page_title: City of Denver (train)
section_title: Equipment
hierarchical_section_title: City of Denver (train) / Equipment
caption_attribution_description: Postcard photo of the club/lounge car, "The Pub", of the Union Pacific streamliner "City of Denver".
context_page_description: The City of Denver was a streamlined passenger train operated by the Union Pacific Railroad between Chicago, Illinois, and Denver, Colorado. It operated between 1936 and 1971. From 1936–1955 the Chicago and North Western Railway handled the train east of Omaha, Nebraska; the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad handled it thereafter. The train was the fastest long-distance train in the United States when it debuted in 1936, covering 1,048 miles in 16 hours. For almost its entire career its principal competitor was the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad's Denver Zephyr. When Amtrak assumed operation of most intercity trains in the United States in 1971, it discontinued the City of Denver, preferring to use the Burlington's route between Chicago and Denver.
  On its launch in 1936 the City of Denver used a pair of articulated trainsets built by Pullman-Standard. The streamliners would remain in service until 1953, when conventional locomotive-hauled rolling stock replaced them. The City of Denver always carried both sleeping cars and coaches. A notable feature of the 1936 version of the train was the "Frontier Shack" tavern, which had the feel of a Western saloon.
context_section_description: Pullman-Standard and the Electro-Motive Corporation collaborated on the M-10005 and M-10006 streamlined trainsets which served as the City of Denver's original equipment. They were soon joined by the spare locomotive set M-10003 and the three (two plus backup) were used to provide daily service until they were replaced in 1953.  The former M-10004 car set was also used while either of the two primary sets were down for refurbishing. Each set originally contained a two-car power set, with each unit developing 1,200 horsepower (890 kW). The power sets were upgraded with a second booster in mid-1939. Behind the power car was a baggage car with auxiliary power, a baggage-tavern car (containing the famed "Frontier Shack"), two 50-seat coaches, a dining-cocktail lounge, three sleeping cars in varying configurations, and a sleeper-lounge-observation car.
  The 50-seat coaches featured 2x2 seating, with baggage racks in the vestibule end and separate men's and women's restrooms in the other. The dining-cocktail lounge had half its space devoted to a kitchen and bar area; two seating areas in the other end seated 12 and 24, respectively. Two of the sleeping cars contained 12 open sections, with daytime seating for 24; the third contained eight enclosed sections, two double bedrooms, and a compartment, giving the car a maximum occupancy of 22. The sleeper-lounge-observation car included a compartment, five more double bedrooms, and a rear observation area which seated 22. The cars were air-conditioned throughout.
  The two trainsets remained in use until March 19, 1953, when the Union Pacific introduced conventional lightweight equipment powered by EMD locomotive sets. The Union Pacific finalized the consist on January 10, 1954. Each of the two new consists included the following: a baggage car, a coach-lounge (the "Pub", replacing the "Frontier Shack"), two 44-seat coaches, a twin-unit dining car, four sleeping cars, and a buffet-lounge. The cars were drawn from both the Union Pacific and the Chicago and North Western. The sleeping cars included two 10-roomette 6-double bedroom Pacific-series cars, a 12-section car, and a 4-compartment 4-double bedroom 1-compartment car. For a brief period in the late 1950s two leased Pennsylvania Railroad 21-roomette sleeping cars operated on the City of Denver to compete with the slumbercoaches on the Denver Zephyr. After the discontinuance of the Chicago–Pacific Northwest Olympian Hiawatha in 1961, the Milwaukee Road's Super Dome dome lounges could be found on the City of Denver as well.
caption: The interior of the "Pub" lounge car in the 1950s.
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