Recently, I've been spending some time improving and creating a few Wikipedia articles about the lightweight trains of the 1950's.

I've added to articles about:
The EMD LWT-12 locomotive http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMD_LWT12
GM's AeroTrain http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerotrain_(GM)
The Fairbanks-Morse P-12-42 locomotive http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FM_P-12-42
New York Central's Pullman Train-X "Xplorer" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xplorer_(United_States)

And started (some pretty bare bones) articles for
New Haven's Pullman Train-X "Dan'L Webster" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan%27l_Webster_(train)
The Baldwin RP-210 locomotives for the 2 Train-X trainsets http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldwin_RP-210
New Haven's Budd RDC Hotrod train, "Roger Williams" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Williams_(train)
New Haven's ACF-Talgo "John Quincy Adams" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Quincy_Adams_(train)
Boston and Maines ACF-Talgo "Speed Merchant" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_Merchant_(train)

I'd like to expand and improve these articles, as well as adding articles for the PRR's Budd tubular "Keystone" train, CRI&P's ACF-Talgo "Talgo Jet Rocket", ACF's MotoRailers and the assorted LIRR gas turbine powered railcar experiments, but have been stymied by the lack of good usable information available online.

If anybody can point me to online info on these (or similar) subjects, it would be greatly appreciated.

If you have books or other references on the subjects and feel inclined to help by editing or creating articles yourself, by all means PLEASE do so!

Jeff
(email withheld, but will recieve email notification of any PM message)

I almost forgot, any info on this ACF-Talgo demonstration train of 1954(?) would be greatly appreciated as well.




Jeff

Do you have any pictures you will be able to post with the articales?

Unfortunately I personally do not have any pictures that I can add.

In order for a picture to be added to Wikipedia, it must either:
1) be uploaded by the author or copyright holder with appropriate free license for Wikipedia use.
2) Have someone get permission from the copyright holder.
3) Be a public domain picture.
4) be able to claimed as "fair use" as part of an educational project.

However, another Wiki editor has added a picture to the Roger Williams article within the past few hours, so there is always hope.....

Jeff

How does one typically acquire the copyright to a previously made railfan picture such as those posted above?

I believe copyright would belong to whoever owns the original slide or negative.

Jeff

Whatever happened to the PRR Keystone possum-belly cars? I remember seeing a classified ad in TRAINS in the mid-'80s offering the whole trainset for sale. Does it still exist somewhere?

As fascinating and groundbreaking as all these designs were, it just proves there was ultimately no substitute for the speed of a 707 (sigh!)

The last owner I can be positive of is SEMTA, the Detroit area commuter agency, who purchased the trainset, but apparently never used it in service. Web searches yield vague references to some of the cars being at an un-named dinner train, location unknown.

Jeff

I believe the Keystone train has been split up.

Some of it WAS at an outfit called Coe Rail in Walled Lake Michigan, where it was being used for a dinner train. However, freight traffic was dwindling, and the county had a very urgent need to complete the bike trail which had already been laid on both sides of the 7-mile line.

My undertanding is that the dinner train was relocated as a unit to another location, where the intent is to operate it as a dinner train.

It might be worthwhile to add a few details to the entries about the Aerotrains and their locomotives. It is nice to say that two of the locos are in musuems, but saying which museums would be nice, although this is in the entry about the train. Green Bay has Rock Island #2 and MOT in St. Louis has #3. And the two trains preserved in these museums only consist of two coaches plus the locos, the rest having gone to scrap. None of the rear end cars were saved. The coaches were essentially intercity bus bodies, widened by 18 inches. Greyhound had helped GM develop their design and was not at all happy to see this used for a competitor. And the locos are just shells, as the Rock Island removed all reusable items, engines, traction motors, air compressors and everything else except for the non-standard control stands. So the cab is intact but the engine space is empty. Mr Jordan, mentioned as designer of the train, also was designer of the locomotive shell, which is still a striking design.

The preservation section of the Aerotrain article has been reworded.

If you see something in any of these articles that needs fixing, or that could be worded better, or have more information to add, just click that "EDIT" tab at the top of an article. You do NOT have to have an account at wikipedia to edit, nor do you need permission to do so. The "markup" is extremely simple, and easy to learn.

Yesterday I add another article, this one about the GM&N's ACF/ALCO pocket streamliners, the "Rebels":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebel_(train) (this one even has a picture, courtesy of the late Otto Perry, and the Denver Public Library).

Jeff