 CMSP&P 50(1) - Wrecked and burned 5/31/53 - but a big hush hush was that this was a test trip. It still belonged to Pullman Standard at the time.
What happened was that the derailing train pulled down the wire resulting in arcing which caused the fuel for the Waukesha AC unit on the Super Dome to ignite with catastrophic results. PS had to built another Super Dome to replace this one. There were actually ELEVEN Super Domes built. Here is a brief description of this accident out of the PS files.
"This happened 6 1/2 miles from Superior MT early on Sunday May 31, 1953. The wreck was caused by a broken rail which derailed 7 cars. The loco and first 3 cars were not derailed. The Super dome was the first delivered #50. The sleeper was Lake Chatcolat and the Skytop was Alder Creek.
The interior of the dome car was completely burned out, and all sash demolished. The underframe and underbody equipment however are in good condition. The superstructure and roof carlines were severly buckled from the intense heat of the fire. All electrical switchboards and control panels were damaged beyond repair.
The fire was caused by the derailed cars damaging posts supporting the overhead electrical power lines, causing them to fall on the roof of the dome car. These lines which carry 3000 volts caused the fire to start in the dome section of the car and in turn working its way to the lower level. One of the diesel fuel oil tanks beneath the car was fractured causing oil to pour onto the wooden trestle on which the dome car spanned when it came to a halt. Sparks from the overhead power lines apparently ingited the oil and set fire to the trestle.
The rear truck of the dome was approx 8' off the rails with the unbalanced weight of the following cars still coupled, caused the rear dome car coupler shank to break allowing these cars to fall down the embankment."
Now hold on to your hat. Amtrak take notice.
PS estimated that cost of repair will no doubt exceed $150,000! ! ! ! After this memo was written July 9, it was decided to built a TOTALLY NEW car 50 using a few of the salvaged parts from original 50. (courtesy Dave Randall)
(and another point of view)
However, there are also some facts that are not really quite accurate. The first ten cars, numbers 50-59 Pullman Lot 6908 were built with the name SUPER DOME. When 50 was damaged, it was returned to the Pullman works as a wreck damaged car. In terms of official accounting, this was not a new car, but a repair, and was provided a repair lot number (R-6947). While this mat be somewhat akin to the Vietnam helicopters that were "rebuilt when all that was left was the tail boom and the all important serial number, it is an important distinction. The "Second #50" was not regarded as a separate car as such by Pullman. It might seem to be semantical, and there might have been a difference of opinion between some divisions within Pullman - but according to the official records left by Pullman, it is (or was) the same car. The repair records are likely in the Newberry library which would provide a lot more detail as to just how much was actually utilized in the car.
As a matter of interest in these cars, Pullman had ordered a design for Santa Fe using these (Milwaukee) cars as the basis. The actual cars were eventually built by Budd, of course, but there exists the original Pullman sketches for these cars (interior and exterior)
There are a host of other design ideas and drawings of other dome cars for other railroads that didn't make the cut, notably those for the PRR & NYC.
(courtesy Bob Webber)
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