Pullman Gallery Car

The Pullman Gallery Car was a double-decker passenger car built by Pullman-Standard during the 1950s to 1970s for various passenger rail operators in the United States.

Gallery Car (7006A, 7600 and 8700 series)[1][2]
Virginia Railway Express #V425. Originally in service with the C&NW
Manufacturer	Pullman Company
Constructed	1950s-1970s
Entered service	1950-present
Capacity	153-161
Specifications
Car body construction	LAHT steel body on a steel frame
Car length	85 feet (26 m)
Entry	Step
Doors	1 per side
Track gauge	4 ft 8 ^1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge

The car's upper level was accessed by four sets of stairs in the middle vestibule. A narrow walkway with handrail and middle sections open looking below. Passengers disembarked from stairs from the vestibule on both sides. The original bench seating on the lower level was often upgraded to individual seats during rebuilds by operators. The 8700 series cars feature a control cab; this is not found in the 7600 series cars.

Models

There were four types:

Model	Operators	Builder	Years	Notes
7006A series			built 1950s
7600 series[3]	C&NW	St. Louis Car Company, Pullman Company	1956-1961, 1963, 1965-68, 1970	Built 262
8700 series[4]	C&NW	Pullman Company	1960-1961, 1965-1968	Built 64
Town Car series	Canadian Pacific Railways	Canadian Vickers	1969	Manufactured 9 gallery cars used by Canadian Pacific Railway Montreal passenger service and later used by STCUM and AMT and retired 2010.

Operators

• AMT - Canadian Vickers-built gallery cars (all retired)
• Amtrak: Acquired twelve cars from the Chicago and North Western Railway in the 1970s; ten coaches and food-service cars. Amtrak converted four of coaches into control cars in 1981–1982. All twelve were off the roster by 1994.[5]^:192
• Burlington Northern and Santa Fe - acquired the six Transcisco Tours gallery cars and converted them to be used as business cars (BNSF #40–45); two were later converted to track geometry cars.
• Canadian Pacific Railway - Montreal passenger routes and cars transferred to STCUM, and then to AMT (all retired)
• Chicago and North Western - sold cars to Metra and Amtrak
• Foxville and Northern - shortline operator in North Carolina. Owns 7 former VRE cars. Leased to other operations for various events.
• Metra - currently used on the Milwaukee District lines and the Union Pacific routes
• Music City Star - acquired seven Metra gallery cars.
• Southern Pacific - Peninsula Commute, then Caltrain. Operated 46 gallery cars (SP 3700–3745) until 1985. Sold to Tour Alaska in 1986. Colorado Railcar converted four (SP 3734, 3740, 3744, 3745) into "Ultra Dome" cars at Tillamook, Oregon.[6][7][8] Six sold to Transcisco Tours (SP 3700–3703; 3707, 3708), subsequently acquired by BNSF.
• Transcisco Tours - acquired six from SP and converted them for tour use (#800532–800537).[9]
• Utah Transit Authority FrontRunner - for parts
• Virginia Railway Express - Operated 50 ex-Metra gallery cars from 2001 until replacement by new Nippon Sharyo gallery cars from 2006 onwards[10]
• GO Transit - borrowed both CP Rail and Chicago and North Western cars for trial runs.

Preserved Cars

• Three cars, two coaches and a cab car, are preserved at the Illinois Railway Museum. Others serve on heritage railroads like the North Shore Scenic Railroad, which has 3, 2 of which are in the original C&NW paint scheme. Numerous others survive, but are still in operation on railroads like Metra.

See also

• Bombardier Bi-Level Coach
• Hi-Level

References

1. http://www.cl.ais.net/~dbehr/CabCars.html
2. http://www.cl.ais.net/~dbehr/7600PullmanPhotoPage.html
3. http://www.kls2.com/~karl/rr/cnw/commuter-bilevels.html#spotting
4. http://www.kls2.com/~karl/rr/cnw/commuter-bilevels.html#spotting
5. Simon, Elbert; Warner, David C. (2011). Amtrak by the numbers: a comprehensive passenger car and motive power roster, 1971-2011. Kansas City, Missouri: White River Productions. ISBN 978-1-932804-12-6.
6. Combs, John (21 May 2016). "Princess Rail Cars". Alaska Rails. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
7. Moore, Jody (2005). "Princess Tours 2005 car refitting, part 1". TrainWeb. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
8. Moore, Jody (2005). "A History of Colorado Railcar and the Development of the Ultradome Concept". TrainWeb. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
9. LaBoda, J.M. "Business Car Photo Index: Burlington Northern Santa Fe 40-63". Passenger Car Photos. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
10. "Virginia Railway Express Transit Development Plan FY2013 - FY2018" (PDF). Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation. December 2011.

External links