My first trip was in late June 1974. This was when they were still using the cars from the '40s and '50s. The consist included (front to back) a baggage car, crew dorm, three coaches, a "snack car" (a counter service diner, with an actual kitchen), three more coaches, a lounge car, a full service diner, and two or three sleepers on the end.

On subsequent trips the consist remained prety much the same, but during the slower season there were only four coaches instead of six. Around 1976 they replaced the lounge cars with dome lounges, usually full-length domes. I think at some point they got rid of the snack cars, but I don't recall for sure.

I don't know who built them, but maybe I can give a few clues. All the cars that I remember had corrugated metal sides.

There were two distinct types of coach interiors. One was predominantly blue in decor, blue seats and carpet, but white ceilings. These had a single rest room at each end of the car, one for men, one for women. The hallway wrapped around the facility creating a huge space. Each rest room had a fairly large smoking lounge, with a long upholstered seat. These had armrests making three distinct seats. The toilet was in a seperate space (itself much larger than a Superliner restroom) off of the lounge,. The toilets were identical to those you might find in any public restroom, except they flushed with a pedal on the wall. I'm not sure if the sink was in the room with the toilet or in the lounge area. In these cars the doors between cars had to be pulled open, and they were quite heavy.

The other type of coach was predominantly pale green inside. On the walls at each end of the car, on both sides of the aisle, were large round golden colored medallions. If I remember corrrectly they had some sort of southwest indian design on them, Navajo perhaps. These cars had two rest rooms at each end. One end for ladies, one end for men. Instead of the hallway wrapping around one, it went right between the two. This made for more noise getting into the seating area, like in Superliner coaches. These rest rooms also had an anteroom, but it was much smaller, as was the toilet compartment. Still they were large by Superliner standards. These cars were unique in that they had push-button sliding doors, identical to those now found on Superliners.

Most trains had a mix of both types of coaches.

The lounge cars of that era usually had a bar in the middle. Sometimes they were predominantly blue in decor, others were predominantly red. One red one I recall had the bar at one end instead of in the middle.

The dining cars were pretty uniform. I seem to recall a small vase of flowers on each table. Seats were individual chairs, not bench seats like today.

I never got into the sleepers, so I can't comment on them. Anyway, this is probably more that you wanted to know, since I'm going on and on about a different train than you asked about....

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-Mr. Toy

In Sep. 75, Trains had a trip report about the Empire Builder and mentioned one car: a lounge, originally built as a parlor-observation car for the Denver Zephyr.

And Passenger Train Journal in its Summer 74 issue listed the following summer consist for the Builder (car types only, no further details), and likely the consist was about the same a year later:

2 mail cars
baggage-dorm
slumbercoach
2 dome coaches
dome lounge
diner
10-6 sleeper
dome sleeper
11-bedroom sleeper
10-6 sleeper
11-bedroom sleeper