What is a Vista Dome?

The Vista-Dome is a deluxe coach with a glass compartment rising out of the roof. This railroad passenger car has a second floor with 24 or 30 seats, lots of windows and no obstructions. The front and rear walls of the dome are windows. The entire side of the dome is made of windows. Curved glass is used to transition from the side to the roof. All of this glass allows passengers to view the all the great and vast scenery. At night only the only lights used are to illuminate the floor allowing passengers to look up and watch for falling stars. A Vista-Dome has only one set of stairs up and down. It is not the place to hide from a ticket collecting conductor.

The Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad, the Burlington Railroad, introduced the Vista-Dome passenger car into regular service in 1947 on it's Twin Zephyr train. It was part of the standard equipment of the California Zephyr train when that train started running on March 20, 1949. The Twin Cities Zephyr train included 5 Vista-Dome cars. Dome cars were not suitable for service on most eastern railroads because of clearance problems. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the only pre-Amtrak east coast railroad that had Vista-Domes in revenue service. The domes were a part of the Columbian and Capitol trains.

look up... look down... look all around!

The Vista-Dome car was conceived by Cyrus Osborn, a General Motors vice president, in 1944 as he rode in the diesel locomotive of a freight train in the Glenwood Canyon. Overtaken with the views that were not obscured by the walls of a passenger car, he contemplated a method to provide passengers with the same breathtaking views he was experiencing and started sketching a way to provide train passengers a means of viewing the scenery. The president of the Burlington Railroad saw the early sketches done by Mr Osborn and converted one of the railroad's passenger cars into a dome car. This prototype car was named Silver Dome and was put into service in 1945. It was such a hit that before the end of that year the Burlington placed orders for 40 dome cars to be built. The Budd Company was the first company to deliver dome cars to the Burlington in 1947. The Burlington coined the name Vista-Dome for it's line of dome cars. Other railroads were soon running with dome cars built by the Budd Company, Pullman-Standard, and American Car & Foundry. For more information about the California Zephyr train visit the California Zephyr Virtual Museum. The operators of the California Zephyr used the Vista-Dome as a powerful marketing tool issuing advertisements and brochures featuring the Vista-Dome. I've found some of the ads and other marketing literature used by the Burlington and other railroads in the United States and Canada and present them here.

I've ridden in dome cars on my trip across Canada on VIA Rails The Canadian in 2002 and on my 2004 Alaska Rail journey on the Alaska Railroad Denali Star .

For your viewing pleasure I present photographs I've assembled of Vista Dome cars. I photographed the vista dome, Native Son, at the station in Fullerton, California in 1992 or 1993. In 2001 it was sold and became the Bella Vista, available for private charter. There's a photo of the Silver Lariat when it was in regular service and a couple of photos I took of it at Los Angeles Union Station in 1993.

Photos of VistaDome cars

Native Son	Native Son
Native Son	Union Pacific 9005
Union Pacific "Harriman"	Union Pacific 9009
UP Vista-Dome 103	Union Pacific Vista Domes
Union Pacific 7011	3 Union Pacific domes, 1 is the City of SF
City of Sanfrancisco on the end of the UP City of Los Angeles train	Union Pacific 9004
VIA Rail Skyline	VIA Rail Kootenay Park
VIA Rail Skyline
Burlington Silver Saddle	Burlington Silver Horizon
Burlington Silver Brand	Burlington Silver Cup
Burlington Silver Terrace Parlor Dome	Burlington Silver Saddle
Silver Lariat at LA Union Station in 1993	Silver Lariat at LA Union Station in 1993
Burlington Silver Chateau	Burlington Silver Kettle
Burlington Silver Lariat	Burlington Silver Saddle
Burlington Silver Scene	Burlington Silver Castle
Western Pacific Silver Planet	Western Pacific Silver Mountain
Rio Grande Silver Pony	Rio Grande Silver Shop
Rio Grande Silver Mustang	Denver and Rio Grande Western Silver Bronco
Rio Grande Silver Sky	Burlington Silver View
Rio Grande Silver Sky	Burlington Silver Ranch
Twin Cities Zephyr train with 5 Vista-Domes	Silver Schooner postcard
Northern Pacific 553	Northern Pacific 554
Northern Pacific	CB&Q Northern Pacific 380
Northern Pacific 377	Northern Pacific 554
Great Northern Railway 1332	Spokane, Portland & Seattle 306
Alaska Railroad 501 and 521	Alaska Railroad 502
Alaska Railroad 522
Southern Railroad 522	Southern Railroad 1613
privately owned Sierra Hotel	Amtrak 9351
Denver and Rio Grande Western 1250	Burlington Silver Dome, orginal Vista Dome
Santa Fe 501	Santa Fe vista-dome in San Diego
Great Northern 1320	Great Northern 1331
3rd Dome In Cal Zephyr Train No17 7-16-57	Inside of a Vista Dome
Inside a VIA Rail vista-dome	Looking up into the dome
Dawn in a Vista Dome	A dome after passengers have gone to bed
Inside a Southern vista dome
Inside an Alaska Railroad Vista Dome	Inside an Alaska Railroad Vista Dome

History of the Native Son, the first photo on this page

This car was built by ACF, American Car and Foundry, in 1955 as Union Pacific 9006. Initially assigned to the UP "City of Portland" train which ran between Chicago and Portland, Oregon. Acquired by the original Auto-Train in 1973. Converted to private car by Golden Spike Tours and named Native Son. The car was completely rebuilt to a dome-sleeper in 2001 and named Bella Vista.

Names of the Vista-Dome cars used on the Californa Zephyr train

Domitory-Buffet-Lounge Cars
Silver Club, Silver Lounge, Silver Roundup, Silver Shop, Silver Chalet, Silver Hostel

Bedroom-Buffet-Lounge-Observation Cars
Silver Horizon, Silver Penthouse, Silver Solarium, Silver Lookout, Silver Sky, Silver Crescent, Silver Planet