Placid series

Placid series
At left is the former Placid Lake, now the private sleeping car Berlin, still in American Orient Express colors.
In service	1956–1984
Manufacturer	Pullman-Standard
Order no.	Lot 6958
Constructed	1956
Number built	10
Diagram	Plan 4198
Fleet numbers	UP: 1501–1510 Amtrak: 2260–2269
Capacity	11 double bedrooms
Operators	Pullman Company Union Pacific Railroad Amtrak American Orient Express
Specifications
Car length	85 feet 0 inches (25.91 m)
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Notes/references
[1] [2]

The Placid series was a fleet of ten lightweight streamlined sleeping cars built by Pullman-Standard for the Union Pacific Railroad in 1956. Each car contained eleven double bedrooms. Amtrak acquired all ten from the Union Pacific and operated them into the 1980s; it retired the last in 1996. Several cars remain in private use.

Design

As with all cars built for the Union Pacific, save the Pacific series sleeping cars, the Placid series cars were smooth-sided, not corrugated. ^[3]

Service history

The Union Pacific took delivery of all ten cars in 1956 and they saw service on a variety of trains, including the City of Portland and City of Los Angeles . ^[4]

Amtrak acquired all ten cars from the Union Pacific in 1971 and operated them through the 1970s; all but one were retired by 1981. The remainder, Placid Scene, it converted from steam heating to head end power (HEP) in 1984 as part of its Heritage Fleet program, part of a pool of nine 11-bedroom sleeping cars. ^[2] Amtrak assigned Placid Scene to the revived Auto Train . ^[5] In 1996 Amtrak sold it to American Orient Express, who renamed it Grand Canyon. ^[2] There it was reunited with three other of the Placid series: Berlin (ex-Placid Lake), Vienna (ex-Placid Waters), and Placid Bay. ^[6]

Table of names and numbers

Name	UP No.	Amtrak No.	Notes
Placid Bay	1501	2260
Placid Harbor	1502	2261
Placid Haven	1503	2262
Placid Lake	1504	2263	Renamed "Berlin" during its time in the American Orient Express [7]
Placid Meadow	1505	2264
Placid Scene	1506	2265	Renamed "Grand Canyon" during its time in the American Orient Express. After the dissolution of the AOE, it was renamed back to Placid Scene. Currently for sale as of Feb 2024 [8]
Placid Sea	1507	2266
Placid Vale	1508	2267
Placid Valley	1509	2268
Placid Waters	1510	2269	Renamed "Vienna" during its time in the American Orient Express

References

1. Strack, Don (March 1, 2014). "Union Pacific Named Lightweight Sleeper Cars". UtahRails.Net. Retrieved May 31, 2014.
2. Simon, Elbert; Warner, David C. (2011). Holland, Kevin J. (ed.). Amtrak by the Numbers: A Comprehensive Passenger Car and Motive Power Roster – 1971–2011. Kansas City, Missouri: White River Productions. ISBN   978-1-932804-12-6.
3. Orth, Steven (August 2002). "Modeling Corrugated Passenger Cars, Part 2". Railmodel Journal. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2014-05-31.
4. Welsh, Joe (2008). Union Pacific's Streamliners. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Voyageur Press. ISBN   978-0-7603-2534-6.
5. Ely, Wally (2009). Auto-Train. Images of Rail. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing. p. 104. ISBN   978-0-7385-6785-3. OCLC   606897616.
6. Zimmermann, Karl R. (2007). The GrandLuxe Express: Traveling in High Style. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. ISBN   978-0-253-34947-7. OCLC   123136805.
7. "RPCX 2263 "Berlin" | Waiting on the depot track at the Houst…". Flickr. 29 December 2023.^{[ self-published source? ]}
8. "Ozark Mountain Railcar".

External links

• List of cars produced