Silver Dome, the first Burlington Vista-Dome car.

(Burlington Route, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

VISTA DOME

The first successful dome cars were conceived by Cyrus Osborn of General Motors Electro-Motive Division (EMD). In 1944, while traveling in an EMD-built Denver & Rio Grande Western locomotive through Glenwood Canyon in Colorado, he recognized the wonderful views the passengers could enjoy from a panoramic dome. His idea was to provide a full 360-degree view from above the train in newly built "Vista-Dome" cars.

Mr. Osborn took the idea to the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (CB&Q). The CB&Q took a stainless steel Budd-built coach and rebuilt it at their shops in Aurora, Illinois, with the Vista Dome imagined and sketched by Cyrus Osborn. The dome area featured seats that were positioned lengthwise in the cabin facing double-pane windows which were designed to improve insulation. This first Vista Dome was called, appropriately, Silver Dome. On July 23, 1945, the car was tested in the consist of the Twin Cities Zephyr. Vista Domes quickly found their way into many Burlington Zephyr consists, culminating in 1949 with the inauguration of the California Zephyr.

The Budd Company built unnamed No. 558 in 1954 for the CB&Q for use on the North Coast Limited.

The Vista-Dome coach sat 46 in the lower level and accommodated 24 in non-revenue seating in the dome.

(jpmueller99 from Shenandoah Valley of VA, USA, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

Production

Soon after Silver Dome entered service, railroad managers and passenger train executives met to discuss the merits of the dome car design. Budd's first domes, completed in Fall 1947, were the first to feature curved glass and full streamlining effects on the domes and entered service on the Burlington's Twin Zephyrs between Chicago and Minneapolis-St. Paul.

The monument from Glenwood Canyon in its current location at the Colorado Railroad Museum.

(Sean Lamb (User:Slambo), CC BY-SA 2.5 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5>, via Wikimedia Commons)

Monument

On September 14, 1950, a monument was established at Glenwood Canyon. Called "Monument to an Idea", this monument celebrated the Vista Dome at the place where it was first inspired. In the late 1980s, the monument was moved to the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden, Colorado, to make way for expansion of Interstate 70.

A 1945 advertisement announcing the first dome car. The Burlington tested the popularity of the car by switching

it onto various train routes. The railroad promised to build a fleet of these cars if they were successful.

 (Burlington Route, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

The Northern Pacific Railway thought so highly of the Vista Dome they began to call their famous passenger train the "Vista Dome" North Coast Limited.

(NPR, Public domain, W. Lenheim Collection)

Ex-CB&Q dome coach No. 4718 Silver Lariat in excursion service.

(Jcesare at English Wikipedia, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

Dome Cars built by Budd

Includes Big Dome, Strata-Dome, etc.

See Also:

Dome Car

Budd Company

Passenger Cars