You mean, something like the "Slumbercoach" ?
See link here
or
This ?
or
This ?
They were economical versions of a second-class accommodation.
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Late Night in the Lounge Car...
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You mean, something like the "Slumbercoach" ?
See link here
or
This ?
or
This ?
They were economical versions of a second-class accommodation.
sunchaser
Conductor
Sorry for butting in. I was thinking of a very old movie, 'Some like it hot' -check this-
http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BOTk2...X450_SY363_.jpg
While I'm not an expert, I did stumble across this link for 'couchette' in Germany-kinda cool- much more modern
http://homepage.mac.com/wkaemena/FS/DB/LiegewagenCNLDB/
Now I have no idea how much it would cost, but to me, it would a very attractive alternative to the floor!
Just a thought. Sorry I should have included this in the earlier post.
Sunchaser
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amtrak51
Train Attendant
This happened once to me on the CZ to Colorado. The Southwest Chief was running late so Amtrak let the CZ run without a coach. So they packed about 20-50 people in the lounge and some had to sleep there all night till we reached Denver (I think). I have never seen anyone do this by choice.
Upstate
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The couchette car would probably cost a bit less than a modern slumbercoach. It looks very simple and probably holds more people too. I would love to see Amtrak do a couchette car.
ThayerATM
OBS Chief
People who sleep on the floor of a lounge car have no dignity. They're low life, and deserve to be treated as such. No matter how they try to rationalize it, they are without any redeeming social value.
ThayerATM
OBS Chief
Rationalize it any way you want. Sleeping on the floor of a lounge car represents low life, and I would consider you as such. I sure hope I don't have to meet the likes of YOU on any train.
AAARGH!
Conductor
Thayer, are you being serious? :huh:
I tend to spend a lot of time in the lounge at night, because A) My job is a graveyard shift job and I'm used to being awake at that hour and B) I don't sleep that well under the best of circumstances. I don't remember seeing anyone on the floor of the lounge, but several people sleeping there. Any train I've been on, I've seen the conductor wake them up promptly at six AM.
ThayerATM
OBS Chief
To some extent, yes. I don't travel coach, so my opinion is biased, and I realize that there might be extenuating circumstances. Still, I think that sleeping on the dirty floor of a lounge car is a sign of no dignity, and represents low life. At least sitting up in a seat and sleeping represents something more than sleeping on a dirty floor.
jis
Permanent Way Inspector
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Here are two examples of low cost sleeping accommodation:
AC 3-Tier Sleeper holds 64 per car
AC 2-Tier Sleeper holds 48 per car
In addition to what you see there are two berths lengthwise along the corridor in front of each open cubicle thus accommodating 6 per cube in 2-Tier and 8 per cube in 3-Tier.
Both are commonly available on most mail/express trains in India. Bedding is provided as part of the ticket in 2-Tier and can be rented in 3-Tier. Typical overnight trains have somewhere between 2 and 8 3-Tiers and between 1 and 5 2-Tiers. The 2-Tiers are a bit more expensive than the 3 Tiers. A 2 Tiers berth is about half the cost of a berth in a bedroom (including transport). Overnight travel in Chair Cars (Coach) is simply not accepted as a viable option by middle class travelers in India.
PaulM
Engineer
Couchettes in French or liegewagen in German are basically cars with a compartment somewhat deeper (front to back in the direction of the train) than Superliner bedrooms with 3 bunks stacked against the front facing wall and 3 against the rear. Unless you happen to reserve all 6 spaces, you would be sharing the room with strangers. You get a sheet, blanket, and pillow. The cost had been approximately $25 for quite a while.
I found them very nice, unless you ran into noisy students (although I could sympathize since I would have been extremely excited to be able to travel like that when I was a student). A problem for Amtrak LD distance trains would be the fact that the bunks are fixed; there is no place to sit during the day. Most overnight western European trains depart around 10:00 and arrive around 8:00. So, if I wasn't ready to sleep, I would stand in the corridor with my head not quite out the open window. Quite an experience rocketing along at over 100 mph in a normal, i.e., not high speed train.
