A streamliner is a vehicle incorporating streamlining in a shape that provides reduced air resistance. The term is applied to high-speed railway trainsets of the 1930s to 1950s, and to their successor "bullet trains". Less commonly, the term is applied to fully faired upright and recumbent bicycles. As part of the Streamline Moderne trend, the term was applied to passenger cars, trucks, and other light-, medium-, or heavy-duty vehicles. Vehicle streamlining has become so prevalent that it is no longer an outstanding characteristic. In land speed racing, it is a term applied to the long, slender, custom-built, high-speed vehicles with enclosed wheels.
Trains
Before World War II
Europe
Germany, 1930: The first high-speed streamliner in Germany was the Schienenzeppelin, an experimental propeller-driven single railcar, built in 1930. On 21 June 1931, the car set a speed record of on a run between Berlin and Hamburg. In 1932, the propeller was removed, and a hydraulic system was installed. The Schienenzeppelin achieved in 1933. 1932: The Schienenzeppelin led to the construction of the diesel-electric DRG Class SVT 877 "Flying Hamburger". This two-car train set had 98 seats and a top speed of . In regular service with the Deutsche Reichsbahn, starting on 15 May 1933, this train ran the between Hamburg and Berlin in 138 minutes with an average speed of . 1934/1935: The SVT 877 was the prototype for the DRG Class SVT 137, first built in for use in the FDt express train service. In test drives, the SVT 137 "Bauart Leipzig" set a world speed record of in 1936. The fastest regular service with the SVT 137 was between Hannover and Hamm with an average speed of . This service lasted until 22 August 1939. 1935: Henschel & Son, a major manufacturer of steam locomotives, introduced the 4-6-4 DRG Class 05 high-speed streamliner locomotives for use on the Deutsche Reichsbahn Frankfurt am Main to Berlin route. Three examples were built in 1935–36. Built for top speeds of over , the DRG Class 05 locomotives soon proved much faster in test runs. The DRG 05-002 made seven runs in 1935–36 during which it attained top speeds of more than with trains up to weight. 11 May 1936: The DRG 05-002 set the world speed record for steam locomotives after reaching on the Berlin–Hamburg line while hauling a train. The locomotive's engine power was more than . 30 May 1936: The DRG 05-002 set an unbroken start-stop speed record for steam locomotives. During the return run from a test on the Berlin-Hamburg route it covered the ~ from Wittenberg to a signal stop before Berlin-Spandau in 48 min 32 s, meaning an average of between start and stop. The DRG 05-002 was, for a time, the official holder of the world top speed record for steam locomotives.
Austria/Poland, 1933: In the 1930s, streamlined Luxtorpeda diesel units built by Austrian and later Polish manufacturers reached speeds of up to in Poland, but there were no tracks for such speeds.
1937: The first Polish streamlined steam locomotive Pm36-1 () pulled the Nord Express between Poland and France (Paris). This locomotive was awarded a golden medal at the World Expo in Paris in 1937.
United Kingdom, 1934: Development of streamlined passenger services began in the UK. The Great Western Railway introduced relatively low-speed streamlined railcars (known as "flying bananas"). 1935 The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) introduced the "Silver Jubilee" service using streamlined A4 class steam locomotives and full-length trains rather than railcars. 1937: The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) introduced its "Coronation Scot" service using the Princess Coronation Class streamlined locomotives, achieving a speed of near Crewe on its inaugural run. 1938: The LNER locomotive Mallard, which had been built for "Silver Jubilee" service, set on a test run a still unsurpassed official record for the highest top speed attained by a steam locomotive, .
Czechoslovakia, 1934: Czechoslovak State Railways ordered two motor railcars with a maximum speed of . They were constructed by the Tatra company, which was producing the first streamlined mass-produced automobile, the Tatra 77, at that time. The railcar project was led by Tatra chief designer Hans Ledwinka and received a streamlined design by Paul Jaray. The railcars were unique thanks to the patented transmission system invented by Josef Sousedík—at lower speeds, it operated like a petrol-electric transmission, and at around , it automatically switched to direct mechanical transmission without any gears. The railcars thus had good acceleration, low fuel consumption, and were easy to drive. Both ČSD Class M 290.0 were delivered in 1936; one of them reached during a test run. They were run on the prominent Czechoslovak route Bratislava-Prague under the "Slovenská strela" (Slovak for "Slovak Arrow") brand.
Italy, 1934: State-owned railway company Ferrovie dello Stato (FS) developed the FS Class ETR 200, a three-unit electric streamliner. The first of those trains entered revenue service in 1937. 6 December 1937: An ETR 200 made a top speed of between Campoleone and Cisterna on the run Rome-Naples. 1939: The ETR 212 made . The journey from Bologna to Milan was made in 77 minutes, meaning an average of .
