It was the first new train to consist entirely of dome cars, which were the brainchild of GM vice president and Electro-Motive Division (EMD) general manager Cyrus Osborn, who conceived the idea while riding in either an F-unit or a caboose in the Rocky Mountains in Glenwood Canyon, Colorado.

After being christened at a dedication ceremony in Chicago on May 28, 1947, the Train of Tomorrow embarked on a barnstorming tour of the United States and Canada that lasted for 28 months, covered 65,000 miles (105,000 km), and visited 181 cities and towns.

Moon Glow sat in a scrap yard for almost two decades before being discovered by the National Railway Historical Society (NRHS), who purchased and transported it to the Ogden Union Station Museum, where it is undergoing restoration.

[8] According to multiple sources, the Train of Tomorrow's dome cars were the brainchild of GM vice president and EMD general manager Cyrus Osborn, who conceived the idea while riding in an F-unit in the Rocky Mountains in Glenwood Canyon, Colorado.

"[12] After Osborn was reassured by EMD engineers that a dome car that would not be more limited in height clearance than a caboose could be built, he turned his idea over to Harley Earl and the General Motors (GM) Styling Section in Detroit.

[14] After the final design ideas were derived from the sketches, GM's Styling Section began building a 45-foot (13.72 m) scale model of a four-car train (each car was 10 feet (3.05 m) long), built of metal, plastic, and wood and featuring 175 painted clay figures of people and even tiny details such as dinner knives and cigarette packs.

After being completed, the model was unveiled in a former Cadillac showroom in Oak Park, Illinois, where it was displayed with a custom-built Western mountain scene backdrop illuminated with stage lighting.

[16] From February 21 to June 23, 1945, the model was shown to 350 officials from 55 different Class I railroads, most notably Ralph Budd of the Burlington, who was so moved by the display that he almost immediately ordered the passenger car Silver Alchemy (No.

"[18] After being revised, the model was repeatedly displayed at auto shows and other GM exhibitions through 1955, including at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry and at Motorama, before last being seen in Cincinnati in 1955 at a ceremony honoring Osborn.

[23] According to GM president Harlow Curtice, the Train of Tomorrow was an experiment in both design and mechanics, similar to its automotive concept cars such as the Le Sabre, XP-300, and Y-Job.

[4][32] It featured two 1,000-horsepower (750 kW), V12 GM Diesel engines mated to direct current (DC) generators that powered traction motors on each of the locomotive's trucks, which both had three axles.

[34] According to author Ric Morgan, it was "just a standard Diesel locomotive" aside from these unique graphics and cosmetic corrugated stainless steel added to match the exterior design of the cars.

[42] The kitchen covered roughly the first third of the car,[42] and it entirely constructed of stainless steel and featured a pan floor made of the anti-slip material Martex.

[50] Sleeping car Dream Cloud (Pullman plan number 4128) accommodated passengers in two drawing rooms, three compartments, and eight duplex roomettes, and also had 24 seats in its dome.

[62] The upper lounge featured a bar, a large sofa, built-in seats, three booths with Formica tabletops, and smoking stands also capable of holding beverages.

[63] The lower lounge also featured a built-in sofa and chairs, but they were finished with honey-colored leather that complemented the dark green carpet to give it "the appearance of a bar in a private club".

[63] The lower lounge also featured a bar created by Angelo Colonna that contained a refrigerator and an ice cube maker, glassware cabinets, and a cigar and cigarette humidor.

[72] On May 28 the Train of Tomorrow was dedicated at a ceremony held at the Palmer House Hotel that featured Chicago mayor Martin H. Kennelly and GM's Charles F. Kettering, Cyrus Osborn, and Alfred P.

[4][71] Approximately 1,000 GM and Pullman-Standard executives, businessmen and politicians attended the ceremony, during which Kettering's granddaughter, Jane, christening the train with a bottle of champagne.

[80] On October 27, the train departed on its "Western Tour", spending multiple days in Omaha, Nebraska; Denver, Colorado; Salt Lake City, Utah; Oakland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, California; Portland, Oregon; and Seattle, Washington, before the end of the year.

[84] On December 16, the train made a "celebrity run" between the Californian cities of Glendale and Saugus, with Eddie Bracken, Gordon "Wild Bill" Elliot, Jean Hersholt, Herbert Marshall, Joan Leslie, Art Linkletter, Walter Pidgeon, Ginger Rogers, and Ann Sothern on board.

[86] In early January, the train resumed its Western tour, stopping for multiple days in San Diego, California; Phoenix, Arizona; El Paso, Dallas, San Antonio, Fort Worth, and Houston, Texas; New Orleans, Louisiana; Miami, Tampa, and Orlando, Florida; Montgomery, Alabama; Memphis, Tennessee; Little Rock, Arkansas; Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Oklahoma; Wichita and Topeka, Kansas; Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri; Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Minnesota; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Des Moines, Iowa, before returning to Chicago on May 10.

[89] On July 16, the train visited the only automobile dealership on its itinerary, Lee Anderson's Chevrolet showroom in Lake Orion, Michigan, just north of Detroit.

[20][91] On September 25, the train left for touring again, spending days in Detroit and Pontiac, Michigan; Toledo, Warren, Columbus, Dayton, and Elyria, Ohio; Buffalo, Lockport and Elmsford, New York; Framingham, Massachusetts; Meriden and Bristol, Connecticut; and Baltimore, Maryland, before arriving in St. Louis for servicing at the Pullman shops there on December 14.

[92] On January 15, 1949, the Train of Tomorrow departed on its "Southeastern Tour", spending multiple days in Wilmington, Charlotte, Raleigh, and Portsmouth, North Carolina; Columbia, Spartanburg and Charleston, South Carolina; Augusta and Macon, Georgia; St. Petersburg, Tallahassee, and Pensacola, Florida; Nashville and Chattanooga, Tennessee; Huntington and Wheeling, West Virginia; Lexington, Kentucky; Elmira, Binghamton, and Poughkeepsie, New York; Scranton, Pennsylvania; Providence, Rhode Island; Manchester, New Hampshire; Portland, Maine; Worcester and Springfield, Massachusetts; Hartford, Connecticut; Canton and Akron, Ohio; Fort Wayne, South Bend, and Evansville, Indiana; Springfield and Peoria, Illinois; and Davenport, Iowa, before arriving in St. Louis on June 9 for a "shopping period" before the 1949 Chicago Railroad Fair.

[98] On March 18, 1950, in an internal memorandum to the railroad's executive committee, Union Pacific president A. E. Stoddard recommended purchasing the train for $500,000 and spending another $100,000 on refurbishing it and miscellaneous costs, with the intention of putting it into service between Portland and Seattle.

The EMD demonstrator locomotive that originally pulled the Train of Tomorrow was renumbered 988 by the Union Pacific and put into general service, separated from the four dome cars it toured with.

[106] After members of the National Railway Historical Society (NRHS) discovered it while on a fan trip to the Union Pacific shops and yard in Pocatello in June 1980, they asked Fernandez to donate the car to them, but he refused.

In 1984, after he decided to close his scrap yard due to difficulties with the Internal Revenue Service, Fernandez authorized the sale of the car to the Promontory Chapter of the NRHS for $138,000 on December 27, 1984, which was finalized on February 1, 1985.

[110] Between 1991 and 2001, the car was moved to various locations in and around Ogden for storage and a variety of refurbishment, which included sandblasting, the application of primer paint, and replacement glass for its windows that were purchased with $125,000 granted by the Utah State Legislature.