Bullet (interurban)
Encyclopedia
The Bullet was a high-speed
interurban
railcar produced by J. G. Brill and Company in Philadelphia for the Philadelphia and Western Railroad
(P&W) in 1931, and then the Fonda, Johnstown and Gloversville Railroad
in 1932. Few were sold because of the Great Depression
and the public transport decline in the 1930s. However, some of them ran for almost 60 years.
car's design, in collaboration with the J. G. Brill Company. Unlike the Red Devils, the Bullets had all-aluminum bodies. Their design was improved over earlier styles of railcars after a lot of wind tunnel
research – the first in the railway industry – the Bullet was streamlined
to minimize the air resistance. According to Prof. Felix W. Pawlowski of University of Michigan, this would save 40% or more of the energy required by the conventional type of suburban car at speeds in excess of 60 mph (97 km/h). They also developed an improved low-level bogie
(truck) design, and the Bullets could run as multiple-unit trains. Like the Red Devils, the Bullets had four 100 hp motors. The Bullets as built for the P&W were longer at 55 feet (16.8 m) and a bit heavier at 26 short tons (23.2 LT), but with only about half the weight as typical railcars of that time.
They could receive power from a trolley, by a third rail, or both.
, of which the first were inaugurated later in the 30s. Among other trains, the Japanese Odakyū 3000 series SE Romancecar
was inspired by the sleek and streamlined Bullets. In 1957, the Romancecar set a speed record for narrow-gauge trains of 145 km/h (90,1 mph). The Bullets are called "ancestors of the TGV
, ICE, Shinkansen
, and the Acela Express
" (in English, the first Shinkansens were named Bullet Trains). The Bullets' maximum speed was 92 miles per hour (41 m/s). And they are strikingly similar to the Fliegender Hamburger.
with both railroads and roads, and with a block signal system. Double tracks improved the safety and capacity (the deadliest interurban wrecks were caused by head-on collisions). To further utilize the Bullets' potential, more improvements were made to track and signal systems to permit extremely high speeds on the Norristown line.
In a test run one of the cars covered the 13.5 miles (21.7 km) P&W line from Norristown to the 69th Street Terminal in Upper Darby in 11 minutes.
P&W bought ten double ended Bullets. In addition, five shorter 47 feet (14.3 m), single ended, Bullets with a slightly different front and rear design were sold to Fonda, Johnstown and Gloversville Railroad
(FJ&G) in 1932. P&W used a third rail; FJ&G ran the Bullets as trolleys.
The decline of the interurban business as a result of the Great Depression of the 1930's and increasing use of automobiles and buses helped prevent any further manufacture and sale of the Bullet cars. The interurban cars, as were ordinary streetcars, were delayed by traffic congestion in the streets, too. The interurban (and railroad) companies must build and maintain their own right-of-ways while roads for private cars and buses are paid by the taxpayers of which the railroad and interurban companies were among the greatest. In addition, a group named National City Lines but led by General Motors
bought streetcar and interurban companies, dismantled the infrastructure and resold the companies to new owners who committed themselves to buy and use buses – from General Motors.
and served the line from Salt Lake City–Ogden hourly, although operating at lower speeds than on the FJ&G.. In 1952, however, the BR's shops burned, and the company gave up the passenger traffic on the 6th of September that year. After being retired from railroad service, many railcars - including Bullets - were sold to the public as cheap “pre-fab” buildings. Some of both styles of Bullets are preserved in different museums and one is a prominent part of a restaurant building in Springville, UT.
's Chicago
–Milwaukee route a pair of high-speed interurban trains named Electroliner
s were sent eastwards in 1963, after 22 years and more than 3.3 million miles (5.3 million km) each – a mileage which probably surpassed any other interurban car. They were acquired by the Red Arrow Lines, which renamed them Liberty Liners and operated them on P&W's rights-of-way until about 1976. Interestingly, different kinds of equipment in use on the Norristown line later resulted in the Bullets' being restricted to less busy times (weekends) when the ten of them could provide 100% of the service. Their lower profile, intended to reduce air resistance at speed, included a lower anticlimber (bumper) than the other cars had and safety rules in the 1980's forced the Bullets not to share the route with other cars.
The P&W's Bullets had a remarkably long life thanks to their building quality. P&W's excellent track condition contributed to reduction of wear and tear. Some Bullets survived almost 60 years, until 1990, in an active role serving commuters in the Philadelphia area as part of the SEPTA rail stock. Even today, Philadelphia's light rail
system, which encompassed the surviving interurban lines (see Norristown High Speed Line
, is number five in the U.S. by ridership.
