CZ Toilet Problems?

[printman2000]

Seems I remember a report that the toilets were not working on the CZ when the altitude got too high. Is this still an ongoing problem?

 

[AlanB]

I suspect that it's still an ongoing problem, since the system operates using a vacuum. And the higher one goes, the harder it is to create that vacuum.

 

[RailFanLNK]

I've ridden the CZ four times in the last year and never have had a problem with the toilets.

Al

 

[Bigval109]

I'veridden the CZ twice last year and experienced no problems on the CZ. I'm booked on the CZ in May I'll report any problem when I get back.

 

[Mountainman]

After my 2005 trip (when the Starlight toilets were all out of whack) I wrote the then-President of Amtrak, and received a nice reply stating that he would take care of the problem. Evidently he did.

 

[MrFSS]

After my 2005 trip (when the Starlight toilets were all out of whack) I wrote the then-President of Amtrak, and received a nice reply stating that he would take care of the problem. Evidently he did.

The president of Amtrak is out there fixing toilets? WOW - no wonder they can't make any money. :lol: :lol:

 

[great]

I think they should do something with this. I'm wondering if they can use some rental toilets... I'm sure that they can't find what they need that's why they should redress what they have.

 

[PRR 60]

I've been on the Zephyr twice in the last six months and the toilets worked fine. I was on it twice before that also with no problems. I think the toilet and altitude issue is not a serious problem.

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

I've ridden the California Zephyr nine or ten or so times since 1964-----that's about 44 years ago---and remember no problem with the toilets. :lol:

 

[Neil_M]

If vacuum toilets and altitude are such a problem, how come they work on planes?

 

[MrFSS]

If vacuum toilets and altitude are such a problem, how come they work on planes?

Pressurized cabins.

 

[AKA]

Nature abhores a vacuum.

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

Unpressurized planes are generally operated without oxygen masks to about 8,000 or 10,000 feet above sea level. (Unpressurized cargo planes and unpressurized owner-flown planes are sometimes flown at higher altitudes with oxygen masks.) Pressurized planes are generally designed so that at their maximum altitude, the cabin will be pressurized not to sea level, but to about 8,000 or 10,000 feet. (If someone had a medical condition that required they not experience a pressure difference from sea level, it would be possible to charter a pressurized plane for them and fly it at a substantially lower altitude than it normally flies at and to keep the cabin pressure at sea level, but those planes generally get much worse fuel economy at the lower altitudes, and the weather at lower altitudes is often less smooth.)

I think Teluride has one of the few airports in the US where a pilot of an unpressurized plane likely needs an oxygen mask to land, and I suspect airports are more likely to exist at high altitudes than train tracks which are a part of the national rail system, so I suspect pressurized airplane cabins operate at lower interior pressure (higher effective altitude) than Amtrak trains.

I would think that creating a vacuum would be easier at higher altitudes, but that creating a particular pressure difference by reducing the pressure below atmospheric pressure would become more difficult.