Dreamliners

In Georgia's "wool hat" country, the Central of Georgia Railway Co. was as poor as its riders. Its battered, rickety old engines clattered from Atlanta to Savannah and Columbus, hardly making enough to pay their fuel bills. But last year the Central threw away its wool hat. It raised $1,242,527, bought two streamlined trains, the Man 0' War and Nancy Hanks II, plugged them with ads and free-excursion trips for children. Last week the Central totted up its gain. In one year, the trains had made $206,829, enough to put the Central on a sturdy track.

All over the U.S. the railroads' new dreamliners were performing the same notable trick. Since the war U.S. roads have put into service 1,529 new passenger cars, now run some no streamlined trains (more than 220, counting extra sections). Another $1 billion in new cars and trains has been ordered. The roads that lacked the cash to buy new cars slicked up their old ones. The Central Railroad of New Jersey fitted out four cars in different styles. It got its commuters to choose the style they liked, and is planning to redecorate all its cars to match.

New Century. The roads played up different tourist catches. The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad's Hiawatha had its glassed-in observation blister (see cut), the Pennsylvania Railroad's Jeffersonian, a newsreel theater and day nursery. Most had lounges, coffee shops, seats of rubber foam, barbershops. All had wide fogproof windows and cocktail bars.

The most spectacular of the new trains is scheduled to make its maiden run next month, when the New York Central System shows off its new $4,000,000 Twentieth Century Limited, the Central's first new Pullman streamliner in ten years. For the New York-Chicago run, the Central has designed a combination businessman's hotel and office, with showers, secretarial rooms, and telephones.

Trade Catchers. The cost of such trains has been heavy; in one year the net working capital of U.S. roads has dropped $450 million to $705,013,000, a 39% decline. But the return has been worth the price. Though passenger traffic is off as much as 50% from its wartime peak, many streamliners are booked solid. In twelve months the Illinois Central Railroad's City of New Orleans grossed its $4,000,000 construction cost; with its sister streamliner, the Land 0' Corn, it had doubled Central's passenger revenues. The gleaming new Pullmans of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad Co.'s Texas Special are always 90% booked, compared to 60% for those they replaced. Even on short hauls, streamliners gross up to 25% more than conventional trains.

All this made railroaders feel cheerful. They thought it proved that new trains could finally put the carrying of passengers--which has long been unprofitable for many roads--on a paying basis.

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