The Gallery Car is a bilevel rail car, originally created by the Pullman Company as the Pullman Gallery Car. Besides Pullman, it has had five total different manufacturers since its creation, being Budd, St. Louis Car Company, Amerail, Nippon Sharyo and Canadian Vickers. These double-decker passenger cars were built by Pullman-Standard during the 1950s to 1970s for various passenger rail operators in the United States.

The car is designed with the first floor at what would normally be considered "high platform" level, and originally featured bench seating. The second level is actually four separate balconies with single seating that are accessed by four spiral staircases in the central vestibule. The space between the balconies is left open to allow conductors to check tickets without going upstairs. The doors are located in the middle of the car along with a bathroom.

Design

Railcar The Gallery Car is made of the typical stainless steel for North American coaches and is a bilevel, however a unique design feature is a drop down in the middle of the 2nd floor to the first floor. This choice was made in particular to allow conductors to make a single pass through the car to collect passenger fares instead of having to go to each floor.

The car height is near the same as a Superliner (16' 2"), being only approximately four inches shorter, at 15' 10": The height varies between brands, such as when comparing a Budd to an Amerail.

BNSF have their own versions of Budd's design with differently designed trucks and body from all other designs, along with text over the doors such as "BURLINGTON" or "BNSF RAILWAY," and a modern BNSF decal next to the doors.

The windows are not the same across the brands either and are the easiest identifiers (with designs building on each other):

The Pullman have short-heighted chamfered windows. The Budds/Canadian Vickers shorten them horizontally and round them off. The BNSF Budds are a mix of the previous two, not shortened but rounded off. The Amerails increase them in size vertically. The Nippon Sharyos again increase them in size all around, making them the largest ones.

Highliner II

An electric multiple unit (EMU) variant of the railcar has been produced by Nippon Sharyo, of which only Metra and the NICTD South Shore Line own and operate. They operate on overhead wires, and only have cab car variants designed to be in sets of 2. For Metra, they are the replacement to the original Highliners which had a similar interior design.

Automated Voice Announcements

Automated Announcement systems (Metra Only) The railcars are incorporated with an automated announcement system, announcing safety information, next/current stops, and general important information. Up until ~2024, former Metra employee Don Nelson was the voice behind Metra's automated announcements. Since then, his voice has been phased out in favor of the Clever Devices announcement system.

Doors Closing Announcement The doors closing announcement happens on a speaker within the railcar entry vestibule, saying:

"Caution, the doors are about to close."

There exists a male and female version of the voice;

The male is the original and is seen across many of Budd's other railcar designs as well as their gallery car iteration. Metra and NICTD have exclusively applied the same voice to all of their other gallery car iterations, though Metra has also pitch shifted the announcement both up and down inconsistently across some of their railcars. The voice actor is unknown, thought to be a Budd employee. The female is seen on some gallery car railroads, such as Caltrain. The voice actor is unknown.

History The Gallery Car was constructed originally by Pullman and Budd in between the 1950s-70's, as 4 different models: The 7006A, 7600, 8700, and the Town Cars. The 8700 Series introduced the cab cars, with CN&W being the first customers for it.

As Pullman went bankrupt, other companies began to manufacture the railcar, those mainly being Amerail and Nippon Sharyo. Nippon Sharyo is currently the only manufacturer left as all of its other manufacturers no longer exist.

Models There were four types, excluding the Highliner EMUs:

ModelOperatorsBuilderYearsNotes 7006A series built 1950s 7600 series C&NW St. Louis Car Company, Pullman Company 1956–1961, 1963, 1965–68, 1970 Built 262 8700 series C&NW Pullman Company 1960–1961, 1965–1968 Built 64 Town Train series Canadian Pacific Railways Canadian Vickers 1969 Manufactured 9 gallery cars used by Canadian Pacific Railway Montreal passenger service and later used by STCUM and AMT and retired 2010.

