W.R. McKeen and Union Pacific Motor Cars
During the twentieth century, the Union Pacific Railroad gained worldwide renown for the development and operation of high output locomotives powered by steam, gas-electric, and the internal combustion engine. What is less commonly known is that the railroad embraced the internal combustion engine shortly after the turn of the century—just 36 years after the driving of the Golden Spike—in the form of the gasoline-powered passenger motor car. Although overshadowed by later advancements, the passenger motor car, of which many design elements would later be adapted to the railroad’s famous Streamliners, were the inaugural application of internal combustion technology on the Union Pacific.
The culmination of decades of research, this book is the definitive history of Union Pacific’s motor cars that explores their operations from the first test runs through the final operation.
Authors James Ehernberger and Marc Entze, hardcover 248 pages.