This section covers the 10 cars built by PS and delivered in 1952. The first one built (50) was involved in a serious accident and burned. The car shell was returned to Pullman and rebuilt and delivered a second time as #50.
These were the first "full domes" built, seated 68 above and 28 in a cafe downstairs, and were the first PS domes with curved glass. 16 tons of air was needed to cool the cars and a 70hp diesel generator was included.
Six of the cars were assigned to the Olympian Hiawatha, and two each to the morning and afternoon Hiawathas (Chicago-Twin Cities). After the Olympian "HI" was dropped in 1961, they ran in "City" trains in conjuction with UP and saw some use in Chicago-Madison short-hauls.
In 1964, the six surplus cars went to Canadian National for use in "Super Continental" and "Panorama" trains. CN re-christened them "Sceneramics". In 1971, CN rebuilt the upper deck into a 3 section lounge, cutting seating from 68 to 56. In 1973 the upper deck was converted into an open lounge seating 54, and the lower level cafe was converted to a diner with seating reduced from 28 to 20.
Princess Tours tried a brief run on Amtrak's Coast Starlight as the "California Sun Express" in 1990 with 3 of the cars owned by Tour Alaska that had been idled when Princess introduced "Ultra Domes" in Alaska service in 1988 (both Princess & Tour Alaska were owned by P&O Orient lines). Those cars were converted to 66 seats upstairs and 22 downstairs.
68 Dome Seats, Tap Room With 28 Seats On Lower Level
