Deluxe Sleepers
Green River
The Green River was built in 1950 by American Car & Foundry as an 12-roomette, 4-bedroom sleeper, the Western Hills. It was rebuilt in 1965 to an 11-bedroom sleeper, Sun Isle. In 1991, the car was reconfigured into an 8-bedroom deluxe sleeper and renamed the Green River.
Green River, Wyoming, was another of those towns that prospered because of Union Pacific's push west. Lying in the deep Green River valley, Green River had the largest locomotive and rail car repair complex on UP between Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Ogden, Utah.
During the spring floods, sometimes as many as 300,000 untreated railroad ties would be floated down the river. They would then be loaded onto railroad cars and shipped to Laramie, Wyoming, for treatment.
Trona, or soda ash (sodium carbonate), mining is a major industry in the area. The rail yards at Green River are the point of departure for entire trainloads of trona heading to chemical plants throughout the nation and overseas.
Lake Bluff
The Lake Bluff was built by Pullman Standard for the Kansas City Southern Railway in 1965 as coach No. 272.
The coach was sold to the New Jersey Department of Transportation in 1972 and renumbered No. 5342. The Chicago & North Western acquired it in 1986 and renamed it No. 413, Lake Bluff.
The Lake Bluff is an 8-bedroom sleeper and became part of UP's Heritage Fleet as the result of the 1995 Union Pacific and C&NW merger.
Lake Forest
The Lake Forest was built in 1965 by Pullman Standard as a 72-seat coach for the Kansas City Southern Railway and numbered No. 270.
In 1972, it was sold to the New Jersey Department of Transportation and renumbered No. 5341. The coach served in New Jersey area commuter service until 1986, when it was sold to the Chicago & North Western. The C&NW rebuilt the car into an 8-bedroom stateroom sleeper, No. 412, and named it Lake Forest.
Union Pacific acquired the Lake Forest in 1995 as a result of the C&NW merger.
Omaha
The Omaha was built in 1950 by American Car & Foundry as the 12-roomette, 4-bedroom sleeper, the Western Star. It was rebuilt in 1965 to an 11-bedroom sleeper, No. 1608 Sun Rest, and rebuilt again in 1974 to an 8-bedroom sleeper and renamed the Omaha.
Omaha, Nebraska, headquarters of Union Pacific, was founded in 1854 when the Nebraska Territory was opened for settlement. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln designated the Omaha area as the starting point for the new transcontinental railroad. It was all the boom Omaha needed to become the major metropolitan area in Nebraska.
The Omaha Union Stockyards, founded in 1884, became the largest stockyards in the world, largely because of the rail connection supplied by Union Pacific.
Packing plants in South Omaha ran around the clock, increasing the need for workers. Italians, Bohemians, Germans and Greeks were recruited in Europe and came to Omaha. Today, Omaha's meat packing industry is a shadow of its glory days, replaced by regional packing plants and direct sales.
Portola
The Portola was built in 1950 by American Car & Foundry as a 12-roomette, 4-bedroom sleeper, the Western Valley. It was rebuilt in 1965 to an 11-bedroom sleeper, the No. 1610 Sun Skies. In 1989, the car was converted into an 8-bedroom sleeper and renamed the Portola.
Portola lies at the head of the scenic Feather River Canyon in northern California. It was founded in 1909 in connection with the construction of the Western Pacific Railroad as an engine terminal.
The community is the site of the Feather River Rail Society's railroad museum, featuring the nation's largest collection of vintage diesel locomotives and former Western Pacific Railroad equipment.
Powder River
The Powder River was built in 1950 by American Car & Foundry as a 12-roomette, 4-bedroom sleeper named Western Plains. It was rebuilt in 1965 into an 11-bedroom sleeper named Sun Manor. In 1989 it was rebuilt into a 4-bedroom deluxe sleeper and renamed the Powder River.
The Victorian decor gives the Powder River a sense of a bygone era. Currier & Ives lithographs of 19th Century railroading can be seen throughout the car.
Northeast Wyoming’s Powder River basin contains some of America’s richest deposits of low-sulphur coal. In cooperation with the Chicago and North Western Railroad, Union Pacific opened a connector line in 1984 from the Powder River region to just west of Scottsbluff, Nebraska. Millions of tons of coal are hauled from the basin in mile-long unit trains. Each train carries coal primarily destined for power plants throughout the Midwest and South.
Wyoming
The Wyoming was built in 1950 by American Car & Foundry as a 12-roomette, 4-bedroom sleeper, Western Lodge. It was rebuilt in 1965 into an 11-bedroom sleeper No. 1603, Sun Lake. In 1974 it was rebuilt into a 4-bedroom deluxe sleeper and renamed Wyoming.
Wyoming became a territory in 1867, the year Union Pacific crews wintered in Cheyenne. Some of the most difficult challenges to UP’s engineering corps came in Wyoming after leaving the very level Platte River Valley in Nebraska.
Union Pacific surveyors struggled against the Cheyenne Indians and in some cases lost. General Dodge named sidings after the slain surveyors, Percy Brown (Percy) and Lothrop Hills (Hillsdale). They also battled the elements in the Red Desert in central Wyoming. Here they had problems finding water and, when they did, even the mules would not drink it. Until sufficient wells could be drilled, water had to be hauled to the many tanks necessary for steam locomotive operation.
Breaching the Continental Divide between Cheyenne and Laramie, Wyoming, came about by accident. General Dodge, after visiting some survey crews, was returning to Cheyenne when his party became aware of some Indians following them. During the chase that followed, Dodge found the line he needed over Sherman Summit, the highest point on any mainline railroad in the United States.
Today, most of Wyoming’s major communities are located along Union Pacific tracks.