Direction of Superliner Sleepers

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The only railroad that I can think of that ran sleepers forward was the Seaboard Airline. Of course I don't know if there were any other examples. With the amount of thru cars it wouldn't surprise me if there were.
 
We once asked our Sleeping Car Attendant who or what decided how the sleepers on the Southwest Chief were orientated. (On some of our trips, the view from our bedroom was from the engineer’s side of the train and on other trips, it was from the fireman’s side.) He told us that it all depended upon how the train was made up.

On the Twentieth Century Limited, the bedroom windows ALWAYS looked out on the Hudson River.

Eric & Pat
 
We once asked our Sleeping Car Attendant who or what decided how the sleepers on the Southwest Chief were orientated. (On some of our trips, the view from our bedroom was from the engineer’s side of the train and on other trips, it was from the fireman’s side.) He told us that it all depended upon how the train was made up.
It sounds like that's still the answer.
 
We once asked our Sleeping Car Attendant who or what decided how the sleepers on the Southwest Chief were orientated. (On some of our trips, the view from our bedroom was from the engineer’s side of the train and on other trips, it was from the fireman’s side.) He told us that it all depended upon how the train was made up.

On the Twentieth Century Limited, the bedroom windows ALWAYS looked out on the Hudson River.

Eric & Pat
Yep.

Yet another confirmation that Superliner sleeper orientation is basically random, consistent with their deliberate design.

And that Amtrak does not have the same kind of service standards that were followed on the 20th Century Limited (or the Santa Fe. Or Union Pacific. Or Seaboard Coast Line. Or Great Northern. Or...well, pick).

Wonder if PC followed the practice on their nameless New York-Chicago train over the former NYC? Probably they basically did, since their rolling stock did have definite front and rear ends.
 
All rolling stock technically has ends even the Superliners.

You have the B End which has the handbrake. B Standing for Brake. And the A End that is a blind end. I've heard several things to refer to it as. Every car has these even the Amfleet Is which have a vestibule on both ends, diners and other non vestibuled cars as well. What can be a fun challenge is finding and setting the handbrakes on cars without vestibules. One of my regular jobs back in 2016 was showing the NS Freight Crews where all the handbrakes were on all of the passenger cars.

So yes all cars have a front and rear end. I would say by the time of Penn Central they just wyed the train or the power and called it a day. Actually after the observation cars came off it wouldn't have been that hard to keep the train together the whole time. Just run the power around at the end of the run.
 
Granted, but the accommodation design of the Superliner sleepers allows running either end forward. Economy Bedrooms (as Roomettes were called at the time the cars were designed), are oriented opposite directions on either side of the aisle. Roomettes all faced one direction during the streamlined era. Also higher priced accommodations (Compartments and Drawing Rooms) were typically designated so the couches faced forward, and their lower berth passenger in sections were assigned the forward facing seat. So, while brake location for operating purposes give the car "ends", brake location does not impact passengers. It is a distinction without difference as Superliners were designed to run either end forward, and the crews are aware of where the handbrakes are.
 
Yes, heritage sleepers were usually on the rear to facilitate their intermediate set out or pick up. There were exceptions like Seaboard’s Silver Meteor where they were added to a train that was originally all coach with the observation on the rear providing coach lounge space.

Heritage sleepers were almost always properly pointed with roomettes facing forward and bedrooms on the right. It wasn’t left to the discretion of the switch crew as to which was most convenient for them.

While that’s not an issue with Viewliner roomettes. I still like it in the bedrooms when the couch faces forward. My favorite heritage bedroom configuration was having very comfortable collapsible chairs (they went under the bed at night) in the bedroom so you could arrange the chair as you wished.
 
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I understand the impresario of the Starlight’s rebirth with Pacific Parlour Cars in the 1990s insisted that the sleeping car bedrooms all face the ocean in each direction. Sadly, such managerial inspiration is almost unknown at today’s Amtrak.
 
I understand the impresario of the Starlight’s rebirth with Pacific Parlour Cars in the 1990s insisted that the sleeping car bedrooms all face the ocean in each direction. Sadly, such managerial inspiration is almost unknown at today’s Amtrak.
Yeah, Brian Rosenwald is sorely missed. He understood long distance passenger service and made many improvements as the head of Amtrak West.

Of course, Amtrak forced him out.
 
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