Two or three are owned by a guy in Dallas. They were used for an excursion run between Commerce, TX and Sulphur Springs. That was in '01 or '02. Haven't heard of them being used since them. When they were pulled off the HF, I think that was the last we'll ever see of them on Amtrak. They'll probably be sold, but in the case of the three that I saw, they weren't up to Amtrak standards and couldn't be pulled as PV. Don't know if the HF would still pass Amtrak requirements.
There were a total of 6 diners that were in service At east one was used on the Pionier and and two were last used in California on the Capitol and San Jouquine trains when the California cars first went into servioce. The tow Hi level diners ran in place of the Califonia dinettes cars sinc the coaches were released for service first and the Dinettes were not inservice yet.
Amtrak basically ran the Super Chief/Southwest Chief exactly as it was for a short time (whereas most trains immediately became a rag-tag group of mis-matched paint jobs), so they did own HL diners. I'm not sure when they sold them; probably when they converted that train to Superliner equipment.
Yes. The Amtrak full length Dome car does indeed have six wheel trucks.
You can find some more information on what happened to Santa Fe's Hi Level El Capitan fleet at http://www.trainweb.org/vangab/hilev.htm . In particular it has information about the disposition of the Diners, which apparently never got any Amtrak re-numbering.
The Super Chief in the heyday was a sleeper only train, and was low level. It was the Coach only El Capitan that was Hi Level. In the waning years before 1971 the two trains ran combined as a single train called Super Chief - El Capitan, with a Transition Car connecting the two sections together.
The double-decker sleepers in actual realization are an Amtrak innovation, much as it is hard to believe
Bill - video I took about 1954 or 55 in Chicago. At the 4 second mark a big Santa Fe dome car comes into view for a few seconds.You can find some more information on what happened to Santa Fe's Hi Level El Capitan fleet at http://www.trainweb....angab/hilev.htm . In particular it has information about the disposition of the Diners, which apparently never got any Amtrak re-numbering.
The Super Chief in the heyday was a sleeper only train, and was low level. It was the Coach only El Capitan that was Hi Level. In the waning years before 1971 the two trains ran combined as a single train called Super Chief - El Capitan, with a Transition Car connecting the two sections together.
The double-decker sleepers in actual realization are an Amtrak innovation, much as it is hard to believe
Yes, El Capitan was indeed a high level train when Amtrak took over in 1971.
But it was originally a low level train (the only kind there was!) when it was first built as a new streamliner in 1938.
It received a big dome probably in the early 50's. Then in 1955-56 was re-equipped as a high level train, coaches, diner and lounge. In 1963 there was a new order for more high level coaches (though not diners or lounges).
At that time the original high level coaches were placed on the San Francisco Chief,itself a new schedule made of hand me down low and high level cars.The CAP got the new coaches.
And some time afer all that, some of the high level coaches drifted over to the Texas Chief.
About the Super and the CAP running together, that was an on an off thing for awhile but it eventually became permanent. It was kind of seasonal at first, like running as separate trains in the summer, still.
Bill - video I took about 1954 or 55 in Chicago. At the 4 second mark a big Santa Fe dome car comes into view for a few seconds.You can find some more information on what happened to Santa Fe's Hi Level El Capitan fleet at http://www.trainweb....angab/hilev.htm . In particular it has information about the disposition of the Diners, which apparently never got any Amtrak re-numbering.
The Super Chief in the heyday was a sleeper only train, and was low level. It was the Coach only El Capitan that was Hi Level. In the waning years before 1971 the two trains ran combined as a single train called Super Chief - El Capitan, with a Transition Car connecting the two sections together.
The double-decker sleepers in actual realization are an Amtrak innovation, much as it is hard to believe
Yes, El Capitan was indeed a high level train when Amtrak took over in 1971.
But it was originally a low level train (the only kind there was!) when it was first built as a new streamliner in 1938.
It received a big dome probably in the early 50's. Then in 1955-56 was re-equipped as a high level train, coaches, diner and lounge. In 1963 there was a new order for more high level coaches (though not diners or lounges).
At that time the original high level coaches were placed on the San Francisco Chief,itself a new schedule made of hand me down low and high level cars.The CAP got the new coaches.
And some time afer all that, some of the high level coaches drifted over to the Texas Chief.
About the Super and the CAP running together, that was an on an off thing for awhile but it eventually became permanent. It was kind of seasonal at first, like running as separate trains in the summer, still.
VIDEO
That's a nice collectible view of a Hi-Level lounge car....also known as the "Top of the Cap/Kachina Coffee Shop". That's what was converted into the 'Pacific Parlor Cars' for the Coast Starlight. Unlike the Hi-Level diners, these cars had the same four wheel trucks as the Hi-Level chair cars.These cars were quite the rage in their day. View of a postcard I have showing one of the cars.
I think we have a winner!
