Sleepers at the consist rear are preferable

[CTANut]

I'd do it only if we were entitled to impose prison sentences like judges do!

"Mr. Anderson and Mr. Flynn, you are hereby sentenced to spending the time together continuously onboard the Texas Eagle in a shared roomette for a period not to exceed one year with the requirement that you remain in your room the whole time and consume only flex meals. May God have mercy on your souls."

They should be locked in a bedroom. They would get room service and they would have a bathroom/shower attached. They would get their flex meals 3x per day. Once a day, they would be allowed on the platform for recreation.
I would write it like this:


In the High Court of the United States
Case Number: 3822323
United States of America v. Richard Anderson and William Flynn, et al. “Mr Anderson and Mr Flynn, the jury has found you guilty of abusing Amtrak passengers through flex dining. After hearing the victim impact statement of the Rail Passengers Association, the Court has decided your sentence. Therefore, you are committed to the custody of Amtrak Police the train next 365 days. You must stay in your bedroom at all times unless escorted by a guard. You will be allowed out on the platform for recreation during fresh air stops. You will be allowed to visit the doctor and dentist twice a year. In addition, you will only consume flex meals for the next year. You will be given the grumpiest SCA’s Amtrak has. Furthermore, this Court makes the following orders.
1. You are banned from serving flex meals to other passengers indefinitely..
2. You will each pay $5,000,000 to the Rail Passengers Association.
3. You will each pay a $5,000 fine to this court
4. This Court assesses you costs in the amount of $6,323.32 each.
5. This must be paid within 30 days, or your drivers licenses will be suspended indefinitely until it is paid.
May this teach you a lesson about treating passengers properly. Remember that
.
So don’t try to stop them.”

 

[Cal]

With the exception of trains like the Lake Shore Limited and Empire Builder which split, I am wondering why Amtrak places the Sleepers right behind the locomotives, and in many cases with no baggage car between (for example, the Capitol Ltd.). Upon riding trains in past years with Sleepers at the rear, I have found that configuration to be preferable. One would think that "first class" passengers should benefit from less loud horn blowing, locomotive rumble, and even fumes (yes, I've had to deal with engine fumes before). I also wonder why the Southwest Chief places the baggage car at the rear now, when there is no splitting of that particular train. Seems to me the baggage car should be a buffer regardless of the type of car that follows. Anyone know of a reasonable explanation for these things?

On normal consists on superliner trains, the baggage car is in the front. So the transition sleeper will be at the front too. If they are selling some rooms in the transition sleeper it's easier to have all sleepers at the front.

And I believe many (if not all) viewliner trains currently have sleepers at the rear (although coaches are right behind the engines, including the Cardinal which only operates with one.)

 

[Cal]

As I railfan, I enjoy hearing the horn. I'm disappointed when I can't.

Ditto! Although having the railfan window right there without having to go through all the coaches is a real bonus.

 

[Cal]

hey should be locked in a bedroom. They would get room service and they would have a bathroom/shower attached. They would get their flex meals 3x per day. Once a day, they would be allowed on the platform for recreation.
I would write it like this:


In the High Court of the United States
Case Number: 3822323
United States of America v. Richard Anderson and William Flynn, et al. “Mr Anderson and Mr Flynn, the jury has found you guilty of abusing Amtrak passengers through flex dining. After hearing the victim impact statement of the Rail Passengers Association, the Court has decided your sentence. Therefore, you are committed to the custody of Amtrak Police the train next 365 days. You must stay in your bedroom at all times unless escorted by a guard. You will be allowed out on the platform for recreation during fresh air stops. You will be allowed to visit the doctor and dentist twice a year. In addition, you will only consume flex meals for the next year. Furthermore, this Court makes the following orders.
1. You are banned from serving flex meals to other passengers indefinitely..
2. You will each pay $5,000,000 to the Rail Passengers Association.
3. You will each pay a $5,000 fine to this court
4. This Court assesses you costs in the amount of $6,323.32 each.
5. This must be paid within 30 days, or your drivers licenses will be suspended indefinitely until it is paid.
May this teach you a lesson about treating passengers properly”.

