ATCHISON, TOPEKA & SANTA FE RAILWAY Sleeping Car "Verde Valley"

This sleeping car served overnight passengers traveling across northern Arizona from Chicago to Los Angeles.

It was built by Pullman-Standard in 1942 for the Santa Fe Railway. It is a 6-6-4 sleeper, with six open sections having upper and lower berths, six roomettes for singles, and four double bedrooms. This arrangement appeared during the interim when sleeping car service was transitioning from open to more private accommodations.

There were 26 cars in the "Valley" series; this one was named for the scenic valley in northern Arizona. After it was retired in 1969, it spent time at the Houston Railroad Museum before being donated to this museum, arriving in 2017.

This 85-foot car was built in June 1942 in lot number 6669, plan 4099. It had a 32 volt DC electrical system supported by batteries and an axle-driven generator. Its toilets were of the "direct-drop" variety which deposited their contents directly onto the tracks below. Roomettes and bedrooms had sinks and toilets; section passengers had access to four general lavatories.

At the time it was built, sleeping car service was evolving into more private accommodations like bedrooms and compartments, but the Pullman Company still believed in providing single sections for the business traveler.

During its active years, this car saw service on the "California Limited" running from Chicago to Los Angeles, passing through Kansas City, Tulsa, and Flagstaff. After WW II it was assigned to the "California Special" running from Houston to Los Angeles via Temple, Texas and Flagstaff, Arizona. The latter train was discontinued in 1968, and in 1969 the Santa Fe donated this car to the Gulf Coast Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society in Houston, where it ran in private charter service on Amtrak trains until 1990.

In 1990 Amtrak began requiring 480 volt 3-phase power and retention toilets for cars attached to its trains, so this car was relegated to display service at the chapter′s Houston Railroad Museum. In subsequent years the chapter was no longer able to care for it, and donated it to the Arizona Railway Museum in 2015. It then took two years to make it roadworthy for travel.

The Union Pacific Railroad agreed to move it from Houston to Chandler as a free move, a service they offer once a year to qualified museums. Several mechanical issues needed to be addressed before the car could be moved, and it was finally delivered to the museum′s Tumbleweed Park location on Ryan Road on August 28, 2017.

At the time of this writing (late 2020), it is the only car in the museum with section-type sleeping arrangements.

	4/14/2021 - Exterior paint and lettering are complete.
	12/14/2021 - Interior view of two Double Bedrooms with dividing wall retracted (making a 4-preson room).
	12/14/2021 - View of a Roomette configured for sleeping.
	12/14/2021 - View of a Roomette with access to the toilet, a fold-down sink, and a small clothes closet.
	12/14/2021 - A view of Section area configured for sleeping.  A heavy cloth curtain provided some privacy from passengers walking through the aisle.  Upper berths were accessed using a fold away ladder.
	5/31/2017 - View of the car prepped for movement to Arizona (stenciled with AZMX reporting marks).
	8/28/2017 - Car was delivered to ARM.  Unfortunately, the car acquired a new paint job during the journey.
	View of the car in original (Pullman) two tone gray paint.
	View of the car in service on the Santa Fe.
	5/1972 - View of the car during operations by NRHS Gulf Coast.

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