Heritage Sleeping car Roomette, 1983.

Many of Amtrak's early Sleeping cars had 10 Roomettes and 6 Double Bedrooms, and are commonly known as "10-6 Sleepers." Roomettes such as the one shown above were intended for one person. In early promotional brochures, it was described as "a private sitting room by day which converts to a comfortable sleeping compartment for overnight travel." It included a chair, toilet and washing facilities; the bed folded down from the wall.

Heritage Sleeping car No. 2463 was originally built by the Budd Company for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad in 1952. Known as the Silver Dale, it was used on the American Royal Zephyr (Chicago-Kansas City). When it first came to Amtrak, the car was numbered 2658. Following its conversion to head-end power in the late 1970s, it was renumbered 2463. The last Heritage Sleeping cars were retired after Amtrak received the Viewliner cars in the mid-1990s. The Silver Dale was later sold to VIA Rail Canada.

Photographer: William Kratville (American, 1929-2011) for Amtrak.

From the Blair Slaughter Collection.