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  • "Project Thunder" The Marlboro Unlimited Train

  • General discussion about railroad operations, related facilities, maps, and other resources.
General discussion about railroad operations, related facilities, maps, and other resources.

Moderator: Robert Paniagua

 #734815  by Tracer
 
Yeah its another cigarette thread.............
Anyone know anything about marlboro cigarette train in the mid 90's? I bet railfans everywere were smoking ten packs a day for a chance to ride it! I can just picture the dome cars completely filled with smoke if they actually used it. (The top link has a cool video)
http://www.archive.org/details/tobacco_oyp23e00
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?ti ... ct_Thunder
(quote from the link)
Project Thunder was a plan by Philip Morris to build and operate a custom-made, luxurious 20-car Marlboro train as a promotion for Marlboro cigarettes. The plan was to give selected smokers the "trip of a lifetime" on a "deluxe train through Marlboro Country." The train would consist entirely of double-decker cars and would feature amenities such as a hot tub car, massage rooms and gambling. The train was apparently going to be used for only one season, from May-September 1996, at an estimated cost to PM of $44 million.
 #734919  by 2nd trick op
 
It was a classic example of Madison Avenue running up against a changing economic reality. Apparently, the advertising types who dreamed up the idea were operating under the false impression that the equipment wouldn't be as hard to come by, nor as expensive to procure, as it turned out. They probably also had no concept of the smaller, but more congested rail industry's need for command over its scheduling and dispatching, and the heightened concerns over liability; suprising, since Philip Morris itself is such a juicy target.
 #735250  by westr
 
I remember the ads for the Marlboro Unlimited. Some of the cars were partially completed by Rader Railcar, aka Colorado Railcar, before Philip Morris cancelled the project. Four of the unfinished cars were retained by Colorado Railcar as demo models. Two of them had interiors installed. I don't know for sure, but I suspect these interiors were built specifically for filming the on-board scenes in the commercial and promotional photos. See http://www.trainweb.org/ultradomes/crm/lcsctour.html for pictures.