GrandLuxe Going Under?

[VentureForth]

Note... Rader has a lot of great ambition and if it weren't for his vision, a lot of people would not have had the opportunity to enjoy the premium rail service of Grand Luxe nor the whimsical experience of the Florida Fun Train.

That being said, just about every venture he has taken on has resulted in failure - with perhaps the lone exception being the manufacturing of double decker luxury dome coaches. Even his DMUs are struggling and arguably successful.

Does anyone know what the status of the American Orient Express was when he bought it? Was it profitable at the time? Were they courting a buy out, or did Rader see a successful venture, buy it out, and run it into the ground? In other words, would AOE have lasted any longer without Rader?

 

[AlanB]

That being said, just about every venture he has taken on has resulted in failure - with perhaps the lone exception being the manufacturing of double decker luxury dome coaches. Even his DMUs are struggling and arguably successful.

They aren't his DMU's anymore. As I noted back on page 1 of this topic, Radar was given the boot by CRC several months ago.

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

What if Amtrak (like they could afford it) bought the trainset and ran a 2nd Empire Builder with it? Better yet, ran a loop - CHI - SEA - EMY - CHI

You'd have something like 1000 more tractor trailers on the highways each day to replace the 1000 single passenger automobiles you'd take off the highways each day that way?

(Or something. 1000 is a pretty rough guess. But without a lot more track investment, you'd probably be increasing the country's overall energy consumption, not decreasing it.)

 

[MontanaJim74]

This is perfectally understandable from what i heard of how they ran their operations. I just came back from a visit to my hometown of Livingston, MT. My mother works at the depot there. This depot is one of the best designed depots in the country, designed by the same architects as Grand Central Station. But it wasnt on the Grandluxe tour itinerary--instead they were bussed straight to and from yellowstone and grand teton parks. I also heard that guests were hurried everywhere and didnt even have time to buy souvenirs. Go read some of the trip reports about this company--apparently bedding was rarely changed and clean towels only given out once during a week-long trip. And the company had a grade of F from the Better Business Bureau. So no, I am not the least surprised this company went under.

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

What if Amtrak (like they could afford it) bought the trainset and ran a 2nd Empire Builder with it? Better yet, ran a loop - CHI - SEA - EMY - CHI

The other issue is that I think Grandluxe has something like one 15 car trainset. The Empire Builder probably has 4-6 trainsets. Even if there were track capacity and even if it made sense for Amtrak to buy that equipment, the second daily Empire Builder run would then have something like three cars per trainset.

You probably could add two or three cars to each existing Empire Builder trainset and have no trouble filling them for most of the route.

 

[the_traveler]

I agree. Since there are so few cars, and they are all single level, that also restricts where and how they could be used. There would not be enough for a new route or a second run on an existing route. But maybe something could be done, such as adding sleeping cars on the Silver trains, the LSL or the Crescent. Or even returning sleepers to #66/67!

 

[travelerpaul]

I was a passenger on the final Grandluxe Trip - they told the managers Tuesday night they were closing (one got very drunk that evening in the New York Observation car), and the staff Wednesday morning. They told us that most of the staff will be laid off effective Friday (August 29), but a small staff will take the train to Napa Valley where the train will be parked for the indefinite future. I can't say enough good about the staff - even though they were facing personal crises, they pulled together for the rest of our trip and did a great job.
What a shame to lose this train - it was the trip of a lifetime. I'm so glad I got to experience it.

I'm going to Napa Valley next month. Do you know specifically where I can find this train?

 

[MrFSS]

I was a passenger on the final Grandluxe Trip - they told the managers Tuesday night they were closing (one got very drunk that evening in the New York Observation car), and the staff Wednesday morning. They told us that most of the staff will be laid off effective Friday (August 29), but a small staff will take the train to Napa Valley where the train will be parked for the indefinite future. I can't say enough good about the staff - even though they were facing personal crises, they pulled together for the rest of our trip and did a great job.
What a shame to lose this train - it was the trip of a lifetime. I'm so glad I got to experience it.

I'm going to Napa Valley next month. Do you know specifically where I can find this train?

The Napa Valley Dinner Train storage yards are HERE. Click on MAP selection from the Google Map View to see the streets, etc. It has been a few years since I was there, but it might be a logical place to store a passenger train.