When she set off from Boston on her maiden journey 60 years ago, stainless steel sides gleaming in the burst of photographers' flashbulbs, the "Flying Yankee" shone as a symbol of America's hope and determination to rise above the darkness of the Great Depression.

Today, the historic passenger train's new owner, Robert ("Bob") S. Morrell, wants to see her shine again as a state-of-the-art tribute to Yankee ingenuity and New Hampshire's natural beauty. Morrell, who is co-owner of popular Glen tourist attractions Storyland and Heritage New Hampshire purchased the Flying Yankee five years ago in the hopes of running it as a tourist train through Crawford Notch. In 1993 the Flying Yankee was moved from its home in Carver, MA (where it had set for 36 years after the train was retired in 1957) to its current home on tracks near Route 302 in New Hampshire. When Morrell lost the bid on the tourist train project, he began thinking of other uses for the silver streak. He approached the University of New Hampshire's Industrial Research Center (IRC) to see if the expertise at UNH could help him develop some of his ideas. One of the ideas that Bob has is to turn the Flying Yankee into a restaurant/dinner theater that would simulate a real rail journey -- complete with moving scenery and rhythmic rocking -- while the train remains stationary. The IRC organized a meeting with Morrell and Professors Allen Drake and Richard Messner to discuss the technological challenges of providing a system that could provide the diners with the visual effects of a rail ride. Dr. Drake and Dr. Messner worked together and proposed a three-phase project to meet Morrell's goals. The first phase is in progress this summer. Its objective is to gather information on various technologies that are potential candidates for the restoration effort now underway by the Flying Yankee Restoration Group LTD. The ultimate result of this Phase I effort will be a paper report that outlines various approaches that may be taken to pursue the implementation of a video presentation system for the proposed 135 seat restaurant/theater. The ultimate goal is to give diners the sense that they are on a train going through different parts of New Hampshire or the Northeast. For the visual effects two areas have been identified as potential candidates for investigation. The first area is image projection, possibly using film projection or an analog video 3 electron gun raster system. The second area is direct view presentation, possibly using flat panel LCD technology or large format tube based color monitors. Various methods of providing source video are being investigated, including the latest digital laser disk subsystems.

Dr. Drake is providing the optics and projection expertise while Dr. Messner is bringing analog and digital video processing to the research table. Together they are working with two undergraduate students, Tim Chevalier and Janet Davis to perform the first phase of this project. The completion of Phase I will provide the direction as to which technology should be further investigated for Phase II. With the information gathered in Phase I, one or two candidate systems will be prototyped to provide "proof-of-concept" and "sanity check" evaluation.

Phase III will involve fitting the Flying Yankee with a full operational system. If all goes well the project will be completed by the Fall of 1997 and the Flying Yankee will ride the rails once again.