Business: Too Lightweight

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Lightweight passenger trains, once looked on as the railroads' salvation in their fight against declining revenues and loss of passengers to the airlines, were in trouble last week:

¶ The Rock Island railroad removed the nation's first operative lightweight train, the Talgo-type Jet Rocket, from the 161-mile Chicago-Peoria run, put it to carrying commuters on the short haul between Joliet and Chicago.

¶ The New York Central put its famed Xplorer, which has been carrying passengers between Cleveland and Cincinnati, into short-haul service between Chicago and Elkhart, Ind.

¶ General Motors reported that one of its two experimental Aerotrains has been sent to the La Grange, Ill. yards for remodeling. The other, turned back by Union Pacific after a disappointing nine-month test run between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, is about to be leased to National Railways of Mexico for a tryout there.

Railroad riders generally have not liked the trains. Rock Island found that many passengers got dizzy watching the three-sectioned Jet coaches wriggle around curves. Others complained of the excessive vibration of the low-slung design.

Railroaders themselves are increasingly skeptical of the value of lightweight trains for main-line service. The Pennsylvania, after experimenting with lightweight trains between Washington and Philadelphia, ordered six new light electric cars of a more conventional design from Budd Co. for commuter service. The Chicago & North Western checked lightweight trains, but instead ordered 13 conventional-weight cars last week from Pullman-Standard. Surveying the trend, N. C. Dezendorf, boss of General Motors' electromotive division, admitted: "Several years ago, when lightweight trains were first discussed, there was tremendous enthusiasm among railroads for them. I was turning down orders. There's none of that now. The Eastern roads, which were the most enthusiastic, now seem to want to get completely out of the passenger business."