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The Union Pacific actually won the race to have a "modern
streamlined high speed train" in service first and had their
M-10000 streamliner in service in early 1934 months before
the Burlington's Pioneer Zephyr.
But the Burlington won the public relations battle and got
more publicity for the Pioneer Zephyr which is probably remembered
better than the M-10000.
The M-10000 also toured much of the USA and the interior
was shown to over 1 million people, and each and every one
of those million plus people got a fancy sourvenier Aluminum
coin made of the same material as the M-10000 body. We plan
to include Replica of this souvenier coin with each set.
Delivery is scheduled for the model of the M-10000 after
the AeroTrain in later 2007.
From
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
"The Union Pacific Railroad's M-10000, completed in February
1934, was the first internal combustion engined, lightweight
streamliner train in the United States. The carbodies and
interior fittings were built by Pullman-Standard while the
engines, mechanical and electrical components were from General
Motors' Electro-Motive ision.
Styling featured a turret cab, an inward-slanting aluminum
body with a nose form of parabolic arches, with a large nose
air intake. The train was painted in Armour Yellow with Leaf
Brown roof and undersides; later, the area around the front
air intake was also painted yellow. iding lines of red
were painted to separate the colors.
The train was fully articulated—trucks were shared
between adjacent cars. There were three cars in total; a
driving, power and baggage car at the front, and two passenger
cars. Subsequent streamliners would be diesel powered, but
a reliable engine of sufficient power-to-weight ratio was
not available for the M-10000 and it was delivered instead
with a spark-ignition 191-A gasoline engine. The first truck
bore traction motors and was the only one powered.
The M-10000 was as much a publicity tool as a practical
train; it was exhibited all over UP's territory, attracting
crowds and much press attention, and succeeded in its aim
of helping reinvent and modernise the passenger train in
the popular imagination. Streamliners inspired by the M-10000
were rapidly developed, and before long most railroads had
a "streamlined" train of some form or other.
The M-10000 was eventually named City of Salina for the
train it served, but it was also nicknamed the "Tin
Worm".
Union Pacific's M-10000, since it was built of aluminum,
was scrapped in 1942 for the war effort, among other reasons.
The paint scheme devised for the M-10000 is still in
use today, except that the brown sections were later changed
to gray."
Please see other photos here: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/10/UP_M-10000.jpg
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