Note: Amtrak slumber coaches were something entirely different, just sleepers with smaller compartments. Then there were cars with what I believe were called sections, i.e., upper and lower berths with a curtain separating them from the center aisle. During the day they would become two facing double seats.
sunchaser
Conductor
So you would pay only for the berth (couchette) & not for a seat as well? Interesting...I was thinking they did look like they were stationary, & I thought maybe you would pay for your seat & extra for the couchette. Unless it's strictly overnight. As far as sharing the room with strangers, that's exactly what's going on in coach. You are sleeping in a room with strangers.
Sunchaser
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TimePeace
Disillusioned.
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All these comments about "Low Lifes" show conclusively that the class system is not dead. Easy to call someone sleeping on the floor tacky or low life, without having any idea of extenuating circumstances.
Easy to call someone tacky from a sleeper car. I just priced out a roomette on the train from NYC to FLA at almost $400!!!! Plus coach fare. Give me a break. $400 for one night??
I would avoid at all costs sleeping on the floor in any public space - but would not fail to respect anyone else doing so, if it was not jeopardizing anyone else's health or safety.
Easy to call someone tacky from a sleeper car. I just priced out a roomette on the train from NYC to FLA at almost $400!!!! Plus coach fare. Give me a break. $400 for one night??
I would avoid at all costs sleeping on the floor in any public space - but would not fail to respect anyone else doing so, if it was not jeopardizing anyone else's health or safety.
Upstate
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They can make them where the bottom bunk turns into a couch and the two top bunks fold away.
Upstate
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I guess I have no dignity for enjoying camping and sleeping on the dirty ground.
Heck, with the privacy that a sleeper entails, who knows what kind of stuff people do in those compartments. I would be more scared of the sleeper attendant not fully cleaning the compartment.
OlympianHiawatha
Engineer
Perhaps with all the new rolling stock being considered, Amtrak could look into something along the lines of the open section Touralux cars used on the Olympian Hiawatha. They were the streamliner version of the classic Upper and Lower which were facing seats during the day and curtained bunks at night.
sunchaser
Conductor
I do not agree that someone sleeeping on the floor is tacky. I do agree the prices can be high for roomettes/bedrooms.
But if you plan way ahead, they will be cheaper. In our case, we booked in late February for a trip at the end of June. The bedrooms were high, & I watched them climb as we saved for the trip. So we cut back more to book a little sooner. Two weeks later, the price went up another $200!! I'm glad we booked them when we did. I'm hoping if there is a next time that we book much earlier than that to save more. Like I said before, it would be great for those that can't get a roomette/bedroom for whatever reason, if they had something like the couchette so no one would have to be on the floor.
sunchaser
Conductor
EWWW, way too much info!!!!!!!Please remember there are underage members on this board!!! If you are that worried, maybe you should carry disinfectant wipes wherever you go & make sure you wipe down everything you touch before you touch it!!!!
ThayerATM
OBS Chief
I think that any reasonably thinking individual would understand the differenced between a "camping" person sleeping on the "dirty" ground, and a coach passenger sleeping on the dirty floor of a lounge car on an Amtrak train represent two entirely different scenarios.
Try as you might, spinning "low life"... still remains, as I said, low life.
Ispolkom
Engineer
At least some couchette cars do convert to daytime seats. Here is a nice description of them, with diagrams. I remember taking one from Paris to Pisa a long time ago, a long-enough trip that the sleeping car attendent came through and made up the compartment several hours into the trip. It was a fine trip, but I don't think I'd like to spend more time than overnight in them -- six people in a compartment was rather tight.
The slumbercoaches were definitely not for the claustrophobic, though, again, they were a relatively inexpensive sleeper, especially when traveling alone. And they did have one or two double rooms that were much like a Superliner roomette.
Given the choice of sections, couchettes, and the slumbercoach, I'd give the nod to the slumbercoach. My impression is that from the end of World War II on most American railroads turned away from section sleepers, and I imagine they were following consumer demand. Plus, the slumbercoach would give an option to the solo traveler, who now has to pay almost double what a couple does.
Upstate
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If you saw the way I camp you would probably lump me in with the "low life" sightseer sleepers.
I sure hope you are not a churchgoing person.
I must say some folks have a liberal definition of low life. Nope, never slept on the lounge car floor. I'd rather not have to step over them. But maybe they are stuck next to someone who is pretty obnoxious in coach. Personally, I can sleep most anywhere so coach was no problem. I didn't even have to have the leg rest up to sleep. And I slept quite well.
