A UP Kind of Day

This past Wednesday was a Union Pacific kind of day. It began with catching a former Union Pacific 10-6 sleeping car on the rear of Amtrak’s westbound Lake Shore Limited in Chesterton, Indiana.

The car, now owned by Webb Rail, was built in June 1950 by Budd. In its current reiteration, it read “Pullman” in the letterboard and “Pacific Union” in the car name space.

A few hours later I had ventured further east to Otis, Indiana, where I caught Norfolk Southern train 39E coming around a curve with a pair of UP motors.

The train originates in Elkhart and goes to the UP at Proviso Yard in Chicago.

Amtrak Previews Onboard Service Changes

A service advisory posted on the Amtrak website last week briefly described coming on-board service changes including the inauguration of Viewliner II sleeping car service on eastern long-distance trains.

Amtrak did not give a date for when the Viewliner II sleepers will begin revenue service other than it would be “in the coming months.” Nor did it say which trains would get the new sleepers.

The announcement merely said they would be assigned to “trains on the East Coast” and would be the first addition to the Amtrak sleeping car fleet in more than 25 years.

The passenger carrier said sleeping car passengers will begin using upgraded bedding, towels and linens at an unspecified date.

This change will initially be made on the Auto Train that operates between the Washington area and Florida.

Also coming is the completion of renovations to Amfleet II coaches with new seating cushions, carpets, curtains and LED reading lights. These cars are used on the Chicago-New York/Boston Lake Shore Limited.

Since early 2016 sleeping car passengers on the Silver Star have not received meals as part of their fare as is the case on all other Amtrak overnight trains with sleeper service.

That will change on May 1 when flexible dining service comes to Nos. 91 and 92. It will be the same service as that provided on the Capitol Limited, Cardinal, City of New Orleans, Crescent, Lake Shore Limited and Silver Meteor.

Silver Star sleeper class passengers will have access to dining car reserved for their exclusive use.

Amtrak said traditional dining service will continue to be offered on the California Zephyr, Coast Starlight, Empire Builder, Southwest Chief, Sunset Limited, Texas Eagle and for sleeping car customers aboard the Auto Train.

Your Sleeping Car is Waiting For You

Railroads have been operating sleeping cars since the 19th century and the sleeper is most associated with overnight train travel.

If you look at the total number trains that Amtrak operates daily, only a relatively small percentage have sleeping cars.

Once widely known as Pullmans, sleeping cars and dining cars are the glamour experiences of rail travel.

They also can be quite costly. If you want to travel by sleeper between Chicago and Cleveland the least expensive room will cost you $184 compared to the cheapest coach ticket of $59.

But there is something about the sleeping car experience, about being able to close the door and feeling like you have the train to yourself, and blocking out the rest of the world as you watch the countryside roll past your window.

Shown is one of two Viewliner sleepers in the New York section of the Lake Shore Limited at Chicago Union Station.

Amtrak Holding BOGO Sleeper Sale

Amtrak has announced a buy one, get one sale on sleeping car roomettes and bedrooms on selected routes including the Lake Shore Limited and Capitol Limited.

Tickets must be purchased between June 4 and 10, and travel must take place between Aug. 1, 2019, and March 21, 2020.

Amtrak said the fare is available on all trains with sleeping cars except the Auto Train.

The full fare adult and traveling companion must travel together on the same reservation.

Other terms and conditions include no changes to a trip itinerary once travel has begun and a 25 percent cancellation fee will be imposed on all cancellations.

Reservations must be canceled at least 15 days before travel and reservations canceled after that will receive a non-refundale eVoucher.

There are no blackout dates, but space may not be available on all trains at all times.

Amtrak Ending Full-Service Dining Service on Capitol Limited, Lake Shore Limited in Favor of Cold Meals

Amtrak is ending full-service dining car service on the Capitol Limited and Lake Shore Limited.

In a news release posted on its website, the passenger carrier said that effective June 1 it will begin offering sleeping car passengers on the two trains what it termed “contemporary and fresh dining choices.”

