FULL-LENGTH observation cars, called Super Dome, provide seats for 68 passengers and a dining and lounge section on a lower level accommodating 28 persons. Ten of the new cars are making their bow on the Hiawatha trains of the Milwaukee Road operating between Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Seattle and Tacoma. The 42 curved window sections on each car measure five feet high and more than three feet wide. Stairways at either end enable the passengers to walk the full length of the car through the dome section. Passageways on the lower level permit passengers to reach other cars with- out having to walk through the dining-lounge section. Each double-deck car is air conditioned with refrigeration equipment that could produce 20 tons of ice a day. Unique features of the heating and cooling system are two “solar disks” atop the dome to supplement the regular thermostatic controls. These disks lower the temperature setting depending on the sun’s heat. The cars weigh 200,400 pounds each and were built by the Pullman-Standard Car Mfg. Co. at a cost of $320,000 apiece. Six-wheel trucks, which weigh 65,550 pounds and were de- signed for high-speed train service, support the cars. The cars are 85 feet long and the dome top is 15V2 feet above the rails.
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