California Zephyr Question

[Big Iron]

When boarding coach in Emeryville are the seats assigned upon boarding or can the passenger choose? I've talked a friend of mine into taking his first train ride. He and his wife will be travelling from EMY to Truckee.

Unfortunately I could not talk him into taking the train from Richmond, VA to Truckee.

 

[darien-l]

I've taken CZ from EMY a few times. In my experience, the car is always assigned based on destination, but the seat may or may not be, depending on how full the train is. They do make every effort to make sure that families, couples, and friends can sit together. Once, I got onboard, picked a seat, but right before SAC the conductor announced that they expected a full train, and asked single passengers to find seatmates, so that there would be seats together for couples and families. Not everyone complied, and he proceeded (politely) to assign seats. I remember he asked me if I minded "sitting next to this young lady right here..." That worked out pretty well, but that's a different story.

 

[Edgefan]

I've taken CZ from EMY a few times. In my experience, the car is always assigned based on destination, but the seat may or may not be, depending on how full the train is. They do make every effort to make sure than families, couples, and friends can sit together. Once, I got onboard, picked a seat, but right before SAC the conductor announced that they expected a full train, and asked single passengers to find seatmates, so that there would be seats together for couples and families. Not everyone complied, and he proceeded (politely) to assign seats. I remember he asked me if I minded "sitting next to this young lady right here..." That worked out pretty well, but that's a different story.

well....don't stop there! :lol: yes, as darien-l stated you start out with assigned cars depending on your destination and yes the CZ gets pretty full at times.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I remember he asked me if I minded "sitting next to this young lady right here..." That worked out pretty well, but that's a different story.

Oh c'mon! You can't leave us hanging like that. I'm not sure I can remember the last time I was assigned a specific seat by the conductor. Or the last time I saw a young lady traveling alone on Amtrak. ;-)

 

[Roadfool]

They were assigning seats and moving people around to accomodate families when I was on the CZ from SAC to OMA this week. I was asked to move next to another single rider so a mom and her 3 kids could have the whole row together.

And there's plenty of us women riding solo out there. Ok, I probably don't qualify as "young" anymore, but there was a female college student riding alone in the aisle across from me for part of the trip.

 

[the_traveler]

I remember he asked me if I minded "sitting next to this young lady right here..." That worked out pretty well, but that's a different story.

Oh c'mon! You can't leave us hanging like that. I'm not sure I can remember the last time I was assigned a specific seat by the conductor. Or the last time I saw a young lady traveling alone on Amtrak. ;-)

What he didn't say was "this young lady" was his wife! :lol: :lol:

Yes, I have seen both Conductors and CA's ask people to move so they can accommodate families or groups!

 

[Big Iron]

Thanks so far for the replies. I haven't steered him wrong as I told him they will board by destination and may/may not assign seats. His wife is pregnant and they will have a fair amount of luggage so I told him to get a Red Cap as that would likely get him out to the train first(sooner) and have a better chance of getting a seat pair.

He's stoked for his first train ride, and for a first ride, this one ain't to shabby.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

That sounds like a sweet story that needs its own writeup. It's nice to hear about an old fashioned train romance as if it had jumped off the silver screen from yesteryear. What a neat story you'd have to tell others and to bore the heck out of your kids. Or at least for a train nerd it would be cool. As for the number, age group, and company (or lack thereof) of women who ride the rails today, I can't help but laugh at the potential direction of such a discussion. Are we really on the verge of debating what constitutes sufficient numbers of unescorted ladies riding the rails now? The raw statistics behind love are far less appealing than the actual stories that randomly develop from them. Let's stick to the love stories here and leave the statistics that spawn them for another time.

 

[darien-l]

I'm sorry to disappoint everyone here, but the most that came out of that particular meeting is sneaking into sleeper cars to take a shower together... theft of service and all, it was still worth it I'm still looking for the "real thing", in case there are any ladies on this forum age 20-35 that are interested.