Roomette : Upstairs vs Downstairs

[Chessie]

The deluxe sleeper (all bedroom upstairs) is unique to the A/T but the A/T also has regular sleepers.

Also, I understand the Auto Train also uses a different sleeper which only has bedrooms upstairs.

Yes. Usually there are two of those different sleepers (Deluxe Sleepers) per consist. They are all named with the word Palm in it. These are all bedrooms upstairs with standard Superliner Sleeper layout downstairs with four Roomettes, a Family Room and a Handicapped Room.The Auto Train also carries at least three or more standard Superliner Sleepers in addition to these so called Deluxe Sleepers.

It does look like A/T is a particularly popular and well run route. It would be great for Amtrak to expand it a bit further north to NY area but I understand superliner cars won't be able to fit.

Maybe Amtrak can consider do a similar one from Chicago to Denver for skiers, or to Nola or wherever mid western snowbirds like to spend their winter.

 

[jis]

This has been discussed many times. It is not possible to extend it too much further north and yet maintain the current cost structure, which is one of the things that makes it successful. Since it has no dearth of patronage from where it is today there is very little justification for trying to change something that works well, and is unlikely to get any significant infusion of additional funds in the foreseeable future.

 

[Tennessee Traveler]

One of the original Auto Trains ran from Louisville, KY, to Orlando area back in the 70"s. It ran through Nashville but did not stop. It appears that track congestion and poor tracks north of Louisville prevented the train from going further north toward Chicago. That same poor tracks, etc. is partially what killed the Floridian Amtrak train Chicago to Florida than came through Nashville and is partially why the Floridian is no where near being re-instated since CSX is definitely not for the Nashville to Atlanta routing. The old Floridian ran south of Nashville to Birmingham and Montgomery in Alabama and through Tallahassee on the way to Jacksonville - not a desirable route.

 

[jis]

While it was at it, the Louisville Auto Train also happened to be the primary reason that the Auto Train Company went bankrupt and shut down, thus killing the Florida to Virginia Auto Train too, until Amtrak under Mr. Claytor took it over, got it a bunch of new equipment and made a business of it.

 

[railiner]

One of the original Auto Trains ran from Louisville, KY, to Orlando area back in the 70"s. It ran through Nashville but did not stop. It appears that track congestion and poor tracks north of Louisville prevented the train from going further north toward Chicago. That same poor tracks, etc. is partially what killed the Floridian Amtrak train Chicago to Florida than came through Nashville and is partially why the Floridian is no where near being re-instated since CSX is definitely not for the Nashville to Atlanta routing. The old Floridian ran south of Nashville to Birmingham and Montgomery in Alabama and through Tallahassee on the way to Jacksonville - not a desirable route.

The route did not go thru Tallahassee (that was The Sunset)...it went thru Dothan, Thomasville, Valdosta, and Waycross between Montgomery and Jacksonville...

 

[Chessie]

Sounds like these outdated infrastructures really need some improvement before we can dream about adding routes.

One of the original Auto Trains ran from Louisville, KY, to Orlando area back in the 70"s. It ran through Nashville but did not stop. It appears that track congestion and poor tracks north of Louisville prevented the train from going further north toward Chicago. That same poor tracks, etc. is partially what killed the Floridian Amtrak train Chicago to Florida than came through Nashville and is partially why the Floridian is no where near being re-instated since CSX is definitely not for the Nashville to Atlanta routing. The old Floridian ran south of Nashville to Birmingham and Montgomery in Alabama and through Tallahassee on the way to Jacksonville - not a desirable route.

May I ask why Nashville to Birmingham to Montgomery would not be a desirable route? Is it because it skips Atlanta?

 

[jis]

The trick is to have an end to end run of around 16-17 hours so that a daily service can be run with two consists and four OBS crews. As soon as you go beyond that you have to be able to charge dramatically more to cover the additional cost of additional consists and OBS crews, not to mention of course T&E crew too. And that immediately reduces the attractiveness of the service. That is the basic mechanics of things. The Lorton to Sanford falls exactly in a sweet spot. It helps further that it connects the end point regions of the most heavily traveled inter-regional corridor in the nation.

 

[Tennessee Traveler]

Sounds like these outdated infrastructures really need some improvement before we can dream about adding routes.


May I ask why Nashville to Birmingham to Montgomery would not be a desirable route? Is it because it skips Atlanta?

YES! Birmingham already has the Cresent as does Atlanta, but Nashville to Chattanooga to Atlanta is a needed route serving much larger population area. Birmingham could connect with such train via Atlanta.