Future of the Pacific Parlour Cars?

[MrFSS]

Some years ago I was at BG and they had a PPC in being completely overhauled. Funny looking with no paint on it.

 

[CHamilton]

Looks rather like the original! (Image courtesy Steve Hart on the Facebook Coast Starlight group.)

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

I have an original of the Postcard shown above and it doesn't take long to come up with some rather colorful captions for what is going on with the various pax. Take the lady in yellow looking down at her Cowboy Boyfriend who just deposited her on the train and is already making a move. And as Robert De Niro questions in Ronin "What's in the Case?"

 

[Bob Dylan]

Nice pics! As one who got to ride in the original on the Santa Fe El Cap (all Coach) and as a PPC on the Starlight, I'll take the current version!

Sure hope we see them again come Spring, it'd be a shame if Tom had to snap pics of them rotting away on some back track @ Beech Grove!

 

[user 3575]

Pacific Parlour Cars are coming off the Coast Starlight (11 and 14) by the middle of this week, will be gone until mid-March and unless a last-minute change occurs, will not be replaced in the trains' consists until they return in March. 11/14 new consist: Engines (2), Heritage baggage car, sleepers (2), diner, SSL, coach, coach/bag. The coach/bag might get replaced with a regular coach is need arises.

 

[neroden]

Does anyone know why fluting / corrugation was put on cars (such as these)? I've always wondered what the point was. It seems an odd sort of decoration.

 

[Dalex]

The Fluting and Corrugation are part of the structure of the car. To make metal stronger and lighter it is corrugated; thin on the roof and broadly on the side walls. The Fluting is made of decorative inserts to turn the rectilinear corrugations into more pleasing curved flutes.

 

[desertflyer]

Just saw train 14 at Emeryville with no PP car. Was a bit strange. I'll be happy to see them back in service.

 

[Metra Electric Guest]

The Fluting and Corrugation are part of the structure of the car. To make metal stronger and lighter it is corrugated; thin on the roof and broadly on the side walls. The Fluting is made of decorative inserts to turn the rectilinear corrugations into more pleasing curved flutes.

It also helps prevent "oil canning" - flat metal will have a kind of, um, don't quite know how to describe it in writing, distortion when a load is put on it (in addition to strength issues). It will distort and look like it's damaged, hence corrugation also has an aesthetic function over and above the functional, in addition to the original streamlined origins. It may also hide dirt, remember when Mercedes used to have fluted taillights and their justification was it kept them cleaner.

 

[fixj]

The Heartland Flyer was using old SantaFe El Cap coaches when they first started running. and the Texas Eagle crew car (they called it the 10 car) used to be an old SantaFe El Cap car.

First car in the consest

 

[spacecadet]

It may also hide dirt, remember when Mercedes used to have fluted taillights and their justification was it kept them cleaner.

I like the look of fluted sides but I always thought it must actually get *dirtier* than flat sided cars. More nooks and crannies, harder to scrub the dirt off, and in a rinse the dirt just settles back into the crevasses. If you look at pics of Amtrak's fluted-side cars even in the early 70's, they already looked hopelessly dirty compared to when they ran on their original railroads just a couple years before, whereas their flat-sided cars seem cleaner even now. That stripped PPC above still looks pretty dirty even though the paint's been stripped off and I'll bet it's had a full bath.

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

Has there been any sign of The Five moving east yet?

 

[Eris]

FWIW (and I'd say it's not really worth much or I'd have mentioned it sooner), the coach attendant, standing with a conductor, told me the cars would stay in Los Angeles for the work that was going to be done, when I asked about them going to Beech Grove.

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

FWIW (and I'd say it's not really worth much or I'd have mentioned it sooner), the coach attendant, standing with a conductor, told me the cars would stay in Los Angeles for the work that was going to be done, when I asked about them going to Beech Grove.

Unless LAX has some heavy duty Coach Maintenance Facility it sounds like it will be "lighter" work if that is the case, though they probably could do a quick rebuild of the interiors. I figured they would want to send them to Beech Grove and gut them down to the carcass for a "D-Check"

 

[neroden]

The history of the fluting is interesting. I guess modern metalworking techniques have rendered the technical benefits obsolete, since it simply isn't being done any more.

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

The history of the fluting is interesting. I guess modern metalworking techniques have rendered the technical benefits obsolete, since it simply isn't being done any more.

The lower half of the Viewliner, including the new series is fluted

 

[Metra Electric Guest]

It may also hide dirt, remember when Mercedes used to have fluted taillights and their justification was it kept them cleaner.

I like the look of fluted sides but I always thought it must actually get *dirtier* than flat sided cars. More nooks and crannies, harder to scrub the dirt off, and in a rinse the dirt just settles back into the crevasses. If you look at pics of Amtrak's fluted-side cars even in the early 70's, they already looked hopelessly dirty compared to when they ran on their original railroads just a couple years before, whereas their flat-sided cars seem cleaner even now. That stripped PPC above still looks pretty dirty even though the paint's been stripped off and I'll bet it's had a full bath.

It may also hide dirt, remember when Mercedes used to have fluted taillights and their justification was it kept them cleaner.

