cpamtfan
OBS Chief
There are two different things, the type of car and how the car is used.I rode 22 Last Saturday WITH a SSL.21 Wednesday/Thursday without. That day's northbound TE had one when I saw it in FTW.
Why is the diner on the TE still called CCC? I've been on the the CONO, and it operates very differently.
Diner-lite is the type of car.
CCC is the way a car is used.
A Cross Country Cafe (CCC) was designed to be the dining car and the lounge car (no sightseer) and serve an all day menu. The CCC is only operated in one type of car, a diner-lite.
Due to having too many diner-lite cars and deciding not to use the CCC concept on more that the CONO, Amtrak was forced to put diner-lite cars on the TE and the CL and use them like regular dining cars and still have a sightseer lounge.
Technically, the TE does not have a CCC, it has a diner-lite car. However, people still refer to the car as a CCC, even though technically, that would be incorrect.
Of course, this is all my interpretation of how it is, I could be wrong.
Actually, Diner-Lite is what the eastern car is called, but I guess the CCC would also count.
cpamtfan-Peter