Make sure they get the grumpy SCA(s) too

 

[Siegmund]

On normal consists on superliner trains, the baggage car is in the front. So the transition sleeper will be at the front too. If they are selling some rooms in the transition sleeper it's easier to have all sleepers at the front.

I think we have a winner here.

In the Superliner I era, we had ex-ATSF transition coaches. Now we have transition sleepers. (It was, in my experience, rare that passengers were ever seated, or even allowed into, the transition coaches, except on really crowded Coast Starlights - so you could say they were pretty much a non-factor in where the sleepers were placed... whereas the roomettes in the transition sleepers seem to be sold fairly often.)

 

[Rasputin]

On normal consists on superliner trains, the baggage car is in the front. So the transition sleeper will be at the front too. If they are selling some rooms in the transition sleeper it's easier to have all sleepers at the front.

This confirms that Amtrak exists for the convenience of the employees.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

This confirms that Amtrak exists for the convenience of the employees.

If I’m riding in a trans-sleeper I want it to be next to the sleepers.

 

[Larry H.]

I almost hate to bring it up, but in the days before Amtrak and the Pullman Company still provided the sleepers and often lounge and dinners, the sleepers were always on the rear, at least on the routes I rode. Pullman had signs in the bedroom cars on the wall where you turned to go though the roomette section that said, "8 years without a death in a pullman car". Its harsh to say, but at the front of the train if you do have an unfortunate derailment or worse, the serious injuries are almost always at the front end. When I take Amtrak I don't feel as safe as I used to when the sleepers were on the rear. Of course the thing you hate about saying it is that means the people in coach are going to take the brunt of most wrecks. I wonder if someone in the liability insurance area might have considered the possible number of passengers who would be hurt in coach compared to far less in a sleeper? When the City of New Orleans hit a truck who was going around the gates at 70 miles an hour or more, the deaths were nearly all in the sleepers which unfortunately burnt badly due to full loads of diesel fuel leaving Chicago and the pile up of cars making escaping nearly impossible. When we took the CN from Toronto to Vancover we were in the rear sleeper and it was the 22nd car on the train for passengers. I didn't notice the ride being terribly rough. The Empire builder on the way back had 5 sleepers on the rear.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

It is true the rear cars will usually be the safest. Look at the recent wrecks on the cascades and north east corridor - was the front cars that got it the worst.

But I don’t think that has factored into Amtrak’s decision. They still have sleepers in both locations on different trains.

 

[choochoodood]

If you want a great rear-car sleeper experience, take the Empire Builder to Portland. There is only one Superliner sleeper, and it's on the very back of the train for the entire trip. You get to enjoy the "railfan window" for the journey.

Agree. Done it twice!

 

[Maglev]

I had a great time in Bedroom A at the end of the Empire Builder Portland section. NOBODY that I was aware of came to look out the railfan window except myself. And I did not notice any whiplash motion.

Although I enjoyed my "private" railfan window with the Bedrooms at the rear of the train, I think that sleepers should be oriented such that the Bedrooms face public accommodations (coaches or dining cars). That gives the Roomette hallway more privacy for things like trekking to the bathroom in one's night clothes.

 

[basketmaker]

Done front, rear and middle sleepers. Since I live very close to the BNSF Brush Sub (see the CZ go by daily) and not far from the UP Greeley Sub the horn isn't even noticed. There is very minimal side-to-side movement on Superliners at the rear but is a bit more noticeable on low level sleepers. Rocks me right to sleep. Only time I noticed diesel fumes was the lounge on the PDX-SPK leg of the Builder. I have seen some with the blank metal cover attached to the accordian on a trip or two. The worst is mid-train. Foot traffic is somewhat troublesome. Have had some folks "drop" in for a visit heading to their coach on one side or the other of the sleeper. Not sure is a couple of them could pass a road side test??? Preference for me is a roomette in the trans/dorm behind the baggage. Minimal foot traffic and great chats with crew members!

 

[Rasputin]

Preference for me is a roomette in the trans/dorm behind the baggage. Minimal foot traffic and great chats with crew members!

