The Pacific series is a fleet of fifty lightweight

streamlined Streamlines, streaklines and pathlines are field lines in a fluid flow. They differ only when the flow changes with time, that is, when the flow is not steady. Considering a velocity vector field in three-dimensional space in the framework of ...

sleeping car The sleeping car or sleeper (often ) is a railway passenger car (rail), passenger car that can accommodate all passengers in beds of one kind or another, for the purpose of sleeping. George Pullman was the American innovator of the sleeper car. ...

s built by the

Budd Company The Budd Company was a 20th-century metal fabricator, a major supplier of body components to the automobile industry, and a manufacturer of stainless steel passenger rail cars, airframes, missile and space vehicles, and various defense products ...

for the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

in 1949–1950. Each car contained ten roomettes and six double bedrooms. Union Pacific sold several to the

Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (CMStP&P), often referred to as the "Milwaukee Road" , was a Class I railroad that operated in the Midwest and Northwest of the United States from 1847 until 1986. The company experience ...

(the "Milwaukee Road") in the late 1960s; Amtrak purchased most of the fleet in the early 1970s. Several remain in use as business cars.

Design

After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the 10-roomette 6-double bedroom (colloquially the "10-6 sleeper") design proved popular in the United States, with 682 such cars manufactured. All fifty Pacific series cars were built on Budd lot number 9660.039, and allocated Pullman Plan 9522. In this design the ten roomettes were numbered 1-10 and split down the middle by a hallway, while all six double bedrooms (designated A-F) were off to one side. A bathroom and porter's room were located across from each other at the

vestibule Vestibule or Vestibulum can have the following meanings, each primarily based upon a common origin, from early 17th century French, derived from Latin ''vestibulum, -i n.'' "entrance court". Anatomy In general, vestibule is a small space or cavity ...

end of the car. The car sides were corrugated instead of smooth, which was uncommon for Union Pacific equipment.

Service history

Budd delivered the fifty cars between December 1949 and June 1950; the "largest class of sleepers on the Union Pacific rails." The Union Pacific used the Pacific series on various overnight streamliners in the 1950s and 1960s. One car, ''Pacific Empire'', was written off after a rear-end collision at Wyuta, Wyoming in November 1951. The Milwaukee Road purchased five from the Union Pacific in June 1969 in order to equalise the per diem payments on their jointly-operated Overland Route passenger services. The final iteration of the Union Pacific's "City of Everywhere" (the joint operation of the ''

Challenger Challenger, Challengers, or The Challengers may refer to: Entertainment Comics and manga * Challenger (character), comic book character * ''Challengers'' (manga), manga by Hinako Takanaga Film and TV * ''The Challengers'' (TV series), a 1979 ...

'', ''

City of Denver Denver () is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States#State capital, capital, and List of municipalities in Colorado#, most populous city of th ...

'', ''

City of Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

'', '' City of Portland'', and ''

City of San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

'') included four ''Pacific''-series sleeping cars, three from the Union Pacific and one from the Milwaukee Road. Between 1971–1974

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

purchased 43 of the remaining 44 ''Pacific''-series cars from the Union Pacific fleet. Most were retired from service in the mid-1990s; several Amtrak rebuilt as crew dormitory cars and those remained in service into the 2000s. One, ''Pacific Cape'', remains in use as a business car. The Union Pacific retained ''Pacific Domain'', renamed ''Cabarton'', as a staff car. The Milwaukee Road's five cars were all sold to Mexico in 1971 and 1972.

References

External links

List of cars produced
{{UP Passenger Train-related introductions in 1949 Budd Company Rail passenger cars of the United States Union Pacific Railroad