The Superliner is a type of bilevel intercity railroad passenger car
used by Amtrak, the national rail passenger carrier in the United
States. The design was based on Budd's Hi-Level vehicles, employed by
the Santa Fe Railway on its El Capitan trains. Pullman-Standard built
284 cars, known as Superliner I (lounge pictured), from 1975 to 1981;
Bombardier Transportation built 195, known as Superliner II, from 1991
to 1996. Car types include coaches, dining cars, lounges, and sleeping
cars. Most passenger spaces are on the upper level, which features a row
of windows on both sides. Boarding is on the lower level; passengers
climb up a center stairwell to access the upper level. The first
Superliner I cars entered service in February 1979, with deliveries
continuing through 1981. Amtrak assigned the cars to both long-distance
and short-distance trains in the Western United States. The first
permanent assignment, in October 1979, was to the Chicago–Seattle
Empire Builder.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superliner_%28railcar%29>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1846:
The Donner Party, an American pioneer group which became known
for resorting to cannibalism when they became trapped in the Sierra
Nevadas, left Independence, Missouri, for California.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donner_Party>
1942:
World War II: Soviet forces under Marshal Semyon Timoshenko
launched a major offensive in eastern Ukraine, but were encircled and
destroyed by German troops two weeks later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_Kharkov>
1982:
Juan María Fernández y Krohn attempted to assassinate Pope
John Paul II with a bayonet in Fátima, Portugal.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Mar%C3%ADa_Fern%C3%A1ndez_y_Krohn>
1998:
Four students were shot and killed by Indonesian soldiers at
Trisakti University in Jakarta, which led to widespread riots and
eventually the resignation of President Suharto nine days later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trisakti_shootings>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
motherhood statement:
(chiefly Canada, US) A vague, feel-good platitude, especially one made
by a politician, that few people would disagree with.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/motherhood_statement>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
It may seem a strange principle to enunciate as the very first
requirement in a Hospital that it should do the sick no harm.
--Florence Nightingale
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Florence_Nightingale>