Bullet (interurban)

Bullet
P&W #206 on display at Steamtown in Scranton, Pennsylvania
In service	1931–1990
Manufacturer	J. G. Brill Company
Constructed	1931
Number built	11
Operator(s)	P&W SEPTA
Specifications
Car length	55 feet (17 m)
Maximum speed	92 mph (148 km/h)
Weight	26 short tons (24 t)
Traction motors	4 × 100 horsepower (75 kW)
Bogies	Brill 89-E
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Notes

The Bullet was a high-speed electric multiple-unit passenger car produced by the J. G. Brill Company in Philadelphia for the Philadelphia and Western Railroad (P&W) in 1931, and then similar, somewhat smaller single-unit, single-end versions were built for the Fonda, Johnstown and Gloversville Railroad in 1932. Few were sold because of the Great Depression and the public transport decline in the 1930s. However, some of the P&W cars ran for nearly 60 years.

The Bullets were a result of a broad research program. This program was led by Philadelphia and Western's vice-chairman W. L. Butler, who had been largely responsible for development of the Cincinnati and Lake Erie Railroad's Red Devil car's design, in collaboration with the J. G. Brill Company. Unlike the Red Devils, the Bullets had all-aluminum bodies. Their design was improved over earlier styles of railcars after a lot of wind tunnel research – the first in the American railway industry (German Zeppelin wind-tunnel research had been used for the 1929 "Schienenzeppelin") – the Bullet was streamlined to minimize the air resistance. According to Felix W. Pawlowski of University of Michigan, this would save 40% or more of the energy required by the conventional type of passenger car at speeds in excess of 60 mph (97 km/h). They also developed an improved low-level bogie (truck) design, and the Bullets could run as multiple-unit trains. Like the Red Devils, the Bullets had four 100-horsepower (75 kW) motors. The Bullets as built for the P&W were longer at 55 feet (17 m) and a bit heavier at 26 short tons (24 t), but with only about half the weight as typical railcars of that time.

The P&W cars operated exclusively off of third rail, while the FJ&G cars used 600v overhead wire and trolley poles with trolley wheels.

The Bullet was a forerunner of today's high-speed trains, of which the first were inaugurated later in the 1930s. Among other trains, the Japanese Odakyū 3000 series SE Romancecar was inspired by the sleek and streamlined Bullets. In 1957, the Romancecar set a speed record for narrow-gauge trains of 145 km/h (90,1 mph). The Bullets are called "ancestors of the TGV, Eurostar, AVE, ICE, Shinkansen, and the Acela Express" (in English, the first Shinkansens were named Bullet Trains) and they are also strikingly similar to Germany's Fliegender Hamburger.. The Bullets' maximum speed was 92 miles per hour (148 km/h), though they reached 100 mph (160 km/h) while testing extended-wheelbase trucks.