A question about old Amtrak service

[amtrakmichigan]

I have been recently collecting old Amtrak brochures etc... I just got one to add to my collection. This brochure shows all the different sleepers, coachs etc. very simalar to todays train service guide. There is no date anywhere on it, however it must be pre -1976 since the Amfleet series is not mentioned.

Anyway.... the part describing the dining car service says this: (talking about the Waiter) "He will then hand you a menu along with an order blank and pencil so that you may write down your selections. (Waiters on trains generally do not take verbal orders.) "

My question is why didn't the wait staff take "verbel orders"?

Another clue of how old this is.... they are still called Porters not attendents.

 

[PennsyFan]

In certain environments, it is considered to be traditionally classier to write the order down on a special stationary rather than tell the waiter what you want. This was traditionally the system in the exclusive gentlemen's clubs of New York, London, and other great cities, and when the railroads began to offer dining cars, they decided to imitate that system. If you look at old menus from the 20th Century Limited, California Zephyr, &c you will find that this was the system on all trains. As to why the system developed originally, I have no idea, but if you're ever lucky enough to have lunch or dinner at the University Club in New York, or another such establishment, you'll see the same system practiced there.

 

[battalion51]

Some Dining Car LSA's will still do that even today (they are a select few though). The reason for this is that breakfast, lunch, and dinner are all on one check, and some LSA's have a preferred method of filling out the check.

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

I remember the early Amtrak(and pre-Amtrak) days well, in whcih you wrote your order. Hard for me, because my handwriitng has always been atrocious.

There is a resturant where I sometimes eat in Altanta that has written orders. It was perhaps an exclusive restaurant in its day( it is no longer: it now caters to tourists) but perhaps for some reason it has held onto that practice.

 

[amtrakmichigan]

Thanks guys.....very intresting !

 

[amtrakmichigan]

That's funny to a guy my age. I am 31, so I never really encounterd service like that except for those order slips they put under your room door at a hotel for morning room service. Just in my opinion from the younger generation, I would consider that very poor service, especially riding 1st class in a sleeper. I would probably have the attitude of " wow... I pay that much money to ride First Class, and I have to write down my own order for my food". <_<

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

Sure, I can see just what you mean..........you mean I have to take the effort to write,in my own hand......... you mean somebody can't do that one simple little chore for me?.....but....however.....somehow, someway....... the mindset of the former times regarded it as some type of exclusivity... have absolutely no idea why....just was.

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

Dining car eating used to be a somewhat more exclusive event than it is today, Most food was served in the diner. Lounge cars used to USUALLY not have as much food as they do today. There were some cars called grill-lounges and coffee shop lounges etc where you could get "real" food but MOST "real" food was in the diner, and it was NOT much of the "snack"variety, i.e. the lunch menu resembled dinner more than it does today. We did not have any of the coffee, soft drink, etc goodies in the sleeping cars, either. Plenty of people brought their own food on the train in the past, because dining car prices were quite high. And they were not built into the price of sleeping car tickets, as they are today.

I distinctly remember that it was a somewhat common practice, though not of course a necessity, even to dress up for dinner in the diner. Yes, as awkward as it is to change clothes on a moving train at 79 mph I frequently did change just to go to dinner. Oh yes, one also changed before getting off the train so as to be in a suit to check in at hotels. At one time, the culture suggested one at least be dressed up at the check in desk of a hotel, even if casual thereafter.

Seems I have strayed somewhat from the initial question about written orders, but I am just trying to explain that the dining car bit was a more exclusive thing(and writing your own orders is for some reason "exclusive") than it is today.

This of course reflects many of the changes in society as a whole. These things make for neat memories, the formalitiy, the frequent dressing up.....but I would not want to go back to them for 500 million dollars.I prefer to dress as casually as possible as often as possible, thank you.

 

[PennsyFan]

The thing is that the world you were talking about, Bill, still sort of exists, in very small areas of a very few cities. There are still people who put on a suit in the morning when they go to work, have lunch at their club or a restaurant, put on a clean shirt when they get home, and eat dinner sitting down around a table. I'm proud to say I'm one of them. I find that I just feel more dressed when I'm wearing a suit and tie; I can't explain it, I don't think anyone can. I also think that being able to ride a train and eat a sit down meal on board is a rare enough event nowadays that it deserves the respect which dressy clothes indicate. This is just my opinion, of course.

P. S. If you think putting a tie on on a moving train is hard (it's not), try shaving!

 

[Guest]

One of the reasons the waiters take verbal orders now is because some passengers can't read or write and require "picture menus".

But I didn't say it, that was told to me by an Amtrak employee.

Considering some of the people I've seen on the trains, I can truly understand why they changed that policy.

 

[Steve4031]

That's funny to a guy my age. I am 31, so I never really encounterd service like that except for those order slips they put under your room door at a hotel for morning room service. Just in my opinion from the younger generation, I would consider that very poor service, especially riding 1st class in a sleeper. I would probably have the attitude of " wow... I pay that much money to ride First Class, and I have to write down my own order for my food". <_<

The meals were not includedin the sleeping car fare back then, if I recall correctly.

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

Correct, the meals have only been included in the sleeping car service since I estimate, about 1990.