Twilight of the dome cars

Twilight of the dome cars

Rio Grande dome car Silver Sky brings up the markers at Grand Junction, Colo., in March 1974. Mel Lawrence, George W. Hamlin collection   Following the delivery of dome cars constructed for the Union Pacific and Wabash for the City of St. Louis in 1958, U.S. intercity passenger rail service entered into what turned out to be a terminal illness; thereafter, no more new dome cars were ordered.   However, a different factor in the U.S. railroad ind…