In one of its last orders for passenger equipment from a major U.S. railroad, the Budd Company built coach number 5512 for the Union Pacific in 1961. After a mere decade of wearing the Union Pacific's Armour Yellow, the coach began over two decades of sturdy service for Amtrak. That period ended rather ingloriously in the early 1990s, when the coach was retired to Amtrak's Chicago yard and used as a source for parts while it awaited scrapping.
One would never know how perilously close the Echo Canyon came to that sad fate after enjoying it today. Following its purchase by Mid America and a year-long rebuild, the Echo Canyon emerged as one of the country's most technologically advanced railroad cars.