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 flow, steady. Considering a velocity vector field in three-dimensional space in the f ...

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 main American innovator and owner of sl ...

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 produ ...

for the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...

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), better known 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 experienced financi ...

(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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

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

'', '' City of Denver'', ''

City of Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Southern California. With an estimated 3,878,704 residents within the city ...

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

City of San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of 2024, San Francisco is the fourth-most populous city in the ...

'') 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 intercity 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
{{Amtrak rolling stock Train-related introductions in 1949 Budd Company Rail passenger cars of the United States Union Pacific Railroad