Home > Richmond shops > Car Records > American Milemaster, Lark 400, SP 9500

Lightweight Sleeping-Buffet-Lounge-Observation with 2 double bedrooms, 1 compartment and 1 drawing room. As built the car had Room-Observation-Sleeping Car on its side. Pullman Photo - John Wesson Collection

  Built for display for the 1939 Worlds Fair in New York, American Milemaster received its' name as a result of a nation wide contest. It was repainted into UP Streamliner colors as part of a replacement train when the UP-SP-C&NW Chicago to Oakland streamlinerCity of San Francisco was derailed at Harney Nevada. It was then repainted two tone gray for the service on the Treasure Island Special and during the summer of 1941 and 1942 the joint Southern Pacific / Rock Island Arizona Limited
   It was again repainted to replace a similar car on the Southern Pacific overnight Pullman streamliner Lark.The Larks original observation car was totaled in a rear end collision. American Milemaster was given a Lark herald on its side the the original cars number, 400. It operated in the Oakland section of the Lark until 1960.
   Renumbered SP 9500 in November of 1949 it also had the PULLMAN on the letterboard replaced with SOUTHERN PACIFIC. The rear end was blunted in 1957 to allow business cars to run on the Lark
   SP 9500 was withdrawn from Pullman lease January 28, 1963. It was sold to the Electro-Motive Division (EMD) of General Motors and rebuilt as their locomotive test car ET800 in 1965. Conrail acquired the car in February, 1985. It was rebuilt to a Surface Analyzer Car and numbered 22.

SP 9500 had its swallow tail lounge squared off during the December 1957 shopping. Don Munger Collection

EMD 800 was purchased by CONRAIL and rebuilt to Surface Analyzer Car 22.Photo by Jeff Lubchansky

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