New Superliner Coach Seats?

[Rafi]

This may be old news, but there's one coach car on my Empire Builder consist today that has seats that I've never seen before. They differ in their armrests, which are very similar to those found in the 2-1 Business Class/Cafe cars, except on the superliner, the padded armrests are blue. Take a look at the pictures below:

What I'm used to seeing:

Car 31024's seats:

Again, this could be old news. This car has a sticker in the vestibule that says it was proudly rebuilt by Beech Grove and the color scheme is the "Empire Builder" scheme we've been seeing in the sleepers, so I'm guessing that's when the new seats went in.

Anyway, just thought I'd throw it out there.

Rafi

 

[Sam31452]

Looks plan normal to me, except maybe the buttons.

 

[Acela150]

A decent amount of cars have the beech grove stickers on them. The best way to tell is a sticker pictured here. This also has a listing of cars released from BG. 31024 isn't listed. It was last updated on the 31st of May.

Steve

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Car 31024's seats:

IIRC one of the knobs is labeled for recline (and works as expected) while the other claims it's for the footrest. But the footrest is on the chair in front of you and the knob apparently does nothing on SL coach cars.

 

[AlanB]

Car 31024's seats:

IIRC one of the knobs is labeled for recline (and works as expected) while the other claims it's for the footrest. But the footrest is on the chair in front of you and the knob apparently does nothing on SL coach cars.

One is indeed for the recline, the other is for the calf rest, not the foot rest. The calf rest pulls up from the bottom of your seat and then drops back down when you move the appropriate knob.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Ah, I see. I played around with it briefly, couldn't see anything change and just assumed it was inoperable.

 

[Kay]

This may be old news, but there's one coach car on my Empire Builder consist today that has seats that I've never seen before. They differ in their armrests, which are very similar to those found in the 2-1 Business Class/Cafe cars, except on the superliner, the padded armrests are blue. Take a look at the pictures below:
What I'm used to seeing:

Car 31024's seats:

Again, this could be old news. This car has a sticker in the vestibule that says it was proudly rebuilt by Beech Grove and the color scheme is the "Empire Builder" scheme we've been seeing in the sleepers, so I'm guessing that's when the new seats went in.

Anyway, just thought I'd throw it out there.

Rafi

Man, those seats look tiny! And there's nothing between the 2 seats to separate yourself from your neighbor, like another armrest?

 

[Eric S]

Man, those seats look tiny! And there's nothing between the 2 seats to separate yourself from your neighbor, like another armrest?

No armrest (unfortunately), but I guess the picture doesn't do the size of the seats justice. They are certainly larger (including wider) than standard (coach) seats on planes, more comparable to business class or first class (depending, I suppose, on the airline and type of plane in comparison).

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Amtrak's coach seats are quite wide and very comfortable.

Also, initially, the Superliner cars had armrests between their seats, as did the plans for the Amfleet IIs. However, customer reaction to them was very negative and they were quickly eliminated.

 

[Rafi]

I guess what threw me was the design of the armrests in the second picture. It's a marked change from the squared-off armrest we've been used to seeing since the Amfleets came out. I'm wondering if this will be the design for all Superliners going forward, and that of course begs the question as to whether that modification will find its way to Amfleets.

Rafi

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

My first impression from the side by side pics is the new arm rest has a bit more "meat" to it, but I wonder how comfortable or uncomfortable the taper is. And if the knobs are plastic, I can see them breaking in the first few weeks.

 

[saxman]

I've seen those seats for a while now on various trains. I don't really like the curved armrests, but other then that the seats are exactly the same.

 

[amamba]

Amtrak's coach seats are quite wide and very comfortable.
Also, initially, the Superliner cars had armrests between their seats, as did the plans for the Amfleet IIs. However, customer reaction to them was very negative and they were quickly eliminated.

That is interesting. I much prefer the armrest (well, one that can be put up if I want) to act as a "buffer" if I don't know my seatmate. I actually really dislike NEC regional seats because there is no armrest between the two seats.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Also, initially, the Superliner cars had armrests between their seats, as did the plans for the Amfleet IIs. However, customer reaction to them was very negative and they were quickly eliminated.

Source? I'd love to see reports of addled customers who just couldn't handle the idea of having an armrest between them and a complete stranger. <_<

 

[Eric S]

Amtrak's coach seats are quite wide and very comfortable.
Also, initially, the Superliner cars had armrests between their seats, as did the plans for the Amfleet IIs. However, customer reaction to them was very negative and they were quickly eliminated.