High-speed rail
High-speed rail is a type of passenger rail transport that operates significantly faster than the normal speed of rail traffic. Specific definitions by the European Union include for upgraded track and or faster for new track, whilst in the United States, the U.S...
interurban
Interurban
An interurban, also called a radial railway in parts of Canada, is a type of electric passenger railroad; in short a hybrid between tram and train. Interurbans enjoyed widespread popularity in the first three decades of the twentieth century in North America. Until the early 1920s, most roads were...
railcar produced by J. G. Brill and Company in Philadelphia for the Philadelphia and Western Railroad
Philadelphia and Western Railroad
The Philadelphia and Western Railroad was a high-speed, third rail-operated, commuter-hauling interurban electric railroad operating in the western suburbs of the U.S. city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. One of its lines is now SEPTA's R100 Norristown High Speed Line; the other has been abandoned...
(P&W) in 1931, and then the Fonda, Johnstown and Gloversville Railroad
Fonda, Johnstown and Gloversville Railroad
The Fonda, Johnstown and Gloversville Railroad was at one point a 132 mile steam engine and electric interurban railroad that connected its namesake towns in east central New York State to Schenectady, New York...
in 1932. Few were sold because of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
and the public transport decline in the 1930s. However, some of them ran for almost 60 years.
The First Railcar in a Wind Tunnel
The Bullets were a result of a broad research program. This program was led by Philadelphia and Western's vice-chairman W. L. Butler, who had been largely responsible for development of the Cincinnati and Lake Erie Railroad's Red DevilRed Devil (interurban)
The Red Devil was a high-speed interurban trolley . It was developed by the Cincinnati Car Company for the Cincinnati and Lake Erie Railroad , which bought 20 of them in 1929 for service between cities and towns in Ohio. At and long, they were among the first lightweight trolleys, with side...
car's design, in collaboration with the J. G. Brill Company. Unlike the Red Devils, the Bullets had all-aluminum bodies. Their design was improved over earlier styles of railcars after a lot of wind tunnel
Wind tunnel
A wind tunnel is a research tool used in aerodynamic research to study the effects of air moving past solid objects.-Theory of operation:Wind tunnels were first proposed as a means of studying vehicles in free flight...
research – the first in the railway industry – the Bullet was streamlined
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...
to minimize the air resistance. According to Prof. Felix W. Pawlowski of University of Michigan, this would save 40% or more of the energy required by the conventional type of suburban car at speeds in excess of 60 mph (97 km/h). They also developed an improved low-level bogie
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...
(truck) design, and the Bullets could run as multiple-unit trains. Like the Red Devils, the Bullets had four 100 hp motors. The Bullets as built for the P&W were longer at 55 feet (16.8 m) and a bit heavier at 26 short tons (23.2 LT), but with only about half the weight as typical railcars of that time.
They could receive power from a trolley, by a third rail, or both.
A forerunner of the high-speed trains
The Bullet was a forerunner of the high-speed trainsHigh-speed rail
High-speed rail is a type of passenger rail transport that operates significantly faster than the normal speed of rail traffic. Specific definitions by the European Union include for upgraded track and or faster for new track, whilst in the United States, the U.S...
, of which the first were inaugurated later in the 30s. Among other trains, the Japanese Odakyū 3000 series SE Romancecar
Romancecar
The is Odakyu Electric Railway's name for its limited express luxury tourist services south-west of Tokyo, to mountain resorts such as Gotenba and Hakone, and beaches such as Numazu and Enoshima. Service started in 1957 with the 3000 series SE trainset, it broke the world speed record for a...
was inspired by the sleek and streamlined Bullets. In 1957, the Romancecar set a speed record for narrow-gauge trains of 145 km/h (90,1 mph). The Bullets are called "ancestors of the TGV
TGV
The TGV is France's high-speed rail service, currently operated by SNCF Voyages, the long-distance rail branch of SNCF, the French national rail operator....
, ICE, Shinkansen
Shinkansen
The , also known as THE BULLET TRAIN, is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan operated by four Japan Railways Group companies. Starting with the Tōkaidō Shinkansen in 1964, the network has expanded to currently consist of of lines with maximum speeds of , of Mini-shinkansen with a...
, and the Acela Express
Acela Express
The Acela Express is Amtrak's high-speed rail service along the Northeast Corridor in the Northeast United States between Washington, D.C., and Boston via Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York...
" (in English, the first Shinkansens were named Bullet Trains). The Bullets' maximum speed was 92 miles per hour (41 m/s). And they are strikingly similar to the Fliegender Hamburger.
No grade crossings
Already in 1907, the P&W had laid trackage with a quality never seen before by an interurban – free from grade crossingsLevel crossing
A level crossing occurs where a railway line is intersected by a road or path onone level, without recourse to a bridge or tunnel. It is a type of at-grade intersection. The term also applies when a light rail line with separate right-of-way or reserved track crosses a road in the same fashion...
with both railroads and roads, and with a block signal system. Double tracks improved the safety and capacity (the deadliest interurban wrecks were caused by head-on collisions). To further utilize the Bullets' potential, more improvements were made to track and signal systems to permit extremely high speeds on the Norristown line.
