I have some information about the Burlington Route's Gallery and
Power Cars.
First the Gallery Cars. The Burlington bi-level commuter cars,
according to the commuters, are called "Dinkies". Cars 700-787 and
790-795 were bought by the CB&Q and had steam heat and incandescent
interior lighting. Cars 796-820 were built in 1973 with electric
heating and fluorescent lighting, and at the same time, cars 700-787
and 790-795 were rebuilt to those standards. There were plans to
renumber those cars to the 7000's (cab cars 8000's) to conform with
the numbering system adopted by the RTA, but the renumbering did not
take place. Metra plans to retire 50 of the oldest of these cars by
2005, when Metra expects to receive 300 new cars from Sumitomo and
Super Steel.
Next the Power Cars. The cars were rebuilt from coach/baggage cars,
and had diesel generators installed in the baggage sections. The
generators provided power for the bi-level coaches, which were not
equipped with the batteries and axle generators normally used on
steam heated equipment. In 1949, cars 7200-7205 were rebuilt from
cars 7147-7152, and in 1950, cars 7300-7313 were rebuilt from cars
6100-6109, 6116, 6124, 6150 and 6153. All cars were retired by 1974,
when modernization of the bi-level fleet was completed.
I will post two pictures of the gallery cars in the files section.
Please reply to this message. Thank You.
David Ulibarri
davidulibarri@g...
|