After the 1929 Holy Toledo Nor'wester washed out
Horseshoe Curve, cutting the rail link between Altoona and points west, the Pittsburgh Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad
proposed entering the airship age by offering lighter-than-air service.
It was hoped this new mode of transport might one day even supersede old-fashioned ground-bound locomotives.
The board of the Pennsylvania Railroad approved the Pittsburgh Division's proposal and extended a tender offer to the Goodyear-Zeppelin Co. of Akron, Ohio for construction of a passenger-carrying dirigible.
The contract was signed on
October 29, 1929 which would prove to be
a very fateful day indeed. Things began briskly and initial design studies were completed by June, 1930. The Pennsylvania Railroad dirigible was optimized for carrying both passengers and freight with a large cargo hatch near the tail. It also featured the latest in cutting-edge airship design such as the gondola-mounted planes for low-and-slow maneuverability.
The Goodyear-Zeppelin Co. also conceived of a new multi-point mooring system which allowed this planned behemoth of the skies to land in any open space that could accommodate it without need of a mooring mast. This was accomplished by spiked mooring lines which were rocket-propelled and launched from barbettes in the belly of the ship. These mooring lines would impale themselves into the earth and the airship would then winch itself to down to the ground automatically. The spikes on the lines could be detached either manually or by small explosive charges in an emergency.
The design phase was protracted due to complications coming up with a workable way to pivot the four enormous Packard 2500 engines. After many delays, this feature was eventually abandoned due to the complexity it entailed. This did not deter the PA RR's PR dept. from developing a potent marketing campaign, however.
Sadly, the project would never get off the ground as
the Great Depression took hold and this fantastically expensive futuristic airship was cancelled. Nothing exists of it today except this overly-optimistic Goodyear-Zeppelin desk-top model which was discovered a derelict building slated for demolition in an Akron, Ohio office park.
Whether the Goodyear-Zeppelin Co. objected to the requested black color scheme which could cause disastrous "super-heating" of the lifting gas is unknown.
This model was badly damaged while in transit to be appraised at the Antiques Roadshow Ohio Extravaganza! in 2002 and its true value was never determined.
Brian da Basher