# Location of Electrical Outlets in coach?



## Trailrider1951 (Jun 20, 2008)

I leave in a week to start my journey to Seattle to visit my son and his family. I am bringing my laptop with me, and unfortunately, the old battery no longer keeps a charge. If I want to use it, I'll have to plug it in somewhere. On my last trip on the Texas Eagle, I found some of the cars to be fitted with outlets at every seat, and some cars without outlets. Now, elsewhere on this board, I found out that the outlets on the cars that do not have them at every seat can be found at seat 29 (just across the aisle from the stairwell) and seat 55. Where exactly is seat 55 located? Front or back of the car? Left or right of the car? Also, are there any available outlets in the Lounge car? Thanks for any input you might have.


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## AlanB (Jun 20, 2008)

Since the car can be orientated in either direction, seat 55 could either be nearer the front or the back, on the left or the right. Sorry that there isn't a better answer.


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## jackal (Jun 20, 2008)

Trailrider1951 said:


> I leave in a week to start my journey to Seattle to visit my son and his family. I am bringing my laptop with me, and unfortunately, the old battery no longer keeps a charge. If I want to use it, I'll have to plug it in somewhere. On my last trip on the Texas Eagle, I found some of the cars to be fitted with outlets at every seat, and some cars without outlets. Now, elsewhere on this board, I found out that the outlets on the cars that do not have them at every seat can be found at seat 29 (just across the aisle from the stairwell) and seat 55. Where exactly is seat 55 located? Front or back of the car? Left or right of the car? Also, are there any available outlets in the Lounge car? Thanks for any input you might have.


All of the Superliners I've ever ridden in have been oriented in the "right" direction--that is, seat 1 is at the front and seat 62 (or whatever the last one is) is at the back.

Given that orientation, seat 55 is behind the stairwell and on the same side as the stairwell--the left, in this case--about halfway between the stairwell and the end of the car.

On my coach on the CZ, the one at seat 29 was inacessible--it was _right_ in front of me (I was in 33, I think) and so tempting to use, but the armrest of the chair in front of me was blocking it. It _might_ have been possible if I had had a power strip with one of those 90-degree-angle plugs (even then, it would probably have been too tight).

Although I've never seen a Superliner oriented the other way, it's entirely possible that when the seats are flipped around, the one at seat 29 becomes accessible (but then maybe the one at seat 55 becomes inaccessible!).

As to power in the lounge--there is a single outlet in the old upstairs mini-bar thing. If you bring a power strip with a nice, long cable, you will be everybody's best friend! Otherwise, it's kinda first-come, first-served, and you'll see people's cell phones charging there and the occasional laptop user standing in the mini-bar.

Some SSLs have a standard double outlet wall plate in the same area but on the other side of the stairwell which can be reached by a standard laptop power supply cable to the fixed seats on the same side between the stairwell and the tables (or, if you don't mind being sued, across the aisle). Other than that, no outlets there, either.

I have yet to find a Superliner with plugs at every seat like you had on the Texas Eagle--would be cool to see that!


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## wayman (Jun 20, 2008)

jackal said:


> Given that orientation, seat 55 is behind the stairwell and on the same side as the stairwell--the left, in this case--about halfway between the stairwell and the end of the car.


On my recent Builder trip, my car had an outlet on the left but ahead of the stairwell--it was in the fourth row of seats from the front of the car. That doesn't sound like seat 55 in either orientation. (The stairwell was on the left of the car.) I didn't see any other outlets, but I didn't look very hard either, and I didn't have these seat numbers to guide my search. I just noticed that one because some other guy had already found it!

When he detrained at Minneapolis, I went up to his seat to try it, but the outlet was half-behind the armrest and I couldn't get any of my plugs into it. The only plug which would work would be an extremely flat 90-degree-angle plug. In fact, I wish I'd had a chance to ask him how he even got anything plugged in there.



jackal said:


> As to power in the lounge--there is a single outlet in the old upstairs mini-bar thing. If you bring a power strip with a nice, long cable, you will be everybody's best friend! Otherwise, it's kinda first-come, first-served, and you'll see people's cell phones charging there and the occasional laptop user standing in the mini-bar.


What I've generally seen on the SSL is... a single outlet at floor level facing the aisle, on the stairwell wall, and a double-outlet in the mini-bar (none of these ever in use by Amtrak). It is awkward to make use of any of these while actually using your laptop unless you have a long cord and are very careful with its placement. It is easy to use any of them for charging a laptop or a phone, though.

And yes, bring a power strip! Everybody will love you! You can plug it into one of the mini-bar outlets when you first enter the lounge and just remember to reclaim it before your last stop. Don't worry, nobody will take it in my experience. (And if they do, hey, it was only $10. You can buy a lot of happiness for $10 well spent :lol: )


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## wayman (Jun 20, 2008)

jackal said:


> As to power in the lounge--there is a single outlet in the old upstairs mini-bar thing.


When were those things last used/staffed? How were they used?


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## jackal (Jun 20, 2008)

wayman said:


> jackal said:
> 
> 
> > Given that orientation, seat 55 is behind the stairwell and on the same side as the stairwell--the left, in this case--about halfway between the stairwell and the end of the car.
> ...


OK, so I got the single and double outlet backwards... 



wayman said:


> jackal said:
> 
> 
> > As to power in the lounge--there is a single outlet in the old upstairs mini-bar thing.
> ...


