Dining Car from the Past

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MrFSS

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Came across this old Amtrak post card. How long has it been since they had chairs in the dining cars?

Remember when everyone dressed for dinner?

DiningCar.jpg
 
While it is a shame that no one dresses for dinner, I think we can do without people in that awful brown suit/flowered tie the gentleman in the left side of the postcard is "wearing" :D
 
While it is a shame that no one dresses for dinner, I think we can do without people in that awful brown suit/flowered tie the gentleman in the left side of the postcard is "wearing" :D
His wife is all ew why did you wear that tie?
Either that or he just told her something really nasty :lol:
Don't laugh, I still have a tie almost like that in my closet! :lol:

GregL
there a difference between having on and wearing one. I think we all have tie that do not see the light of day.
 
Yes for the most part todays dinners look like the corner hamburger joint. I have often opined that the few nice touches you see in this photo are totally ignored by todays rail car designers. No doubt due partly to cost considerations. I can still remember a time when the majority of those traveling first class at least used to dress up by todays standards when traveling. Of course my mom used to not leave the house for the grocery store unless she had a dress on either. Today its blue jeans even on Amtrak.. And while I like the look of it, I myself always enjoyed a comfortable style of clothing. I would say today from observing people coming and going in the Metropolitan lounges in Chicago that little consideration is given to anything but comfort, and yet some of that resembles pajamas even in day time.

I too miss the chairs. Its probably nearly impossible to design a car under the safety standard that are mandated today and still have the look of fine dining. Although when I think about it , why can't they have the chairs and bolt them to the floor like they do the "bench" seats which are surly not attractive by comparison. The lounge has individual chairs, you just can't move them about?
 
When did the FRA do away with "loose" chairs?
Standard physics. If an object is contained in a vehicle going X miles per hour, and that vehicle decelerates with sufficient jerk to overcome the ground friction, then that object will continue to move at a speed roughly equal to X - the friction coefficient until air friction or another object (stationary) stops it.

That is to say, if a dining car had regular chairs and the train, say, crashed into a brick wall, the chairs could concievably become a projectile.

However, it also stops the object from being a decelerating cushion (the way the soft cushion on a booth would be) increasing the impacts force on the occupant of said chair

Another safety aspect is that the booths will most likely remain fastened down if the car rolls over, again a theoretical safety feature.

Now for some reasons why most of this is silly:

Likely? The chance that they'd go free flying is about as likely as a train hitting a brick wall, since they would be stopped by their table or the table behind them. Further the weight of the occupant greatly increases the downward force, thus increasing the amount of deceleration needed to make the chair move and decreasing the velocity it will retain. And if there are any people in the dining car, it is quite likely they are sitting in those seats.

Second, the tables being so securely fastened means that while the people who are riding facing away from the direction of movement will have an increased chance of survival, it also means that the occupants facing the direction of travel will impact hard with the table edge. This can (and does) kill people.

Next, in the kind of impact that would actually cause the car to roll over, loose tables are not your main worry. First of all, while the furniture may be bolted down, the people using it aren't and will likely crack their head on the ceiling. I admit its an advantage to the few people who survive that if the tables don't then subsequently crash down on them.

Lastly, in the kind of deceleration that would cause the chairs to move when occupied, the chances of survival at all are slim. Even if you don't actually impact with something hard (not happening), the forces conveyed to your inner organs will destroy them.

I do agree with the fastening down of seats in lounge cars and the like- empty seats are more likely in an occupied car- as a major safety aspect. But in a dining car its just being nannyish.
 
This explains why VIA's dining cars look so much nicer... Canada has no such chair law.
Are you being serious? I don't want to point out how silly that comment is if you are being sarcastic-- just checking.
Here are Canadian pictures I took a couple of years ago:

Via1.jpg


Via2.jpg


Via3.jpg


As you can see, the chairs are not attached to anything both in the lounge car and the dining car. Very classy.
 
As you can see, the chairs are not attached to anything both in the lounge car and the dining car. Very classy.
No I don't doubt that the Canadian has detached chairs or classier diners.

However the idea that the booths are the sole reason Amtrak diners look less crappy is just bullpucky.
 
Here is my family back in 1976 in a dining car. The styling (including us!) is quite suspect. There were five us so we had to squeeze three onto one side.

The chairs were still free standing.

This is either on the Sunset Limited or the Southern Crescent (the train actually run by Southern). I am almost certain it is the Crescent.

FYI, I am the blond haired kid by the window.

Picture0024.JPG
 
I do agree with the fastening down of seats in lounge cars and the like- empty seats are more likely in an occupied car- as a major safety aspect. But in a dining car its just being nannyish.
You're forgetting that in the event of a major derailment if the furnature was not fastened down they could pile up and block exits and become obstacles for both passengers and emergency responders.
 
Yes for the most part todays dinners look like the corner hamburger joint. I have often opined that the few nice touches you see in this photo are totally ignored by todays rail car designers. No doubt due partly to cost considerations. I can still remember a time when the majority of those traveling first class at least used to dress up by todays standards when traveling. Of course my mom used to not leave the house for the grocery store unless she had a dress on either. Today its blue jeans even on Amtrak.. And while I like the look of it, I myself always enjoyed a comfortable style of clothing. I would say today from observing people coming and going in the Metropolitan lounges in Chicago that little consideration is given to anything but comfort, and yet some of that resembles pajamas even in day time.
I too miss the chairs. Its probably nearly impossible to design a car under the safety standard that are mandated today and still have the look of fine dining. Although when I think about it , why can't they have the chairs and bolt them to the floor like they do the "bench" seats which are surly not attractive by comparison. The lounge has individual chairs, you just can't move them about?

The lounge chairs you're talking about don't have tables in front of them. In a dining car it would be pretty hard to get into the chair by the window if both chairs are bolted down. You can't slide a chair out. In a booth you kind of slide into the seats. No way this would work with the elderly or the overweight if you have individual chairs bolted down close to a table.
 
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