I personally find incredible value contained in a name. Having a name instils a sense of identity, a title of importance. Stepping aboard a sleeping car you are going to call home for two days and nights while traveling trans-continental has a bit more romance when a name is gracing the side instead of a simple inventory number. Eating in a dining car with an identity adds to the experience and the meal.
To put things in perspective, no one would blink an eye at a ship called G32. But grace the name Queen Mary 2 upon it, and suddenly you have prestige! :lol:
So, why has Amtrak strayed away? As the Viewliners rotated in for their periodic maintenance starting sometime in 2007, their original names were one by one stripped away and forgotten. The same is true of the Superliner I sleepers, and finding one with its original name still borne upon an end door is a rare occasion these days. The only things that seem to bear a name in an official manner today are the Viewliner diner "Indianapolis", the five Hi-Level (PPC) lounges, the California cars, the individual trainsets of the Cascades route, and a handfull of miscellaneous pieces of rolling stock still on Amtrak's roster.
It cannot really be for cost. I refuse to accept that having names on individual cars is even an expense at all. I just cannot fathom what the reasonable cause for de-naming cars like sleepers and diners would be. If anything, it is now going to cost money to put names back on the cars should Amtrak decide to change their mind on names. Not a whole lot, just the price of cutting out and then affixing vinyl lettering, but it will still cost.
So, what do you think about names and train cars? Should Amtrak re-approach having named cars?
To put things in perspective, no one would blink an eye at a ship called G32. But grace the name Queen Mary 2 upon it, and suddenly you have prestige! :lol:
So, why has Amtrak strayed away? As the Viewliners rotated in for their periodic maintenance starting sometime in 2007, their original names were one by one stripped away and forgotten. The same is true of the Superliner I sleepers, and finding one with its original name still borne upon an end door is a rare occasion these days. The only things that seem to bear a name in an official manner today are the Viewliner diner "Indianapolis", the five Hi-Level (PPC) lounges, the California cars, the individual trainsets of the Cascades route, and a handfull of miscellaneous pieces of rolling stock still on Amtrak's roster.
It cannot really be for cost. I refuse to accept that having names on individual cars is even an expense at all. I just cannot fathom what the reasonable cause for de-naming cars like sleepers and diners would be. If anything, it is now going to cost money to put names back on the cars should Amtrak decide to change their mind on names. Not a whole lot, just the price of cutting out and then affixing vinyl lettering, but it will still cost.
So, what do you think about names and train cars? Should Amtrak re-approach having named cars?
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