That means cold meals delivered to the passenger’s room or consumed at a table in a lounge car.

Trains magazine said Amtrak did not respond to question about whether hot meals would be offered on either train, but a separate service advisory indicated that café car fare will continue to be available, some of which is heated in a microwave oven.

The news release said the service is intended to replace traditional dining-car service.

Meals will be delivered to the trains just before they depart their end terminals. The cost of these meals will continue to be included in the ticket price of a sleeping car room.

Among the mean choices, the news release, said are chilled beef tenderloin, vegan wrap, chicken Caesar salad and turkey club sandwich.

Breakfast options will include assorted breakfast breads with butter, cream cheese and strawberry jam; Greek yogurt and sliced seasonal fresh fruit.

A Kosher meal will be available with advanced notice.

Passengers will receive unlimited soft beverages; a complimentary serving of beer, wine or a mixed drink; and an amenity kit.

Previously, sleeping car passengers wanting an alcoholic beverage had to pay for it.

“Our continued success depends on increasing customer satisfaction while becoming more efficient,” said Bob Dorsch, Amtrak’s vice president of its long distance service line, said in the news release.

The service advisory said that after boarding, sleeping car attendants will continue the standard procedure of asking passengers to select a preferred time for dining with reservations available in 15-minute increments.

Tables in sleeper lounge and café/lounge cars will be first come, first serve for seating and there will be no at-table dining service.

Sleeping car passengers will also be offered complimentary morning coffee, chilled water and juices, in-room meal service, turn-down service for their beds, and shower facilities.

They will be provided pre-boarding privileges and same-day access to lounges, such as Club Acela in the Northeast Corridor and the Metropolitan Lounge in Chicago.

Business class passengers on the Lake Shore Limited will be offered a la carte purchases from café/lounge menu, an alcoholic beverage and unlimited soft beverages, and a complimentary comfort kit.

Amtrak said coach passengers may purchase on a limited basis the pre-packaged meals served to sleeping car passengers. The existing café car menu will continue to be available to all passengers.

The news release also quoted Dorsch as saying, the meal service will continue to be refined and Amtrak looks forward to hearing from its customers about it.

What it all adds up to is that Amtrak is looking to cut costs by eliminating onboard kitchen staff and servers, and offering airline style meals that are provided by a catering company.

Trains magazine quoted the Rail Passengers Association as saying that the change reflects outside directives to the passenger carrier.

“It’s important to remember that this is simply an outcropping of the congressional mandate to eliminate losses on food and beverage service,” said James A. Zumwalt, director of policy research at RPA.

Zumwalt said the new meal policy “contradicts other successful models such as in the cruise industry, and proves unpopular with passengers. The mandate prevents best practices and should be removed.”

Cincinnati Museum Donates Pullman Car

The Cincinnati Museum Center is donating a rail car to a railroad museum being developed in the Corbin, Ky.

Pullman sleeping car French Broad River will be one of two railroad cars on display at the museum in the former Louisville & Nashville station. The museum hopes to acquire two more cars.

French Broad River was among 72 sleepers built by Pullman-Standard in four different configurations in 1949-1950 in Lot No. 6814.

Ownership of the cars was divided among Southern Railway subsidiary Cincinnati, New Orleans & Texas Pacific), and the Atlanta & West Point, Western Railway of Alabama, Florida East Coast, Louisville & Nashville, New York Central and Pennsylvania.

Cars owned by the Southern were in the River series and named after prominent rivers in the railroad’s service territory.

The French Broad River saw duty on the Royal Palm between Cincinnati and Miami.

The car was conveyed to Amtrak in 1979 and retired in 1982. It was sold to the Railway Exposition Company in Latonia, Ky., which later became the Railway Museum of Greater Cincinnati.

Although purchased by the Cincinnati Museum Center, the museum had been paying to house it in Latonia and planned on ending that arrangement.

The museum in Corbin is expected to open in May.