Dan
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Dave
Guest
Well Thayer, i may "be low life" but at least have some command of the English language. You meant to say I am a low life. Or at least used some kind of article in your sentence. As for the "you can keep spinning ..." comment, does anyone have a Nonsense-to-English phrase book?
That's fine, and if the thought of seeing a person hiding behind the seats (you can hardly see them at all) is so horrifying that you can't bear the thought of it, then perhaps you are just the sort of lunatic that drives people to need to get away from a crowded coach full of humanity, and sleep for 5 hours overnight under the seats. I guess I really don't see what is so disgusting about it, you put your head on a jacket or on your arm, and apart from that, it isn't like you strip down to your undies and roll around. But whatever, apparently your sense of overall wellbeing ("oh my gosh, they are spinning low-life" or whatever similar thoughts you may have) is more important than the sanity of your fellow passengers (imagine being stuck next to a disgusting or crazy person that talks gibberish like "spinning low life" for two days), oh well. Good luck with that.
Meanwhile, a few legitimate points were raised:
1) Some people want to use the lounge car at 3am (partner is snoring, etc.). The table half of the lounge car shouldn't have anybody in it. It is impossible to sleep there, you have half of the car. The dining car is empty, sit there. You're a first class passenger, they won't care, or ask somebody.
2) It looks tacky. Okay, sure. That's fine.
I would absolutely love it if Amtrak got a mid-level service with bunks. It would be ideal for a lot of people. For others, they wouldn't like it at all. My theory is that is would be difficult to do with ADA -- you need to provide a similar service for disabled people, would that mean Accessible bedroom? Watch the "disabled people" (real and not) come through the woodwork to get the accessible bedroom at the bunk price.
I mean, what it comes down to is that for some people, unless and until Amtrak puts in a way to sleep that doesn't cost $250 a night, for some people, being able to temporarily take up three seats for a few hours is the difference between being able to get a few hours of sleep or showing up in at their destination having not slept in days and maybe reconsidering why they should go on living.
That's fine, and if the thought of seeing a person hiding behind the seats (you can hardly see them at all) is so horrifying that you can't bear the thought of it, then perhaps you are just the sort of lunatic that drives people to need to get away from a crowded coach full of humanity, and sleep for 5 hours overnight under the seats. I guess I really don't see what is so disgusting about it, you put your head on a jacket or on your arm, and apart from that, it isn't like you strip down to your undies and roll around. But whatever, apparently your sense of overall wellbeing ("oh my gosh, they are spinning low-life" or whatever similar thoughts you may have) is more important than the sanity of your fellow passengers (imagine being stuck next to a disgusting or crazy person that talks gibberish like "spinning low life" for two days), oh well. Good luck with that.
Meanwhile, a few legitimate points were raised:
1) Some people want to use the lounge car at 3am (partner is snoring, etc.). The table half of the lounge car shouldn't have anybody in it. It is impossible to sleep there, you have half of the car. The dining car is empty, sit there. You're a first class passenger, they won't care, or ask somebody.
2) It looks tacky. Okay, sure. That's fine.
I would absolutely love it if Amtrak got a mid-level service with bunks. It would be ideal for a lot of people. For others, they wouldn't like it at all. My theory is that is would be difficult to do with ADA -- you need to provide a similar service for disabled people, would that mean Accessible bedroom? Watch the "disabled people" (real and not) come through the woodwork to get the accessible bedroom at the bunk price.
I mean, what it comes down to is that for some people, unless and until Amtrak puts in a way to sleep that doesn't cost $250 a night, for some people, being able to temporarily take up three seats for a few hours is the difference between being able to get a few hours of sleep or showing up in at their destination having not slept in days and maybe reconsidering why they should go on living.
I
i guess I am a houligan...
Guest
I have a hard time sleeping next to someone I don't know in coach, hell I have a hard time sleeping next to someone I do know in coach. So I will always go in the lounge and sprawl out on the 3 seat chairs. I can actually get more than 2 hours of sleep that way. If that makes me a bum, I will say I am a bum. I am a banker, so I am getting used to being called names anyways!
Brad
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