rtabern
Conductor
My fiancee and I took the Coast Starlight from OKJ to LAX on July 1st... and our train was without a Pacific Parlour Car. It was a kick to the stomach because the only reason we were riding the Coast Starlight and going down to LAX and flying home from there vs. SFO was the Parlour Car.
Anyway, the train supervisor was aboard and informed that two of the Parlour Cars would be out of service for an extended period of time because there were issues with the air conditioning and wheels... and Amtrak was trying to find some parts for this.
We had Cross Country Cafe #37000 instead.
I wasn't too thrilled and just spent the trip in our roomette... ate in the diner... and avoided spending anytime in #37000 except to walk through it.
What was irritating to me was the crew kept calling #37000 the "parlour car". A parlor (parlour) car is something like the Milwaukee Road's Cedar Rapids... and while a Pacific Parlour Car isn't really a parlor car... the #37000 is about as far from one as you can get.
Our sleeping car attendant, who wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, actually got into a brief argument with me after we got aboard her car -- she insisted that the #37000 was much "better" than the Pacific Parlour Cars they normally have on the train because it was "more modern". I told her it wasn't as nice. She's like "How do you know??" -- and I was like -- I was in Beech Grove in October 2006 when they were putting the tables together on the car. She was like -- "OH".
So heads up on the lack of PPC's on atleast one or two sets of #11 and #14 in the coming weeks!!
Anyway, the train supervisor was aboard and informed that two of the Parlour Cars would be out of service for an extended period of time because there were issues with the air conditioning and wheels... and Amtrak was trying to find some parts for this.
We had Cross Country Cafe #37000 instead.
I wasn't too thrilled and just spent the trip in our roomette... ate in the diner... and avoided spending anytime in #37000 except to walk through it.
What was irritating to me was the crew kept calling #37000 the "parlour car". A parlor (parlour) car is something like the Milwaukee Road's Cedar Rapids... and while a Pacific Parlour Car isn't really a parlor car... the #37000 is about as far from one as you can get.
Our sleeping car attendant, who wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, actually got into a brief argument with me after we got aboard her car -- she insisted that the #37000 was much "better" than the Pacific Parlour Cars they normally have on the train because it was "more modern". I told her it wasn't as nice. She's like "How do you know??" -- and I was like -- I was in Beech Grove in October 2006 when they were putting the tables together on the car. She was like -- "OH".
So heads up on the lack of PPC's on atleast one or two sets of #11 and #14 in the coming weeks!!
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