Crew Sleeper Car

[Zonadl]

I was told that our rooms, 17 and 18, are located in the crew car on our trip on the Ca Zephyr from Chicago to Reno. Can anyone help me out as to the pros/cons of being in the crew car and the location of these rooms? Apparently if there are open rooms usually reserved for crew, they will sell them to the public. Any feedback would be awesome!

 

[AlanB]

Yes, those rooms would be in what's called the Transistion Dormatory car. The front half of the car is only for crew use and off limits to you. Your rooms will be in the rear half of the car on the upper level. They look just like any other roomette on the train, so there is no difference in room or comfort. Advantages are that you have less people walking by your room and less people to fight with when you want to take a shower or go to the bathroom.

Disadvantages are longer walk to the dining car and lounge car and more noise from the engine's horn.

You can view the location of your rooms on this page. Scroll to the bottom for the picture of the Trans/Dorm.

 

[MrFSS]

Yes, those rooms would be in what's called the Transition Dormitory car. The front half of the car is only for crew use and off limits to you. Your rooms will be in the rear half of the car on the upper level. They look just like any other roomette on the train, so there is no difference in room or comfort. Advantages are that you have less people walking by your room and less people to fight with when you want to take a shower or go to the bathroom.
Disadvantages are longer walk to the dining car and lounge car and more noise from the engine's horn.

You can view the location of your rooms on this page. Scroll to the bottom for the picture of the Trans/Dorm.

One other advantage is the upstairs bathroom has a shower stall in a separate room off from the commode/sink part of the room. You don't have to go downstairs to shower.

 

[D T Nelson]

I rode in roomette 17 last year on the Empire Builder. I liked it fine, and would not hesitate to ride in the trans-dorm again.

There did seem to be almost no corridor noise; although I assume crew members were passing back and forth, I guess they know better than anyone to be quiet in the corridor. And, while it is a longer walk to the dining car, you don't have all the other sleeping car passengers noisily tromping past your room on the way to the dining car.

As noted previously, the shower was part of the bathroom, in a cubicle off to the side. As I recall, it had a curtain which snapped in place to close it off, and the shower stall itself was smaller than the one downstairs in a regular sleeper car, but it was plenty roomy enough. And I did feel less of a need to make haste in there, as I was sharing it with fewer people.

On that trip, the car attendant served my car and the car behind. I do not know if that is the norm, but it seems reasonable to not assign an attendant solely to the few paying rooms in the trans-dorm. It did not result in lesser service, but then, my attendant on that trip was Gul, so I had A-1-plus service.

 

[AlanB]

On that trip, the car attendant served my car and the car behind. I do not know if that is the norm, but it seems reasonable to not assign an attendant solely to the few paying rooms in the trans-dorm. It did not result in lesser service, but then, my attendant on that trip was Gul, so I had A-1-plus service.

These days, that is the norm. The attendant in the sleeping car closest to the Trans/Dorm handles the Trans/Dorm too.

Initially they tried having one of the coach attendants do it, since they have less demmand, but that didn't work out very wll at all, since they were either putting miles on their shoes walking back and forth, or just totally ignoring one of the cars that they were assigned to. Then on the CZ they tested flipping the train around, putting the sleepers on the rear and the coaches next to the Trans/Dorm. That cut out the walk, but no doubt invited other problems and it didn't last but one summer IIRC.

 

[mucomix]

I was going to ask the same question. In Oct my return roomette on the CZ is 17 and could not figure out where 17 could be. Now I know.