My one and only ride in a trans/dorm was on the Texas Eagle from San Antonio to Chicago. It was very quiet. I saw a crew member walk through once or twice but had no conversation. It was so quiet that I thought it was kind of eerie and depressing. The car on my trip struck me as being the perfect setting for a murder - Agatha Christie, Alfred Hitchcock or Stephen King style. I spent as much time as I could in the lounge car so I could assure myself that there were actually other people on the train. (Yes, Virginia, the Texas Eagle once had a lounge car.)

 

[basketmaker]

My one and only ride in a trans/dorm was on the Texas Eagle from San Antonio to Chicago. It was very quiet. I saw a crew member walk through once or twice but had no conversation. It was so quiet that I thought it was kind of eerie and depressing. The car on my trip struck me as being the perfect setting for a murder - Agatha Christie, Alfred Hitchcock or Stephen King style. I spent as much time as I could in the lounge car so I could assure myself that there were actually other people on the train. (Yes, Virginia, the Texas Eagle once had a lounge car.)

I know what you mean! There was only one other elderly couple revenue passengers on my trip.

 

[Seaboard92]

Standard practice in the golden age was Pullmans and after 67 sleeping cars rear most. Now there were exception trains where the sleepers were carried forward. The big ones I can think of are the Seaboard Airline Silver Meteor, Silver Star, Silver Comet, and the Atlantic Coastline Champions. The reasoning for this was because the trains started as a coach only streamliner the observation car was a coach amenity. So they ran sleepers on the forward end to preserve the amenity. Even if it meant more difficult and complex switch moves down line with the multiple end points those trains had.

Now each of those trains also had a private sleeper lounge as well. The Seaboard Silver Meteor had the SunLounge which basically like a single level sightseer lounge with a handful of bedrooms as well. Only three of those cars were built, one is Amtrak certified, one is for sale in St. Louis, and one is scrapped.

 

[basketmaker]

Standard practice in the golden age was Pullmans and after 67 sleeping cars rear most. Now there were exception trains where the sleepers were carried forward. The big ones I can think of are the Seaboard Airline Silver Meteor, Silver Star, Silver Comet, and the Atlantic Coastline Champions. The reasoning for this was because the trains started as a coach only streamliner the observation car was a coach amenity. So they ran sleepers on the forward end to preserve the amenity. Even if it meant more difficult and complex switch moves down line with the multiple end points those trains had.

Now each of those trains also had a private sleeper lounge as well. The Seaboard Silver Meteor had the SunLounge which basically like a single level sightseer lounge with a handful of bedrooms as well. Only three of those cars were built, one is Amtrak certified, one is for sale in St. Louis, and one is scrapped.

I remember the Hollywood Beach from when I was like 6 or 7. Don't remember if it was the Meteor or Star but dad took me on a day trip from Miami to Jacksonville. Then a Greyhound Scenicruiser back. The Hollywood Beach is still plying the rails.

 

[Seaboard92]

I remember the Hollywood Beach from when I was like 6 or 7. Don't remember if it was the Meteor or Star but dad took me on a day trip from Miami to Jacksonville. Then a Greyhound Scenicruiser back. The Hollywood Beach is still plying the rails.

It has a really good owner too!! It is a great car. And it's running a few inexpensive trips this year as well.

 

[Dakota 400]

I had a great time in Bedroom A at the end of the Empire Builder Portland section. NOBODY that I was aware of came to look out the railfan window except myself. And I did not notice any whiplash motion.

I had Bedroom A on the Desert Wind and I also had my personal rainfan window! Lost it when we linked with the Pioneer and the California Zephyr, but, it was great and provided some good photos until we got to Salt Lake City (I think it was).

 

[John-MCPO-USN]

Front of consist - love the horn!

 

[DonNewcomb]

What's the current consist for the Crescent? I seem to recall the sleeper was behind the dining car.

 

[Cal]

What's the current consist for the Crescent? I seem to recall the sleeper was behind the dining car.

AFAIK, Crescent consist is something like this:

Coach - Coach - Cafe - Sleeper - Sleeper - Bag Dorm