General Motors incorporated the skills of their automotive stylists into the brand-new Aerotrain concept. Charles Jordan, known for the flawless finishes on 1950s Cadillacs, served as the group’s leader at the end of his twenties. Using already-existing GM technologies, Jordan and his team created the light, quick Aerotrain for the 500- to 750-mile rail industry.
Jordan came up with this conceptual illustration of the new trains. It was clear in the 1950s that the passenger train was not the wave of the future. The next stage of American personnel transportation was via cars and aircraft.
However, in certain instances, the railroads desired another round of conflict to protect and rescue passengers. A number of railways challenged General Motors to develop a rail passenger vehicle that would be affordable to produce and maintain.
The new vehicle was supposed to be fashionable in an effort to entice people away from the highways and skyways and back to the rails. In 1955, the airplane train made its debut. The Aerotrain was created to capture passengers with a sleek look that was influenced by modern automobiles. It is lightweight and has a top speed of 100 mph.
The two-axle, 40-foot-long coaches, each weighing 16 tons, were constructed from GM bus bodies that had been expanded by 18 inches to rail width. Similar to the air-cushion suspension utilized by GM buses on the highway.
It is not surprising that Aerotrain could share its design ideas with the automotive industry as the project’s creators were the GM automotive stylists, under the direction of a young Charles Jordan. The idea of the aerotrain was appealing. The train’s suggested route wasn’t.
The passengers expressed their dissatisfaction with the Aerotrain’s rough and difficult ride inside the bus-body coaches. Railroads discovered that the LWT12 locomotive lacked sufficient power.
A significant portion of the stylistic characteristics made maintenance challenging. There weren’t as many practical solid ideas as there should have been, making the GM Aerotrain an intriguing transportation narrative. Consider these five astounding facts about the GM Aerotrain:
1. Coupling for Power and Air
Full-width diaphragms were installed on the Aerotrain cars to maintain the train’s sleek appearance and boost aerodynamics. The cars also had a lower center of gravity than conventional vehicles, measuring 45 Aerotrain pounds as opposed to 55 conventional pounds.
It was practically impossible to make regular air hose connections between the cars using these setups. GM’s innovative coupler system not only connected the cars together but also automatically established air and electricity connections.
The coupler was a scaled-down version of a typical automatic device. On each side of the coupler, there have been configurations of male and female pins to ensure proper alignment. To feed train-line air and power, a bank of fittings came together during the coupling procedure below the coupler.
On the air line, air brakes were commonplace. However, the electrical connection was a creation. After the 12-567C primary mover, the locomotive transported two Detroit 6-71 diesel generator sets that provided electricity for the cabin’s electrical lights, heating, and air conditioning.
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2. Who Made That Air Conditioner?
When we hear the name Frigidaire, we typically think of household appliances like refrigerators, washing machines, ovens, and ventilators. GM’s empire included Frigidaire from 1919 to 1979.
1919 saw GM pay $100,000 to acquire the business, then known as Guardian Refrigerator. The name changed in 1927, and sales increased by $15 million annually. Along with home climate control equipment, Frigidaire also offered small, powerful climate control equipment for GM vehicles.
Why not the aerotrain if that is possible for cars? The Aerotrain’s coaches had electric air conditioning, heating, and fluorescent lighting. In passenger trains by 1950, some of these environmental benefits had become standard, but most passengers and rail lines were still not entirely powered by electricity.
3. Don’t Refurbish Buy New
It is important to remember that the Aerotrain was created to be economical in both production and use. This is one of the reasons why the people who created GM decided to use the modern technologies that came from various business divisions.
The technology was already in place, bringing down development costs right away. In doing so, they also established another notion of GM, namely planned obsolescence. In the 1920s, CEO and GM Alfred P. Sloan and his collaborators created planned obsolescence.
Many people believed that purchasing a vehicle was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The sales of GM have significantly decreased as a result of this customer attitude. The goal of GM was to entice people to purchase a new car even if they already had one in order to maintain a fashionable appearance while driving the most recent model.
This justifies Sloan’s additional hypothesis as to why automakers alter their model’s years. Every seven years, the railways generally renovate the passenger buses. GM preferred to purchase a new route rather than renew Aerotrain’s existing one.
The goal was to remove the bus’s chassis and wheels from the body compartment and completely destroy it. GM would then begin selling a new vehicle with the most recent styling updates.
Cost comparison: The initial price for Aerotrain vehicles was $40,000 per vehicle or $1,000 per seat (40 coaches). In the 1950s, a basic passenger vehicle cost about $2,200 per seat.
4. Introducing the (little) Aerotrain
The Aerotrain concept appeared to offer General Motors a reliable ferrovial transportation alternative. The sale of public transportation and railroads must now be based on this idea. GM used some of the customary 1950s advertising channels to introduce their new train.
Numerous national magazines have published advertisements that are fully printed pages in black and white and color. Click Trains from 1956 to view advertisements for Aerotrain.
GM offered a wide range of heavy, innovative, and specialized vehicles that went beyond just railroad equipment. Utilizing its components, GM produced automobiles, trucks, tractors, airplanes, and even remorques.
Over the course of its first 22 years (1933–1955), GM produced engines with a combined 100 million horsepower. From August 31 until September 25, 1955, GM stationed Powerama near Soldier Field near Lake Michigan in Chicago to commemorate the anniversary and promote its goods. The 253 exhibits’ top attractions include a brand-new full-size Aerotrain.
5. Liberace And the Crap Shooters Special
The New York Central, Pennsylvania, Santa Fe, and Union Pacific all consented to test-drive the Aerotrain. The New York Central Railroad connected Chicago with Cleveland first, then Detroit. The New York-Pittsburgh route served as the starting point for the Pennsy tests, and the Philadelphia-Pittsburgh route served as the finish line.
Santa Fe tried using the air train as a San Diego between Los Angeles and San Diego. The Union Pacific gave the Aerotrain a very aggressive test run. UP renamed and lettered the train “City of Las Vegas” and added it to its fleet of “City of” streamliners.
Passengers immediately referred to the train as the Train Special of Crapauds due to the railroad’s deception. The departure from Los Angeles arrived in Las Vegas at 4 pm and 9 am. The train then departs from Las Vegas at 5:30 in the evening and arrives in Los Angeles at 12:15.
A meal service was required given the schedule. The UP converted one Aerotrain vehicle into a lounge and another into a buffet. Including seconds from the buffet, the round-trip ticket was $16.35 and included a full supper.
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