Local history: Strata-Dome luxury train impressed Akron residents, at least until dark

“See it from front to rear, inside and out. You will never forget it!”

The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad was so proud of its New Columbian Strata-Dome streamliner that it parked the passenger train all day in Akron and invited the public to climb aboard for tours.

Officials promised visitors that the New Columbian offered “an exhilarating experience” that was like “being in a different world.”

That may have been hyperbole, but the sleek train did look pretty cool 75 years ago.

“Thousands of Akronites got a chance today to see what the railroad industry is doing about a new era in rail travel,” Beacon Journal business writer Joseph E. Kuebler wrote May 11, 1949.

“They wandered through cars that combine just about everything man has devised to make riding on a train as pleasant as sitting in a luxurious hotel,” he continued.

The company christened two eight-car trains in simultaneous ceremonies May 5 for service between Chicago and Washington, D.C.

Drucie Snyder, the daughter of U.S. Treasury Secretary John Wesley Snyder, shattered a bottle of Potomac River water over one train at Washington Union Terminal while Barbara Cunningham, the daughter of B&O Chicago Director James D. Cunningham, shattered a bottle of Lake Michigan water over the second streamliner at Chicago Grand Central Station.

“In our planning for the New Columbian, the advent of which we celebrate today, we have had very much in mind such pioneering achievements of the Baltimore & Ohio in passenger service,” railroad President Roy B. White announced. “... And we have tried to make the New Columbian worthy of its predecessors in every way.”

The trains, built in Chicago at the Pullman-Standard Car Manufacturing Co., cost $1 million each (over $13 million today), not including the diesel-electric locomotives built in La Grange, Illinois, by a General Motors subsidiary. The units succeeded the Columbian, the nation’s first air-conditioned train, which had been in use since 1931.

Before going into service, the blue, gray and gold trains went on exhibit at various points along the east-west route. Baltimore & Ohio officials invited Akron residents to tour the New Columbian from noon to 9 p.m. May 11, 1949, at the Howard Street station.

“It’s here! The train of the year!” B&O advertised.

Thrills in the Strata-Dome

The eight cars included a Strata-Dome coach, a 24-seat observation section enclosed in glass. During transit, passengers experienced the sensation of floating through air when the New Columbian hurtled at speeds up to 80 mph. There were 40 more seats below the top deck.

“High above the rails, you enjoy sights at every point of the compass: rippling rivers, shadowy hills, the twinkling lights of tiny towns, the flashing fires of great steel mills,” B&O advertised. “And overhead, the bright, quiet beauty of the moon and stars.”

The second car, an observation lounge with a semicircular cocktail bar, included newspapers, magazines and a desk for writing letters. Next was a dining car with suspended tables and diagonal seating for 36. The fourth car had a coffee shop, lounge and snack bar. The four remaining coaches had 56 “Sleepy Hollow” reclining seats.

Or, as B&O put it: “Soft, pliable upholstery that feels as if tailor-fitted to your body. Tilt the back as you wish, adjust the footrest — and revel in wonderful relaxation.”

Other features included fluorescent lights and air conditioning; semi-private smoking lounges; recorded music and radios for music and news; electric pneumatic devices for opening doors; and modern women’s restrooms with chrome and porcelain fixtures, full-length mirrors and foam-rubber revolving chairs.

The New Columbian employed uniformed stewardesses and maids to assist customers during trips.

“Passengers, who like to know how fast they are traveling, won’t have to guess anymore,” Kuebler wrote. “Speedometers have been fitted on the observation-lounge and on the forward panel of the Strata-Dome car. The instrumental panel also includes an altimeter so the elevation of the train can be determined as its crosses the Allegheny Mountains. There also is a barometer and a clock.”

Cars on each train were named for cities along the route. The observation cars were named for Chicago and Washington, the two terminal points. The two diners were named Akron and Pittsburgh.

Akron business leaders enjoyed breakfast on the New Columbian. Among the dignitaries present were Akron Mayor Charles Slusser, Cuyahoga Falls Mayor Joseph Harding and Barberton Mayor Theodore Park.

Akron travelers see darkness

After nine hours of exhibition, the New Columbian rolled out of town toward Chicago. The trains went into regular service on May 15.

The railroad originally planned to operate the streamliner during the day, allowing passengers to marvel at the passing scenery from their perches in the Strata-Dome car, but B&O executives made the head-scratching decision to run the trains overnight.

The eastbound train left Akron’s Union Depot at 11:08 p.m. for Washington, arriving in Pittsburgh at 1:36 a.m. The westbound train for Chicago arrived in Akron at 1:50 a.m.

Instead of experiencing the sensation of floating through the air while riding in the Strata-Dome, Akron passengers looked through the windows and saw nothing but darkness between big cities.

That had to dampen the “exhilarating experience.”

The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad eventually added floodlights outside the Strata-Dome, but it just wasn’t the same as traveling by day.

In the late 1950s, B&O combined the train’s service with the Capitol Limited passenger train and dropped the Columbian name in 1964. The railroad made further cutbacks as passengers increasingly shunned trains for travel in airplanes and automobiles.

The Capitol Limited ended service in Akron in May 1971 with the arrival of Amtrak as the nation’s passenger rail system.

Amtrak resumed passenger operations in Akron from 1990 to 1995 and again in 1998, but gave up in 2005 after only 7,930 local riders used the service the previous year. Passengers now have to catch the train in Cleveland or Alliance.

Sadly, Amtrak retired its Strata-Dome cars in 1981. It’s a shame because the scenery was something special to behold … in the daylight. At least that’s what Akron residents heard.

“You’ll never travel any other way, once you get a taste of this. For the Strata-Dome is exhilarating, different, absolutely delightful!”

Mark J. Price can be reached at mprice@thebeaconjournal.com

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Baltimore & Ohio Railroad unveiled New Columbian Strata-Dome in 1949