necessary to balance Straight-4 and odd number of cylinder...
Winton diesel engine
Diesel engine
A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber...
. The RPO/baggage car was lengthened by eight feet (2.4 m) to take a steam generator
Steam generator (railroad)
Steam generator is the term used to describe a type of boiler used to produce steam for climate control and potable water heating in railroad passenger cars...
for train heating, and was followed by the addition of a diner/lounge car.
Both the 900 hp and 1,200 hp (670 and 890 kW) Winton diesels were the first of that type to be installed in a production train.
Service life
The rebuilt train was re-delivered on May 23, 1935 and after some test runs was dedicated as the first City of Portland on June 5 at the Portland Rose FestivalPortland Rose Festival
The Portland Rose Festival is an annual civic festival held during the month of June in Portland, Oregon. It is organized by the volunteer non-profit Portland Rose Festival Association with the purpose of promoting the Portland region...
, entering service between Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
and Chicago the following day. It remained in that service until June 1939, when it was replaced in service by the M-10002
M-10002
The Union Pacific Railroad's M-10002 was a diesel-electric streamliner train built in 1936 by Pullman-Standard with a prime mover from the Winton engine division of General Motors Corporation and General Electric generator, control equipment and traction motors...
trainset, reassigned from the City of Los Angeles
City of Los Angeles
The City of Los Angeles was a streamlined passenger train that ran between Chicago, Illinois, and Los Angeles, California, via Omaha, Nebraska, and Ogden, Utah. Between Omaha and Los Angeles it ran on the Union Pacific Railroad; east of Omaha it ran on the Chicago and North Western Railway until...
. In December, the diesel engine, generator, trucks, and the steam generator from the RPO/baggage car were removed and installed in a new carbody to become the third power unit on the CD-07 set for the City of Denver
City of Denver
The City of Denver was a passenger train operated jointly by the Chicago and North Western and Union Pacific railroads. The train operated on both railroads' rights of way between Chicago, Illinois, and Denver, Colorado...
, along with the former M-10003's two power cars. The remainder of the train was stored until August 13, 1941 when it was sold for scrap.
Further reading
- Strack, John. (2001) Union Pacific Diesel Story, 1934-1982, Part I. Retrieved on December 25, 2004.