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Jim with Paxrail broke the news to be in March because he wanted my help putting together some of the history of the car for his website. But swore me to secrecy until today.
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Wonder if it had a galley - must have - as there are configurations with dining tables. Similar to the 261 Milwaukee SuperDome. Where the 4 windows are on the lower level some of these had seating a lounge area. Hope this one doesn't have the bouncy ride like the Iowa Pacific domes - heavy weight cars with insufficient suspension.
George Harris Member # 2077
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quote:Originally posted by Friends-261: Hope this one doesn't have the bouncy ride like the Iowa Pacific domes - heavy weight cars with insufficient suspension.
Don't know enough about such things to know if it makes a difference, but I suspect that it would. Note that this is a six axle car. Most of the post-war lightweights were four axle, while all the earlier "heavy weights" were six axle.
Friends-261 Member # 197801
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On one of the 261 Duluth trips we had two of the Iowa Pacific dome cars - one was the Prairie View in the Empire Builder colors and they were bouncing all over the track roadbed compared to the 261 Superdome car which was very stable - remember walking thru the entire train and those Iowa cars needed SRO straps to hang onto something solid - both cars were used later in the evening on the Duluth North Shore dinner train and much more stable at a slower speed. These were triple axel cars but the suspension was awful soft. And granted the BNSF tracks are heavy use freight traffic tracks.
PullmanCo Member # 1138
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I don’t know about your neck of the woods, but I live along the old CB&Q mainline from Kansas City to Lincoln.
4x a year I see MOW alignment equipment checking and working the tracks, and 2x per year the magnaflux truck rumbles along. BNSF is committed to a good roadbed from all I see.
GBN probably rode both ATSF and MILW domes in their first lives... do you have anything to say on the quality of the ride?
Gilbert B Norman Member # 1541
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Colonel. of course I rode 'em both; MILW Super Dome was Jan '62, or well before I ever dreamed I'd be working for them, on a Chi-Milw Hi then return on my one and only C,NS,&M ride -at least in this life. Both GN and ATSF Budd varietals were first ridden during '63. All of these full length Domes "impressed" me with their lack of forward vision.
In both cases, I did not detect anything unusual about they rode on six-wheel trucks. I rode enough six-wheel heavyweight Pullmans (to camp in NH during the '50's) to know they, shall we say, "surfaced" the ROW as they rolled.
Finally, I also rode enough six-wheel IC "heavyweights" that masqueraded as lightweights, in this life without any noticable roughness.
aus_train Member # 197810
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I wonder if we could see all 6 Paxrail Great Dome Cars on the Empire Builder again one day soon!
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