Netherlands, 1934: Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) introduced in the Materieel 34 (DE3), a three-unit streamlined diesel-electric trainset. An electric version, Materieel 36, went into service in 1936. 1930s: The NS developed in the 1930s a streamlined version of the class 3700/3800 steam locomotive, nicknamed "potvis" (sperm whale). 1940: The "Dieselvijf" (DE5), a top speed five-unit diesel-electric trainset based on DE3, completed the Dutch streamliner fleet. In test runs, a DE5 ran 1940: The electric was built.
Soviet Union, 1937: On the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the October Revolution, the Soviet Kolomna Locomotive Works produced two examples of the wind-tunnel designed SŽD series 2-3-2K (4-6-4 Whyte Notation) streamliner locomotive for Moscow-Leningrad service. In testing, it was shown to reach speeds greater than — in a test ride, and it entered service in 1938. Production of the series was canceled with the onset of World War II. 1938: One example of SŽD series (4-6-4 Whyte Notation) express train locomotive, with bullet-like fairing, was produced by Voroshilovgrad Locomotive Works. In 1957 it reached a speed of in test ride, what was the last steam locomotive record in the USSR.
United States
The earliest known streamlined rail equipment in the United States were McKeen rail motorcars that the company built for the Union Pacific and the Southern Pacific Railroads between 1905 and 1917. Most McKeen cars sported a pointed "wind splitter" front, a rounded rear and round porthole style windows in a style that was as much nautically as aerodynamically inspired. The McKeen cars were unsuccessful because the internal combustion drive technology for that application was unreliable at the time. Further, the lightweight frames dictated by the cars' limited power tended to break. Streamlined rail motorcars would appear again in the early 1930s after the internal combustion-electric propulsion technology that General Electric developed and that the Electro-Motive Company (EMC) promoted became the accepted technology for use in rail motorcars in the 1920s.
Streetcar builders sought to build electric cars with improved speed for interurban lines through the 1920s. In 1931, the J. G. Brill Company introduced the Bullet, a lightweight, wind-tunnel designed car with a rounded front that could run either singly or in multiple-unit sets, capable of speeds over . Although Depression-era economics cut into sales, the design was highly successful in service, lasting into the 1980s.
In 1925, the recently formed Pullman Car & Manufacturing Corporation experimented with lightweight self-propelled railcars in co-operation with the Ford Motor Company concurrent with Ford's development of its Trimotor aircraft. In 1931, Pullman enlisted the services of the Trimotor design contributor William Bushnell Stout to apply airplane fuselage design concepts to railcars. The result was the Railplane (not the Bennie Railplane), a streamlined self-propelled railcar with a tapered cross-section, lightweight tubular aluminum space frame and duralumin skin. In testing with the Gulf, Mobile and Northern Railroad in 1932, it reportedly reached . The Union Pacific had been seeking improvements to self-propelled railcars based on European design ideas. The performance of the Railplane encouraged the railroad to increase its efforts in partnership with Pullman-Standard.
In 1931, the Budd Company reached an agreement with the French tire company Michelin to produce pneumatic-tired rail motorcars in the US, as an improvement on the heavy, underpowered and shimmy-prone "doodlebugs" that ran on American tracks. In that endeavor, Budd would produce lightweight rail equipment utilizing unibody construction and the high strength alloy stainless steel, enabled by shot welding, a breakthrough in electrical welding technique. The venture produced articulated power-trailer car sets with streamlined styling, which left the Budd Company just a (much) more powerful engine away from producing a history-making streamlined trainset.
The Great Depression caused a catastrophic loss of business for the rail industry as a whole and for manufacturers of motorized railcars whose primary markets, branch line services, were among the first to be cut. The interests of lightweight equipment manufacturers and rail operators therefore focused on the development of a new generation of lightweight, high-speed, internal combustion-electric powered streamlined trainsets that were primarily designed for mainline service.
The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad (Burlington) and the Union Pacific sought to increase the efficiency of their passenger services by looking to the lightweight, petroleum-powered technology that Budd and Pullman-Standard were developing. The Union Pacific named its project the M-10000 (designated first as The Streamliner and later as the City of Salina when in revenue service from 1935 to 1941). The Burlington initially named its first train the Burlington Zephyr. The two railroads' trains each entered service as three-car articulated sets (including the power car). The Winton Engine Corporation, a subsidiary of General Motors (GM), manufactured the engines for both locomotives. The prime mover for the Burlington Zephyr'''s diesel-electric propulsion was a new 600 hp diesel engine. The Union Pacific's M-10000 had a spark-ignition engine that ran on "petroleum distillate", a fuel similar to kerosene. The two trainsets were star attractions at the 1934 World's Fair ("A Century of Progress") in Chicago, Illinois. During its set's demonstration period, the Union Pacific named the M-10000 as the Streamliner, providing the first use of the term with respect to trains. The Streamliners publicity tour in February–May 1934 attracted over a million visitors and gained attention in national media as the herald of a new era in rail transportation.