Once again, it is Friday, and time for another photo of the week!Today's photo is of the Flying Yankee, a streamlined train built by Budd in 1935 for the Boston & Maine (B&M) and Maine Central (MEC) Railroads. It is currently undergoing restoration in Lincoln, NH, and periodically the group that is restoring it holds open houses where you can go see the train at no cost. Here is the photo:
This is the interior of the fully restored second car, a coach. The observation car and the power car are not at this point in their restoration yet, but the rear section of the power car, which is another coach section, is restored like this. In total, five trainsets were built for different railroads, of which three exist today. One has been cosmetically restored and is a static display in the Smithsonian, one is in Illinois but unrestored, the third, the Flying Yankee, is undergoing full restoration and is slated for operation upon restoration.
In 1934 Budd built a streamlined Zephyr trainset for the Chicago, Burlington, & Quincy (CB&Q) Railroad. This train featured all welded stainless steel construction, a Winton 8 cylinder diesel prime mover, and an articulated design where two car ends were mounted on the same truck, permanently coupling the whole train together. The Flying Yankee was based on the CB&Q version, with slight variance. The CB&Q design had a baggage section, which the B&M design redesigned as additional coach seating.
The Flying Yankee rolled out of the Budd plant in 1935 and was delivered that March, 76 years ago this month. It went on a tour of the B&M and MEC systems during all of March, stopping at many of the bigger stations for people to go on board and see the new train. On April 1, it entered revenue service. It left Portland and went south to Boston, was turned around to go north to Portland and further to Bangor, turned around again to go back to Boston, and turned one more time for its return to Portland. The next day, it followed the same routine. The train got Sundays off, when it was cleaned and maintained for the next week's runs. Later in its life, it was rerouted and renamed. It has held names such as The Cheshire, The Minuteman, and The Businessman, but Flying Yankee remains to this day the name that everyone recognizes it by.
On May 7, 1957, the Flying Yankee ran for the last time. By this point it was 22 years old and no longer a technological advancement, and passengers were leaving the the rails in favor of air and auto travel. B&M donated the trainset to Edaville Railroad in Massachusetts. Edaville has a 2 foot gauge tourist line, which cannot handle the standard gauge Flying Yankee, so it was a static display for nearly 40 years. In the early 1990s it was bought by someone else and moved to Glen, NH. In 1997, the state of New Hampshire bought the train and moved it to Claremont, where Claremont Concord (CCRR) Railroad's shops are located for restoration. Structural restoration was performed there, and in 2005 it was moved to its present location in Lincoln for mechanical restoration.
The original plan was for the train to be running by 2010, for its 75th birthday. It is still undergoing restoration, but the Flying Yankee Restoration Group did have a birthday party for it anyway. For more information about the Flying Yankee, its restoration process, and vintage photos, visit the Flying Yankee Restoration Group's website at www.flyingyankee.com.
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