# Dining car seating enviroment



## DaveS (Nov 22, 2008)

My wife and I are about in embark on our first long distance travel. I am a person of large size and am corncerned about the seating in the dining cars, as I sometimes find booths to be to small in some eating establishments. Can anyone offer information along this line? Thanks!


----------



## syntaxfactory (Nov 23, 2008)

I am 5'7" and 250 pounds and have been called "fat ass" by teenagers in the mall and fit comfortably.


----------



## WhoozOn1st (Nov 23, 2008)

DaveS said:


> My wife and I are about in embark on our first long distance travel. I am a person of large size and am corncerned about the seating in the dining cars, as I sometimes find booths to be to small in some eating establishments. Can anyone offer information along this line? Thanks!


It would be best to contact Amtrak directly to learn what policies and procedures might be in place for accommodating morbidly obese passengers.


----------



## ALC Rail Writer (Nov 23, 2008)

WhoozOn1st said:


> DaveS said:
> 
> 
> > My wife and I are about in embark on our first long distance travel. I am a person of large size and am corncerned about the seating in the dining cars, as I sometimes find booths to be to small in some eating establishments. Can anyone offer information along this line? Thanks!
> ...


I have seen similar situations on the CL. The person was seated by themselves in one half of the booth. It helps to make a reservation in person with the LSA so they can see that you are in special need and write you down as such.


----------



## caravanman (Nov 23, 2008)

If you are traveling in a sleeper, you could ask the attendant to provide your meals in your room, if you would feel more at ease with that. I would say that the seating in the dinning car is quite roomy, but it might be possible to find exact dimensions somewhere on the internet.

Ed B)


----------



## jmbgeg (Nov 23, 2008)

DaveS said:


> My wife and I are about in embark on our first long distance travel. I am a person of large size and am corncerned about the seating in the dining cars, as I sometimes find booths to be to small in some eating establishments. Can anyone offer information along this line? Thanks!


I understand first hand. I used too be a very tight fit in the dinining car before I lost 40 pouunds. Before then, I preferred meals delivered to my sleeper.


----------



## sky12065 (Nov 23, 2008)

DaveS said:


> My wife and I are about in embark on our first long distance travel. I am a person of large size and am corncerned about the seating in the dining cars, as I sometimes find booths to be to small in some eating establishments. Can anyone offer information along this line? Thanks!


Dave,

I'm in a similar situation and feel that if you have a problem with booths in restaurants, you'll probably have a problem with dining cars.

This summer I was on the LSL and directly accross from my H room was the dining car. I crossed over with my attendant just to see if I might avail myself to the diner this trip and found it was a no go size wise.

However, since you can be served at your room or at your seat, I would be more concerned about the size of the rest rooms. You wouldn't have a problem in an H room but you could with other restrooms. I don't know though about the accessable rest room on the lower level of coach! It's hit or miss! I would however say that if you're personally under 400 pounds and not too short, you may be ok. The bottom line though is that it's not really how much you weigh that would make a difference, it's all in the distribution of that weight!

BTW, I've searched plenty online for demensions on dining or restrooms and have yet to find any. I doubt that the Amtrak agents would be of much help either with that kind of information.

Anyway, don't worry too much about it. I've found Amtrak personnel to be very helpful onboard the first time I boarded and discovered that I had a problem! They may even let you go off the back of the train! :lol:

Enjoy your trip!


----------



## Bill Haithcoat (Nov 23, 2008)

I have this problem and find, strangley, that the same restaurant will vary about the dimensions. I can go into certain restaurants near me and can show them which booths better. I am about 5'10'', 275 lbs.

On the train, entering from the sleepers, I usually find the first tables fit well, but some of the others do not.

I have alway received cooperation when I ask the person seating me on train or restaurant either one if I can try another booth--because they do vary!


----------



## wayman (Nov 23, 2008)

DaveS said:


> My wife and I are about in embark on our first long distance travel. I am a person of large size and am corncerned about the seating in the dining cars, as I sometimes find booths to be to small in some eating establishments. Can anyone offer information along this line? Thanks!


I can't offer dimensions, but here's a photograph of me in a Heritage diner booth. Perhaps it will give you a better sense of the size of the booths? Unfortunately, the angle doesn't give you the best sense of the spacing between seat and table, but it's the best I could find, and perhaps it's still helpful.







