The Coast Starlight was undergoing a massive upgrade and the cars were assigned to that route to allow for a better quality experience. The route also lends itself to a deluxe product with the ocean views and the spectacular scenery along the route. If there were more they would probably be assigned to the Empire Builder route, since it is equally as spectacular.
I think a big part of it too is that Amtrak's California management has been pretty adept at positioning all their product to take advantage of the environment. As I recall, the parlor car idea was something of a gorilla campaign to improve train ratings and load factors, and ran counter to trends elsewhere to strip services. As it turned out, the experiment was very successful, driving lots of buzz and increased loads, so they held on to the cars and the service. I believe that Amtrak is looking at putting a Cross Country Cafe car onto the Empire Builder in addition to the current Lounge and Diner, to provide meals for the Portland section and help fill demand. However, I'm not sure if it'll ever get used as a first class car only, although without the larger windows a CCC would be a poor cousin to the PPC.
... and calling them "Colorado River Parlor Cars" or "Endless North Dakota Wheat Parlor Cars" just doesn't have the same ring to it! :lol:
To paraphrase: They realized that normal people need a land cruise to justify the extra time of taking the train.
It also didn't hurt that at that time the division manager at that time was one of better managers that Amtrak had. He realized and understood that one has to actually spend money to make money. He saw an oportunity, and thankfully upper management allowed him to do so, to improve the service level of the train and through that the ridership of the train. His name escapes me at the moment, although for some reason the name Rosenwald is flying around in my head, but I don't think that's correct.
Thanks, guess my memory was better than I thought it was.
1995.
They could have Atlantic Parlour Cars (APC) too - but the APC would be a convertible the first time they tried to go to Baltimore or New York!
It's been done. The Seaboard Air Line had Pullman build "Sun Lounge" cars for the Silver Meteor in 1955, which were sort of like single-level sightseer lounge cars:
That's the one I was trying to recall-Thanks for the pics. I do believe one is still making the private varnish rounds.It's been done. The Seaboard Air Line had Pullman build "Sun Lounge" cars for the Silver Meteor in 1955, which were sort of like single-level sightseer lounge cars:
I believe they were inherited by Amtrak. From what I understand, one or two were bought from Amtrak, while the others (were there others?) were scrapped when the Heritage program started.
Just guesses, but I bet the "premier" routes are the Auto Train, Empire Builder, California Zephyr, and Coast Starlight.
Yep.
For a while, I was hearing the Capitol Limited would be "re-launched" as the premier eastern route ... but that was dependent on re-upgrading it to full diner cars, which hasn't happened yet. I was never clear on whether this plan also included adding service/staffing/amenities as well (are there enough CCC cars around that they could put one on each CL consist for use as a "first-class lounge"?). And I haven't heard anything about this plan for some while, so I don't even know if it's still in the works.
That one is still around. It is the Hollywood Beach. I got to ride in it on an excursion from Spencer, NC to Asheville. It was a grand trip! :lol:
None were scrapped by Amtrak- all were sold. I think a couple of them were scrapped subsequently to that. They were all inherited, though. The cars were not converted to heritage equipment for several reasons, the main one being that they were Pullman Standard SS-cladding carbon steel cars, which were the worst cars ever built. The cladding proved a trap for moisture, and caused the carbon steel to corrode. They were some of the newer cars in Amtrak's fleet, but they weren't worth keeping around.
You pay less money for a sleeper class upgrade on Amtrak than you do for a comparable domestic first class upgrade on an airline. You get more- relatively real food, a place to sleep, privacy, first class lounge in major stations- and yet you complain. Why? You aren't paying what you once paid for first class travel on trains of years gone by.
I think Larry's point is that by providing some modest additional amenities, you can drive more demand, sell more space, and earn more revenue. I have to believe the lounge cars on the Coast Starlight have driven added demand for the service, improved the sales in the diner, and hopefully allowed Amtrak to earn more revenue per passenger. From a passenger perspective, I must say having somewhere other than my assigned seat to go from time to time is really what train travel is all about. I think having the observation car, even if shared with coach, makes train travel far more enjoyable than it would be otherwise.