I like the look of fluted sides but I always thought it must actually get *dirtier* than flat sided cars. More nooks and crannies, harder to scrub the dirt off, and in a rinse the dirt just settles back into the crevasses. If you look at pics of Amtrak's fluted-side cars even in the early 70's, they already looked hopelessly dirty compared to when they ran on their original railroads just a couple years before, whereas their flat-sided cars seem cleaner even now. That stripped PPC above still looks pretty dirty even though the paint's been stripped off and I'll bet it's had a full bath.

I'm suspicious of that claim too... But some things just look dirty no matter what.

BTW the photo of the locomotive fixj posted show an example of oil-canning on the flat metal sides - notice how they are just a bit wavy?

 

[jis]

It is not clear why Amtrak chose to use fluting on the Viewliners. One thing that is does is increase manufacturing and maintenance cost.

 

[Ryan]

Forget the oil-canning, I want to know the story behind the pink flamingo on the nose of the locomotive.

 

[CHamilton]

Breaking news.

WASHINGTON, D.C.--Amtrak has announced that, in a cost-cutting move, they are removing the "U" from the Pacific Parlour Cars. Amtrak CEO Joseph Boardman made the announcement today in a letter to the leaders of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

"As you know, these cars are currently out of service undergoing maintenance, and are scheduled to return in March," Mr Boardman said. "During this work, we will be replacing all signage and reprinting menus and other ancillary materials. It has been decided that we can take this opportunity to excise unneeded vowels from the cars' names. We anticipate that we will save Amtrak $10.6 million in this way. In addition, we will move to standard orthography, as required by the Spell American Act."

Not everyone is pleased with the change. The executive director of the Friends of American Motive and Electrical Railways, E. M. Frimbo, said, "This is just another attempt to nickel and dime passenger rail service down to the level of air and bus travel. We here at FOAMER will fight the willful removal of our beloved "U"s from the Parlour Cars."

 

[tricia]

Breaking news.

WASHINGTON, D.C.--Amtrak has announced that, in a cost-cutting move, they are removing the "U" from the Pacific Parlour Cars. Amtrak CEO Joseph Boardman made the announcement today in a letter to the leaders of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

"As you know, these cars are currently out of service undergoing maintenance, and are scheduled to return in March," Mr Boardman said. "During this work, we will be replacing all signage and reprinting menus and other ancillary materials. It has been decided that we can take this opportunity to excise unneeded vowels from the cars' names. We anticipate that we will save Amtrak $10.6 million in this way. In addition, we will move to standard orthography, as required by the Spell American Act."

Not everyone is pleased with the change. The executive director of the Friends of American Motive and Electrical Railways, E. M. Frimbo, said, "This is just another attempt to nickel and dime passenger rail service down to the level of air and bus travel. We here at FOAMER will fight the willful removal of our beloved "U"s from the Parlour Cars."

Thanks for the humor! (Or should that be humour?)

 

[George K]

"FOAMER" - The Federation of Amtrak Members Ever Riding"

For those of you who didn't know.

 

[rickycourtney]

Breaking news.

WASHINGTON, D.C.--Amtrak has announced that, in a cost-cutting move, they are removing the "U" from the Pacific Parlour Cars. Amtrak CEO Joseph Boardman made the announcement today in a letter to the leaders of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

"As you know, these cars are currently out of service undergoing maintenance, and are scheduled to return in March," Mr Boardman said. "During this work, we will be replacing all signage and reprinting menus and other ancillary materials. It has been decided that we can take this opportunity to excise unneeded vowels from the cars' names. We anticipate that we will save Amtrak $10.6 million in this way. In addition, we will move to standard orthography, as required by the Spell American Act."

Not everyone is pleased with the change. The executive director of the Friends of American Motive and Electrical Railways, E. M. Frimbo, said, "This is just another attempt to nickel and dime passenger rail service down to the level of air and bus travel. We here at FOAMER will fight the willful removal of our beloved "U"s from the Parlour Cars."

 

[Bob Dylan]

In a related story, Rep. Mica R- FL, announced hearings to investigate who authorized this since the idea didn't come from him!

Also he wants to know if the workersxare eating $25 Amburgers

while performing this work!

 

[Ryan]

Breaking news.

WASHINGTON, D.C.--Amtrak has announced that, in a cost-cutting move, they are removing the "U" from the Pacific Parlour Cars. Amtrak CEO Joseph Boardman made the announcement today in a letter to the leaders of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

"As you know, these cars are currently out of service undergoing maintenance, and are scheduled to return in March," Mr Boardman said. "During this work, we will be replacing all signage and reprinting menus and other ancillary materials. It has been decided that we can take this opportunity to excise unneeded vowels from the cars' names. We anticipate that we will save Amtrak $10.6 million in this way. In addition, we will move to standard orthography, as required by the Spell American Act."

Not everyone is pleased with the change. The executive director of the Friends of American Motive and Electrical Railways, E. M. Frimbo, said, "This is just another attempt to nickel and dime passenger rail service down to the level of air and bus travel. We here at FOAMER will fight the willful removal of our beloved "U"s from the Parlour Cars."