Do you have any more information about that (not trying to be argumentative, just curious)? I have often wished that there were armrests between seats. I'd be curious what about them was objectionable.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Amtrak's coach seats are quite wide and very comfortable.
Also, initially, the Superliner cars had armrests between their seats, as did the plans for the Amfleet IIs. However, customer reaction to them was very negative and they were quickly eliminated.

That is interesting. I much prefer the armrest (well, one that can be put up if I want) to act as a "buffer" if I don't know my seatmate. I actually really dislike NEC regional seats because there is no armrest between the two seats.

Also, initially, the Superliner cars had armrests between their seats, as did the plans for the Amfleet IIs. However, customer reaction to them was very negative and they were quickly eliminated.

Source? I'd love to see reports of addled customers who just couldn't handle the idea of having an armrest between them and a complete stranger. <_<

The objection wasn't so much about the separation between passengers as making the seats less comfortable when a pair was occupied by one person. At the time not many people were riding the trains. We're talking late 70s, early 80s. Pullman Standard was still churning out passenger cars, Budd was doing the same, and Amtrak had a heavily new fleet. Different world, different time.

 

[PerRock]

I could see how they would be uncomfortable if you are trying to sleep on both seats....

peter

 

[amamba]

Amtrak's coach seats are quite wide and very comfortable.
Also, initially, the Superliner cars had armrests between their seats, as did the plans for the Amfleet IIs. However, customer reaction to them was very negative and they were quickly eliminated.

That is interesting. I much prefer the armrest (well, one that can be put up if I want) to act as a "buffer" if I don't know my seatmate. I actually really dislike NEC regional seats because there is no armrest between the two seats.

Also, initially, the Superliner cars had armrests between their seats, as did the plans for the Amfleet IIs. However, customer reaction to them was very negative and they were quickly eliminated.

Source? I'd love to see reports of addled customers who just couldn't handle the idea of having an armrest between them and a complete stranger. <_<

The objection wasn't so much about the separation between passengers as making the seats less comfortable when a pair was occupied by one person. At the time not many people were riding the trains. We're talking late 70s, early 80s. Pullman Standard was still churning out passenger cars, Budd was doing the same, and Amtrak had a heavily new fleet. Different world, different time.

But as long as you can put the armrest up, like on an airplane seat, this shouldn't be a problem, right?

I would love for amtrak to re-evaluate this policy.

 

[Ryan]

Concur. As it stands now, if I can't get into a sleeper, I'm not too excited about going overnight. I'm not going to put the wife or 7 year old stepson next to a stranger, so I'll the lucky guy sleeping with a stranger.

Now (hopefully) in the near future when we become a family of 4, that math will change...

 

[railiner]

As mentioned, having the armrest between seats acts as sort of a buffer, and also helps insure you get your fair share of seat for your fare.

On the other hand, if you have the luck to have two seats to yourself, the center armrest, even the type that can be raised, usually has some sort of support between the cushions to rest upon, and/or between the backrests to swivel from. These hard surfaces can make sprawling across uncomfortable.

 

[Eric S]

As mentioned, having the armrest between seats acts as sort of a buffer, and also helps insure you get your fair share of seat for your fare.
On the other hand, if you have the luck to have two seats to yourself, the center armrest, even the type that can be raised, usually has some sort of support between the cushions to rest upon, and/or between the backrests to swivel from. These hard surfaces can make sprawling across uncomfortable.

But many (all?) Amtrak seats already have a narrow strip of hard plastic between seats already, so presumably it wouldn't be much different (except that it would extend to the seat-back portion, instead of just the seat-bottom portion right now, I guess).

 

[PerRock]

As mentioned, having the armrest between seats acts as sort of a buffer, and also helps insure you get your fair share of seat for your fare.
On the other hand, if you have the luck to have two seats to yourself, the center armrest, even the type that can be raised, usually has some sort of support between the cushions to rest upon, and/or between the backrests to swivel from. These hard surfaces can make sprawling across uncomfortable.

But many (all?) Amtrak seats already have a narrow strip of hard plastic between seats already, so presumably it wouldn't be much different (except that it would extend to the seat-back portion, instead of just the seat-bottom portion right now, I guess).

True but generally this plastic strip is fairly deep down between the two cushions; often when there is a armrest it is closer to the top of the cushions.

peter

 

[cpamtfan]

I found this company which does alot of rail-oriented seating, including Amtrak.

http://www.kustomseating.com

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Funny, I would have thought it was done by a larger less specific seat maker, such as Lear. I happen to be in the chair making business myself.