Slumbercoach interiors

Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum

Help Support Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Status
Not open for further replies.

pebbleworm

Lead Service Attendant
Joined
Apr 21, 2009
Messages
257
Periodically the topic of slumbercoaches comes up, and there aren't many good pictures of the interiors available on the web. Ozark Mountain Railcar has a couple of distressed examples available, so you can get the grand tour at:

http://www.ozarkmountainrailcar.com/detail.asp?id=503&n=Loch-Rannock

and

http://www.ozarkmountainrailcar.com/detail.asp?id=504&n=Loch-Locky

Click the "view gallery" button to see all! Pink fiberglass, formica, claustrophobic hallways and the dreaded in room toilet with a view of the tracks. When I rode in slumbercoaches in the early 1980s as a college student I loved them- the difficult part was getting my spacey parents to let me book the room early enough, since from Chicago to NYC they were usually sold out for xmas well before Halloween. Whether Amtrak loved them as much I cannot say, but having to change linens for 1.5X the base coach fare must not have been a real moneymaker...
 
They are not completely gone. Slumbercoach (Amtrak 2092) is here in Atlanta at the Southeastern Railway Museum. It's kind of cool walking around in it and seeing the small rooms again. The Crescent (Amtrak) had one between Atlanta and New York for awhile so it seemed fitting that one is at the museum here in Atlanta.

Also, the one here in Atlanta is in better shape than the ones in those photos.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
They are not completely gone. Slumbercoach (Amtrak 2092) is here in Atlanta at the Southeastern Railway Museum. It's kind of cool walking around in it and seeing the small rooms again. The Crescent (Amtrak) had one between Atlanta and New York for awhile so it seemed fitting that one is at the museum here in Atlanta.

Also, the one here in Atlanta is in better shape than the ones in those photos.
I rode the one on the Crescent several times as well as on one of the Florida trains at least once.

And, the Atlanta Braves museum at Turner Field has a piece of one on display to show how baseball teams traveled by train, although I don't imagine any team ever used a Slumbercoach.
 
What a melancholy experience! It was both sad to see the sorry state of disrepair these wonderful cars have been allowed to slip into, while at the same time recalling the great times I had enjoyed their hospitality on dozens of trips between Denver, Chicago, and New York in the sixties, seventies, and eighties...

Thanks so much for providing those links.
 
Thanks for the posting, but I doubt I'll ever have the chance to experience travel in one of these styled cars, old or new, in my lifetime. Although I would be supportive of an intermediate class of service, allowing a passenger to enjoy a horizontal ride to rest without busting a budget, there is no budget willing to front production of a new style of Slumbercoach, nor none foreseeable in the future.

Foamer Fantasy, dare I say?
 
Loch Locky and Loch Rannock were built in 1959 for the Northern Pacific and are newer than all the Heritage Dining Cars that are still running. Unfortunately due to the hopper style toilets which were outlawed by Congress they had to be prematuely retired. I have journals to keep track of the all the railcars I have traveled on and both are included. I used to travel on Slumbercoaches in the late 60s/early 70s when I was in college and in the Air Force because my budget rarely allowed first class. When I was stationed in Grand Forks,ND, I used to travel from Grand Forks to Minneapolis and back on a slumbercoach on the Empire Builder. The one way fare with a military discount and the slumbercoach was $14.95 which was only $3 higher than Greyhound and a much more pleasant experience. I would leave Grand Forks GN station downtown at Midnight and get to the GN Station in downtown Minneapolis at 6:30AM Saturday....return on Sunday night at 10:10PM and arrive in Grand Forks at 5AM for a day of work. Usually got 5 hrs sleep in the comfortable bed in the Sumbercoach. It was great to see the pictures.
 
Great links! :cool: Thanks! :hi:

Maybe Congress just likes flushing the toilet after each use, INCLUDING while the train is standing at the station. :lol: :lol: :lol: But is sure seems a shame. :wacko: :wacko:
 
Every time I recollect my thousands of miles aboard these gems, I have to smile. In my younger days, I would 'party-hardy' in the lounge car until past closing time, and the fact that I was able to use the toilet later, without the need to raise the bed as in the roomettes of the period, was much appreciated.

It seems incredible that these cars, especially the 24-8 configuration, could sleep 40 passengers in private room comfort, on a single level car. Almost as many as the 44 passenger long-distance chair cars of the time.

What a brilliant design!!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top