Gallery Cars Masterclass

A renovated Metra F40PH-3 brings up the rear of a mix of ex-CB&Q and Milwaukee Road Gallery Cars past the Amtrak Chicago Car Yard, with the Union Station Power House in the background. Jeff Lassahn photo.

Once WWII ended, the United States entered a construction boom as well as a baby boom. More and more people started moving out of the city centre and into newly-built suburbs. These people vastly increased the demand for commuter rail, to get them to their downtown jobs. Railways were looking to replace their commuter fleets with more modern equipment. There was need to carry more passengers per car, but it wasn’t possible to make the cars higher. So why not build up? As such, Pullman and later Budd developed what became known as the Gallery Car.

While the chassis was a standard passenger car design, the height of the car was raised as much as was permitted. Cantilevered walkways were placed above the lower-level seating, with additional seating added on the upper level. The open space in the middle of the car allowed one conductor to check tickets on both levels, and takes credit for the car’s name: the Gallery Car. The cars had wide centre doors leading to stairs to each upper level. These cars became extremely well-liked by passengers, and reduced boarding time at stations. 

Two Gallery Cars sit, doors open for servicing, under the Chicago skyline. October, 2022. Jeff Lassahn photo.

The Gallery Cars were designed to be as operationally versatile as possible. Starting in 1961, Budd developed a cab- and trailer-car design. As such, the train could be controlled from the cab-car end, with the locomotive at the back pushing the train, in what is known as push-pull service. This saves the train and the locomotive from having to turn around at terminal stations. 

A Metra cab-car leads an evening train north towards Chicago Union Station. Josh Anderchek photo.

The Gallery Cars are a staple of Chicago-area commuter trains, beginning with commuter lines run by Chicago, Burlington & Quincy in 1951. Milwaukee Road received their first order of Gallery Cars in 1961, and Rock Island in 1965, all for service in the Chicago area. These cars (along with CB&Q cars 7100-7121) had smaller fluting on the sides, while the remaining CB&Q cars had wider fluting designed to match their single-level Budd cars. 

The difference in fluting is apparent when the two styles of car are juxtaposed side by side. Ex-Milwaukee Road car on the left, ex-CB&Q car on the right. Josh Anderchek photos.

Interestingly, not all Gallery Cars were equipped with on-board lavatories. Only cars 725 through 731, 740 through 744, 750 through 787, and 790 through 795 have toilets. Metra is careful to even out the balance between toilet cars and non-toilet cars on their consists.

A lesser-known area of service in the Gallery Car repertoire is Montréal. Canadian Pacific ordered nine Gallery Cars from Canadian Vickers, and used them on Montréal-area commuter routes. AMT also used them when they took over Montréal commuter services in 1997. The cars were retired in 2010. 

A Metra F40PH-3 in its original paint scheme brings up the rear of a Gallery Car-clad commuter train on its way into Chicago Union Station, on a gorgeous October day with the Chicago skyline in the background. Jeff Lassahn photo.

By the mid-1970s, commuter rail services in Chicago were losing money for their respective operators. To provide stability for commuter rail in the Chicago area, the Illinois General Assembly formed the Regional Transportation Authority in 1974. The RTA funded and planned the Chicago area’s public transport. When Rock Island and Milwaukee Road went bankrupt, the RTA created the Northeast Illinois Commuter Rail Corporation to operate those lines in 1982. 

The RTA was reorganized in 1983, and a commuter rail division was set up to oversee commuter rail operations. This division operated the two Milwaukee Road lines and the Rock Island line directly, and operated the other lines indirectly through purchase-of-service agreements with the various railways that owned the tracks. 

An ex-CB&Q Gallery Car in the late afternoon sun. If you look closely, you’ll see the BNSF logo on the left side of the door, an indication of the purchase-of-service agreement in place on this line. Josh Anderchek photo.

In order to achieve clarity in this confusing system of commuter operators, the commuter rail division came up with the branding “Metra” (short for Metropolitan Rail) in 1985, in order to provide one brand for all the commuter services, no matter who owned or operated them. Metra continues to operate 288 Gallery Car coaches and 102 cab-cars today, forming the backbone of Chicago commuter rail.

Here is a roster of Gallery Cars used in the Chicago area, to give you an idea of the numbers and paint schemes you might have seen on the various commuter lines around the city. 

 Chicago, Burlington & Quincy

Milwaukee Road

Rock Island

Metra