This is the sort of dining car that runs on the Crescent and the Silver service. But in my experience all Amtrak dining car booths (on Heritage, Superliner, and Diner-Lite cars) are very similar in dimensions. The one different sort of booth arrangement is on the Cross Country Cafe cars which presently run on the Capitol Limited, the City of New Orleans, and the Texas Eagle. Those cars have a completely different booth set-up so this photo won't give you any help; and I've never been on one, so I can't offer a comparison of the sizing. But for all the other trains with dining cars, it's pretty representative.


----------



## DaveS (Nov 23, 2008)

sky12065 said:


> I'm in a similar situation and feel that if you have a problem with booths in restaurants, you'll probably have a problem with dining cars.
> This summer I was on the LSL and directly accross from my H room was the dining car. I crossed over with my attendant just to see if I might avail myself to the diner this trip and found it was a no go size wise.
> 
> However, since you can be served at your room or at your seat, I would be more concerned about the size of the rest rooms. You wouldn't have a problem in an H room but you could with other restrooms. I don't know though about the accessable rest room on the lower level of coach! It's hit or miss! I would however say that if you're personally under 400 pounds and not too short, you may be ok. The bottom line though is that it's not really how much you weigh that would make a difference, it's all in the distribution of that weight!
> ...


Thank you so much for your detailed report. I am 53 years young, approx. 370 lbs. and 6'3" with reasonable mobility for my size. I have been in airplane restrooms and done ok. I have a big middle and there in lies the issue with some dinning booths. I am very aware of my size and do all I can to not intrude on others. You are right about body distribution and that has worked to my favor in most cases. I hope to experience the dinning car as that is a big part of the adventure. We are in a roomette and had the oportunity to set in one so we know that it will be okay us. Legroom was the main issue, but manageable. I have a CPAP unit for sleeping, thus the need of a room. Again, I do not wish to intrude on fellow passengers. Fortunately I am blessed with a wife of 33 years that is one great lady! She does so much to assist me in every way. Could not ask for more than that. My goal is to loose 40 to 50 lbs. but not sure if I will acheive that before the trip. Thanks Again, Dave


----------



## DaveS (Nov 24, 2008)

Thankyou, I will check it out! Dave S.



> I have this problem and find, strangley, that the same restaurant will vary about the dimensions. I can go into certain restaurants near me and can show them which booths better. I am about 5'10'', 275 lbs.
> On the train, entering from the sleepers, I usually find the first tables fit well, but some of the others do not.
> 
> I have alway received cooperation when I ask the person seating me on train or restaurant either one if I can try another booth--because they do vary!


----------



## Rail Freak (Nov 24, 2008)

wayman said:


> DaveS said:
> 
> 
> > My wife and I are about in embark on our first long distance travel. I am a person of large size and am corncerned about the seating in the dining cars, as I sometimes find booths to be to small in some eating establishments. Can anyone offer information along this line? Thanks!
> ...


http://flickr.com/photos/railfreak/2855342...57607284109748/

is this the same type car?


----------



## AlanB (Nov 24, 2008)

Rail Freak said:


> http://flickr.com/photos/railfreak/2855342...57607284109748/
> is this the same type car?


Yes, both of the pictures are of a single level Heritage dining car that has been through the Temoinsa rebuild program.


----------



## OlympianHiawatha (Nov 24, 2008)

Why did Amtrak do away with the traditional chairs in the Diners? Are the booths easier to maintain? Or is it now a safety concern to have loose chairs?


----------



## spacecadet (Nov 24, 2008)

OlympianHiawatha said:


> Why did Amtrak do away with the traditional chairs in the Diners? Are the booths easier to maintain? Or is it now a safety concern to have loose chairs?


I believe it's now a regulation that they need to have secured seating.

But that doesn't mean booths necessarily. I don't see why they couldn't do a layout like this with secured seats. (That photo's a little large or I'd have put it inline here.)

I'm sure they do the booths because it's easier for both the staff and passengers to walk through. Also, the swivel seats they used in the lounge cars for a while were supposedly a nightmare to maintain, so you were right on that as well. With non-swiveling seats, they probably can only realistically do booths.


----------



## wkaemena (Nov 28, 2008)

DaveS said:


> My wife and I are about in embark on our first long distance travel. I am a person of large size and am corncerned about the seating in the dining cars, as I sometimes find booths to be to small in some eating establishments. Can anyone offer information along this line? Thanks!



for the seating and space in a Superliner have a look here on my interactive panoramas, which might give you a good idea.


----------

