According to a few of my old timetables, there was once a Los Angeles-San Diego Metroliner. When looking through my timetables to gain a better understanding of how this route evolved, I noticed something: it lasted only a year or two. I wondered how this could have happened, so I looked the train up on Everything2.com. According to that website:
This article prompted a few new questions:
1. Did Amtrak decide to call the western service "Metroliner" because the Metroliner cars were already being used there? Or was this something well-planned?
2. Why was this train "greeted with a noted lack of enthusiasm"?
3. Why was Custom Class a better solution than a Metroliner? If the one first-class run of the day wasn't greeted with enthusiasm, why did Amtrak decide to expand first-class service? (I'm not saying this move wasn't for the better.)
For a brief period in the mid 1980s, Amtrak converted one of its San Diegan trains between Los Angeles and San Diego into the San Diegan Metroliner, featuring the same amenities as on the regular Metroliners in the Northeast, such as reserved seating, limited stops, and free snacks.While the Metroliners had proved popular between New York and Washington, for almost 20 years, their introduction on the West Coast was greeted with a noted lack of enthusiasm. Within a year, the Metroliner service was replaced by the introduction of Custom Class on the San Diegans, which made reserved seating available on all trains in addition to the regular unreserved seating.
This article prompted a few new questions:
1. Did Amtrak decide to call the western service "Metroliner" because the Metroliner cars were already being used there? Or was this something well-planned?
2. Why was this train "greeted with a noted lack of enthusiasm"?
3. Why was Custom Class a better solution than a Metroliner? If the one first-class run of the day wasn't greeted with enthusiasm, why did Amtrak decide to expand first-class service? (I'm not saying this move wasn't for the better.)