Older sleeper carriage WL2 4480

Ten carriages with the designation Ao5 were built, and carriage 4480 was a first-class sleeper carriage that, among other things, was designed for use in land cruise trains, such as Dollartåget.

Dollartåget, “the Dollar Train”, was a luxury train that SJ ran to northern Sweden during the 1950s and 1960s in partnership with the Swedish Tourist Association (STF). The target group was Americans – hence the nickname.

The carriages had a service compartment and eleven sleeping compartments that could be fitted with one or two berths. Between each pair of compartments there is a partition that can be opened to create one large compartment.

Over the years, the carriage has been called Ao5, Ao5a, WLAo5a, WL6 and finally WL2.

In 1976, all the carriages were remodelled so that the interior was standardised and could also be organised with three berths. At the end of the 1970s, the carriages were again remodelled, and the wooden windows were replaced with aluminium frames on the compartment side.

The carriage became a museum carriage in Kalmar in 1993.  It came to the Swedish Railway Museum in 1998 and was renovated in 2017, restoring it to the appearance it had after remodelling in the 1970s. When the carriage is used in trains, a maximum of two people per compartment is recommended.

Explanation

WL2 is a type designation (class) of the wagon and means:

• WL = Sleeping car
• 52= Model
• 2 in the WL family, which has to do with the interior
• 4480 is the wagon's unique identifiction number