In a test run one of the cars covered the 13.5 miles (21.7 km) P&W line from Norristown to the 69th Street Terminal in Upper Darby in 11 minutes.
P&W bought ten double ended Bullets. In addition, five shorter 47 feet (14.3 m), single ended, Bullets with a slightly different front and rear design were sold to Fonda, Johnstown and Gloversville Railroad
Fonda, Johnstown and Gloversville Railroad
The Fonda, Johnstown and Gloversville Railroad was at one point a 132 mile steam engine and electric interurban railroad that connected its namesake towns in east central New York State to Schenectady, New York...
(FJ&G) in 1932. P&W used a third rail; FJ&G ran the Bullets as trolleys.
The decline of the interurban business as a result of the Great Depression of the 1930's and increasing use of automobiles and buses helped prevent any further manufacture and sale of the Bullet cars. The interurban cars, as were ordinary streetcars, were delayed by traffic congestion in the streets, too. The interurban (and railroad) companies must build and maintain their own right-of-ways while roads for private cars and buses are paid by the taxpayers of which the railroad and interurban companies were among the greatest. In addition, a group named National City Lines but led by General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
bought streetcar and interurban companies, dismantled the infrastructure and resold the companies to new owners who committed themselves to buy and use buses – from General Motors.
From New York to Utah
FJ&G's bright orange Bullets ran hourly into Schenectady where they terminated in front of the New York Central railroad station. In 1935, the FJ&G's Mohawk River bridge was condemned by New York State as too dangerous for any public transport as a result of river ice damage a decade earlier. With that, interurban service now had to terminate at Scotia across the Mohawk from Schenectady. And in 1936, the company abandoned their passenger service. The five Bullets went to the Bamberger Railroad (BR) interurban in UtahUtah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
and served the line from Salt Lake City–Ogden hourly, although operating at lower speeds than on the FJ&G.. In 1952, however, the BR's shops burned, and the company gave up the passenger traffic on the 6th of September that year. After being retired from railroad service, many railcars - including Bullets - were sold to the public as cheap “pre-fab” buildings. Some of both styles of Bullets are preserved in different museums and one is a prominent part of a restaurant building in Springville, UT.
Almost 60 Years of Service
If the Red Devil cars were the inspiration for the Bullets, in 1939 13 of the 20 Red Devils were sold to Lehigh Valley Transit Company (LVH) where for a time they shared the Norristown to Upper Darby tracks with P&W's Bullets. Under the name of Liberty Bells the Red Devils ran until LVH ended the service in 1951. Other high speed interurban cars joined the Philadelphia suburban scene also. From the North Shore LineChicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad
The Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad, often called the North Shore Line, was an interurban railroad line that operated between Chicago, Illinois, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, until its abandonment in 1963.- Early history :...
's Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
–Milwaukee route a pair of high-speed interurban trains named Electroliner
Electroliner
The Electroliners were a pair of electric passenger train sets operated by the Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad, which ran between Chicago, Illinois, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. These streamlined electric multiple unit interurban trains were built by St. Louis Car Company in 1941. Each...
s were sent eastwards in 1963, after 22 years and more than 3.3 million miles (5.3 million km) each – a mileage which probably surpassed any other interurban car. They were acquired by the Red Arrow Lines, which renamed them Liberty Liners and operated them on P&W's rights-of-way until about 1976. Interestingly, different kinds of equipment in use on the Norristown line later resulted in the Bullets' being restricted to less busy times (weekends) when the ten of them could provide 100% of the service. Their lower profile, intended to reduce air resistance at speed, included a lower anticlimber (bumper) than the other cars had and safety rules in the 1980's forced the Bullets not to share the route with other cars.
The P&W's Bullets had a remarkably long life thanks to their building quality. P&W's excellent track condition contributed to reduction of wear and tear. Some Bullets survived almost 60 years, until 1990, in an active role serving commuters in the Philadelphia area as part of the SEPTA rail stock. Even today, Philadelphia's light rail
Light rail
Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...
system, which encompassed the surviving interurban lines (see Norristown High Speed Line
Norristown High Speed Line
The Norristown High Speed Line is an interurban line system operated between Upper Darby and Norristown, Pennsylvania, USA by SEPTA...
, is number five in the U.S. by ridership.
External links
- Gino's Fonda Johnstown and Gloversville Railroad Page - many photographs of the FJ&GRR including its unique 1932 interurban Bullet cars built by J G Brill.