Little Zip

[Anderson]

Alright, I've been reading about this little wonder of a train...M-10000. I don't have pictures ready to link to it, but does anyone know what the actual technical capabilities of this train were? From what I can tell from the old pictures, it looks like the Acela (especially the car designs)...only about sixty five years ahead of schedule, and with a diesel engine rather than relying on electric power. I've heard rumors (from streamlinerschedules) that UP considered throwing it on a 24-hour run from CHI-LAX as part of its schedule. So I'm wondering both how fast such a train could have been run, how long a trainset it could theoretically have pulled, and so forth. It appears to have been quite the work, after all.

 

[stntylr]

Here's a picture from Wikipedia. It's listed as public domain.

The M-10001 made the trip from LA to New York Grand Central terminal in 57 hours.

M-10000

 

[Anderson]

Ok, that's an average of about 56 MPH from coast to coast (assuming the Water Level Route and the SW Chief Route...not sure what the Overland Route would've done to the distance. Considering the need for crew changes, refueling...*whistles* Not bad at all, considering the number of changes and whatnot.

 

[stntylr]

Since that was a demostration trip I would imagine it only stopped for crew changes and refueling. Also it must have been given priority over all other traffic.