Operators AMT - Canadian Vickers-built gallery cars (all retired) Amtrak: Acquired twelve cars from the Chicago and North Western Railway in the 1970s; ten coaches and food-service cars. Amtrak converted four of coaches into control cars in 1981–1982. All twelve were off the roster by 1994. Burlington Northern and Santa Fe - acquired the six Transcisco Tours gallery cars and converted them to be used as business cars (BNSF #40–45); two were later converted to track geometry cars. Canadian Pacific Railway - Montreal passenger routes and cars transferred to STCUM, and then to AMT (all retired) Chicago and North Western - sold cars to Metra and Amtrak Foxville and Northern - shortline operator in North Carolina. Owns 7 former VRE cars. Leased to other operations for various events. Metra WeGo Star - acquired seven Metra gallery cars. Southern Pacific - Peninsula Commute, then Caltrain. Operated 46 gallery cars (SP 3700–3745) until 1985. Sold to Tour Alaska in 1986. Colorado Railcar converted four (SP 3734, 3740, 3744, 3745) into "Ultra Dome" cars at Tillamook, Oregon. Six sold to Transcisco Tours (SP 3700–3703; 3707, 3708), subsequently acquired by BNSF. Transcisco Tours - acquired six from SP and converted them for tour use (#800532–800537). Utah Transit Authority FrontRunner - for parts Virginia Railway Express - Operated 50 ex-Metra gallery cars from 2001 until replacement by new Nippon Sharyo gallery cars from 2006 to 2017. GO Transit - borrowed both CP Rail and Chicago and North Western cars for trial runs in 1976. MARC Train - Acquired 12 Ex-Metra gallery bilevel coaches, often used on the Brunswick Line; replaced by Bombardier MARC IV in early 2015 and returned to Metra. Steam Railroading Institute - Gallery cars intended for the proposed MiTrain Commuter Rail

Current owners OwnerNumbersTypeHeritageYear builtBuilderDispositionMetra700–787790–795CoachCoach/CabBurlington Route1950–651965BuddOperating, rebuilt in 1973700–740, 752, 781, 790–795 sold to MItrain.796–815816–8207100–7121Coach/CabCoachCoachBurlington Northern197319731977–78Operating6001–6194CoachMetra2002–05Nippon Sharyo7200–7382Milwaukee Road1961–80Budd7400–7497Metra1996–98AmerailOperating, rebuilt in 20128200–8238Coach/CabMilwaukee Road1961–74BuddOperating8239–8275RTA1978–80Operating – some have been converted to coaches.8400–8478Metra1994–98Morrison-Knudsen/AmerailOperating – mainly assigned to the UP lines.8501–86082002–05Nippon SharyoOperating7700–7866CoachChicago and North Western1960–70PullmanOperating; 12 coaches sold to MARC and later reacquired by 20157600–76131955St. LouisRetired – two preserved at the Illinois Railway Museum7650–76811956PullmanRetired – one preserved at the Illinois Railway Museum7867–7871Rock Island1970Pullman7869 now a bike car. Rest retired7881–7885CoachRock Island1970PullmanRetired7900–7901Club CarChicago and North Western1955St. Louis8700–8763Coach/Cab1960–68PullmanRetired – one preserved at the Illinois Railway Museum8749 is a bicycle car.VRE710–730UnspecifiedVRE2006–08Sumitomo/Nippon SharyoOperating800–819, 850–869, 870–879Unspecified2007-09820–848†Unspecified2014WeGo Star400-402CabMetra, CB&Q, RTA, MITrainUnspecifiedBudd, Previous Cars by PullmanOperating, previous Pullmans retired500-503CoachBNSF40-45Track InspectionTranscisco ToursUnspecifiedPullmanOperatingCaltrain3800-3825Trailer-LuggageCaltrain1985Nippon SharyoRetired3826-3835Trailer-Bike3836-3841Trailer3842-385119863852-386520004000-4020Cab-Bike19854021-40262000 † Eight cars ordered in February 2012 with options for 42 more. As of 2018, 21 further cars had been procured from these options.

EMU current owners

OwnerNumbersTypeHeritageYear builtBuilderStatusMetra1201–1226MU CoachMetra2005Nippon SharyoOperating1227–12382012Sumitomo Group1239–127920131280-13862014-20161501–1630Illinois Central1971–1972St. LouisRetired1631–16661978–1979BombardierSouth Shore Line301-314MU CoachSouth Shore Line2009Nippon SharyoOperating

Preserved cars Three cars, two coaches and a cab car, are preserved at the Illinois Railway Museum. Others serve on heritage railroads like the North Shore Scenic Railroad, which has 3, all of which are in the original C&NW paint scheme. Numerous others survive, but are still in operation on railroads like Metra. Ex-Agence metropolitaine de transport gallery cab coach number 900 is on display at the Canadian Railway Museum in Saint-Constant, Quebec. The Gold Coast Railroad Museum homes 4 Coaches and 2 Cab Control cars, which are used on their bigger, more popular trains. Ex-Metra cab car 8758 is stored at the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum in Campo, California, with CZRY reporting marks. The Baja California Railroad also makes use of some gallery cars on the Tijuana-Tecate Tourist Train.

Future Eventually this railcar will be phased out. Two large passenger railroads are getting new equipment to phase out the cars, with Metra and Virginia Railway Express purchasing custom Coradia Bi-Levels from Alstom, and Caltrain getting Stadler KISS EMUs from Stadler Rail, to become fully electrified.

Gallery

See also Bombardier Bi-Level Coach Hi-Level

References

External links