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Guscha.
Quote:

What a relief.

Tom

A Packard story with happy ending? I think so. The Trailblazer is reported to had carried over 1,000,000 people. [1] It opened with a fare of 25 cents in time for the 1956 State Fair of Texas, and became a top visitor attraction. [2] In April 1958 a small fire caused the evacuation of Trailblazer, but the 6 passengers and 2 crew members escaped unharmed. [3]
Today it is even good enough for legends: "The suspended vehicle ran 18 feet above the ground on pneumatic tires with a maximum speed of 250 mph; however, the system at Fair Park was limited by the acceleration possible between stations." [4]

It was a Packard - a forerunner of things to come.

Last stop. All out. Thanks for watching PackardInfo.


sources
1 - "Workmen Tear down Fair Monorail Track," The Dallas Morning News, 08-09-1964
2 - "Park Board Agrees to Monorail Plans," The Dallas Morning News, 08-14-1956
3 - "8 Scramble to Safety as Fire Hits Monorail," The Dallas Morning News, 04-28-1958
4 - Wikipedia
pic - Time Inc. (slightly altered)

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Added the last item to a list found online....


Packard Motor Car Company Firsts

1900 ? The H-pattern gear shift arrangement.

1900 ? Automatic ignition spark advance to give smoother and more efficient engine operation.

1901 ? The use of a steering wheel instead of a tiller for steering, on the 1901 Packard model C.

1913 ? Spiral bevel differential gears, for a quieter car.

1915 ? A mass-produced V-12 powered automobile.

1919 ? A special Packard race car with a 905 cubic inch Packard Liberty aircraft engine, driven by Ralph DePalma, set a land speed record of 149.72 mph.

1923 ? First volume producer of automobiles to introduce 4-wheel brakes.

1923 ? Hypoid differential gears, which allowed a lower floor and lower vehicle height.

1923 ? First Neon signs in America - two "Packard" signs put up by a dealer in Los Angeles. The signs stopped traffic!

1940 ? Air Conditioning as an option, price $275.00.

1950 ? The only independent automobile
manufacturer to engineer and manufacture their own automatic transmission.

1955 ? 4-Wheel torsion bar suspension, with automatic leveling.

1956 ? Engines powered a futuristic mono-rail, the Trailblazer, in Houston, Texas.

Interesting how a Packard engine was used in this project;arklatexpackards.com/WHawkins.html

Missing in action
What a long ride for a lonesome Packard to end up as a work horse of the Yugoslav Railways. This is the short story of a car, which went abroad as hopeful young Johnny-on-the-spot to discover the world. Honestly, he wasn't a prodigy of learning and soon he strayed from the right path.
And became enslaved.




Now dressed in blue convicts uniform, our youngster bitterly regretted but nobody of the strangers showed compassion towards him. Did it really have to come to that?




How sad a fate! How to hope beyond hope? But then, as by miracle, his life changed in a wink of an eye. Just like pretty women Julia Roberts he's got a second bite at the cherry and became a movie star.




Where will the story end? What do you think?



source
pic #1 - wikipedia
all the rest: tinypic.com

Not all stories end with a happy ending.


source: tinypic.com

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Certainly not! Happy endings only please. But seriously, what evidence exists that the derilict is one in the same?

They needed a large car to carry a full load of personnel and equipment. These days Chevrolet Suburbans or Crew Cab trucks are often used, in the old days Packard and Chrysler sedans were popular. Sometimes they used small buses.

Many of the older pictures are of special vehicles used by top railroad executives on official business. You couldn't expect the president of a railroad to ride in a Ford.

Quote:

Hi Howard

"HH56 wrote:
Interesting a railroad would pay the cost of a Packard over a lesser car for such service. Did it just happen to have a perfect size or was there some other advantage over say a comparable GM or other mfg's similar sized & probably lower cost offering."

Cost wasn't really a factor here. What we seeing here are older, used Packards converted to rail inspection cars, not work, service cars. Inspection cars were kept for those occasions when company brass wished to travel over the line or portions thereof without use of a regular train.

Note they're mostly seven passenger or limousine models which likely were originally purchased by the railroad president for his personal car or company limousine. When the car was a few years older, it was still in excellent shape but worth little for trade-in. Also, note they were kept in nice condition as an indication of their elevated status among railroad vehicles. Much as Packards and other large Classics were converted to fire trucks or fireman crew cars, these cars that were too good to junk but too valueless to sell were re-purposed as railroad inspection cars.

Typically, similar railroad work vehicles which were converted from larger chassis, such as the DRG & W galloping geese, also reworked the bodies into a rail-bus or box-car configuration. If you have occasion to visit the Rocky Mountain Railroad Museum at Golden, Colorado, you'll get to see their galloping geese cargo/busses built on mid'20's Pierce-Arrows.

Steve

Quote:
Kevin, no evidence. A pure assumption. Here comes the next.
Am I right in assuming that you don't know Mr. Louis Warren Hill (1872-1948)? Well, this gentleman driver knew, how to rail a Packard.



[source: midcontinent.org] Click to enlarge!

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