The only time I took the train before they cut that position was around 1993 or 1994 when I was, what, 9 or 10? I seem to remember the guy having one of those bar-type soda jet things and selling a very limited selection of sodas and maybe small snacks--just a smaller version of what was downstairs. There may have been adult beverages, too...but I was too young to care...


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## AlanB (Jun 20, 2008)

wayman said:


> jackal said:
> 
> 
> > As to power in the lounge--there is a single outlet in the old upstairs mini-bar thing.
> ...


Unless there has been some unannounced change, the upstairs mini-bar is currently used on the EB. That was part of the program that relaunched the EB.


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## da40flyer (Jun 20, 2008)

AlanB said:


> Since the car can be orientated in either direction, seat 55 could either be nearer the front or the back, on the left or the right. Sorry that there isn't a better answer.


On the car orientation point, on LD trains are the coach cars generally oriented with the seats facing the direction of travel or do they sometimes face backward? I have a hard time sitting on the Metrolink facing backward and that's only for an hour.


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## jackal (Jun 20, 2008)

AlanB said:


> wayman said:
> 
> 
> > jackal said:
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Ah--the only post-cutback Superliner trains I've ridden have been the CL, CZ, and CS. Interesting to hear they're doing it on the EB--would be nice if they did that as part of the relaunch on the CS, too...



da40flyer said:


> AlanB said:
> 
> 
> > Since the car can be orientated in either direction, seat 55 could either be nearer the front or the back, on the left or the right. Sorry that there isn't a better answer.
> ...


The seats themselves never face backward--the seats in Superliners turn around, so if they don't wye or loop the car or the entire consist (  ), the car attendant, prior to anyone boarding, will turn all of the seats around so they all face forward in the direction of travel. (You are not supposed to flip the seats around yourself, though, so you won't be able to create a foursome...) I personally have never noticed this happening, though--the stairs always seem to be on the port side (or whatever you call the left side when facing the direction of travel) and the rows always seem to increment up toward the back. But apparently it does happen...


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## wayman (Jun 20, 2008)

AlanB said:


> wayman said:
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> > jackal said:
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It wasn't staffed or used for anything on Train 27 of April 28th or Train 28 of June 12th (except for people's cellphones and laptops). So either it's an unannounced service cutback or both trains happened to be short a crew member.

I was also disappointed that, on the EB of all trains, we had one of the "almost an Automat" cafes.


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## Trailrider1951 (Jun 20, 2008)

Thank you all so much for your information. I will definitely bring along a power strip and a short extension with a right-angle plug. Also, my previous trip on the Texas Eagle was a weekend up to Dallas, and they did indeed have at least one coach car both ways with outlets at each seat! Man, I hope whenever they renovate each coach superliner car, they add that feature!


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## puck71 (Jun 20, 2008)

Is there a list somewhere of which routes have outlets at every coach seat? Or do consists change enough to not make this practical? Or should I just expect to use what battery I can at my seat and walk somewhere to charge it every couple hours (in the case of laptop/dvd player)?


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## AlanB (Jun 20, 2008)

No list since cars move around the system as needed. You can never predict where any given car might be spotted next.


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## amtrakwolverine (Jun 20, 2008)

I had a seat with the outlets but the only way to access them is to rotate your seat a bit so you can plug something into them.


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## JayPea (Jun 20, 2008)

AlanB said:


> No list since cars move around the system as needed. You can never predict where any given car might be spotted next.



I just got back from my Spokane-Seattle-Eugene-Portland-Spokane trip. The EB from Spokane to Seattle had outlets at every seat; the EB from Portland to Spokane didn't.


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## GG-1 (Jun 20, 2008)

My recollection is seats 19 and 55 if only 2 outlets, this distribution is to accommodate a 25 foot cord on a vacuum cleaner while cleaning the car,

Aloha


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## tubaia (Jun 21, 2008)

Trailrider1951 said:


> Thank you all so much for your information. I will definitely bring along a power strip and a short extension with a right-angle plug. Also, my previous trip on the Texas Eagle was a weekend up to Dallas, and they did indeed have at least one coach car both ways with outlets at each seat! Man, I hope whenever they renovate each coach superliner car, they add that feature!


Another suggestion, in case you are wanting to use the outlet in coach, would be to bring one of those little outlet splitters that you plug into the wall outlet and it has three or four outlets facing the sides. Then you can share the single outlet with those seated around you. Also, an inexpensive household extension cord to get from that outlet to your seat would be helpful.

++++++++++++++++++

Tuba-Iowa

_A tuba is a terrible thing to waste._


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## MrFSS (Jun 21, 2008)

tubaia said:


> Trailrider1951 said:
> 
> 
> > Thank you all so much for your information. I will definitely bring along a power strip and a short extension with a right-angle plug. Also, my previous trip on the Texas Eagle was a weekend up to Dallas, and they did indeed have at least one coach car both ways with outlets at each seat! Man, I hope whenever they renovate each coach superliner car, they add that feature!
> ...


Get one with a surge protector. Never know what the voltage will do on a train car.


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## Radparker (Jun 21, 2008)

wayman said:


> AlanB said:
> 
> 
> > wayman said:
> ...


Yeah, when I last rode the EB (just from Chicago to MSP) a few months ago, I don't remember the upstairs mini-bar being staffed, either.


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