Fashions in Cars

Railroad passengers who have long endured the lurching promiscuity of the open-section sleeper, the hop-skip-&-jump down the leg-barred aisle of a club car or the dubious amenities of a coach wash room are due for something better, and very soon.

One good example of how the railroads will pamper their passengers with new equipment was the $6 million, 60-car order which, last week, was ready for signing with the Edward G. Budd Manufacturing Co. Three railroads (the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, the Denver & Rio Grande Western, the Western Pacific) plan to operate the new equipment in ten-car, diesel-powered daily streamliners be tween Chicago and San Francisco. The first of the new trains will go into service next summer.

Domes & Nooks. Coaches, diners and "tavern cars" will be equipped with the General Motors designed "Vista Dome" (TIME, June 18)--a glass-enclosed elevated dome that protrudes 18 inches above the car roof. Under the unbreakable, heat-resisting Thermo-pane glass, 24 passengers will have an unobstructed view of the Rockies, can sun bathe in soft lounge seats. For Dome dining under the stars dumbwaiters will lift meals from the kitchen below. After dinner, tables on the lower floor of the diners can be dropped into slots, the space cleared for dancing.

"Tavern cars" will be honeycombed with cozy nooks & niches, some above, others below the main floor level. For teetotalers a refreshment bar will serve sandwiches, coffee, sodas and soft drinks.

Radios & Showers. Coaches will have plenty of leg room between seats; washrooms will be large, well equipped. Some cars will be radio-equipped with speakers fitted into the seat backs at ear level. Volume control of radios will be kept low so that other passengers are not disturbed. A coach for women only will be fitted with individual powder rooms.

Sleepers will be all-bedroom cars, but designed for daytime comfort, too. Partitions will fold aside so that several rooms can be made into one for day travel. Beds, and practically everything else not needed during the day, will fold into wall space to make room for comfortable chairs and lounges. Smart dressing-table tops will cover lavatories and plumbing. Shower baths will be installed in bedrooms.

With trains like these, 74-year-old Edward G. Budd believes that plenty of passengers will still travel by rail in the postwar air and auto age. But Budd wants speed too: he holds that the railroads' ultimate goal should be a 50-hour coast-to-coast streamliner, charging $70 in the coaches.

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