Midwest Venture discussion 2023 Q3 -2024

jis said:

Was the Viewliner a Baggage Car or a Sleeper? Or did you mean to say Amfleet?

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I did mean to say Amfleet. I guess I wasn't awake enough!

Not sure if anyone has posted this, but the coach cafe car debuted.

https://www.trains.com/trn/news-rev...look-midwest-states-venture-coach-cafe-debut/

Wow! I didn't look close enough to realize that that crew table has seating for only two. The crews are not going to like this! I would have been OK with a table for four. It's just when you have, say, three crew members taking up two tables, that's not reasonable. I imagine they'll also take up at least one pair of adjacent coach seats too. There should easily be enough no shows to allow that.

By the way, I made a mistake in a much earlier post. Washington state's Cascades are indeed supposed to have tables, not coach seats, in their new Airo cafe cars.

Rode the Pere Marquette this past weekend between Chicago and Grand Rapids both ways. To GRR the business class was brown seats (Amfleet?). Brown leather and probably as old as grandpas leather recliner but comfortable enough.

Back to CHI business was the blue seats (Venture?) and my God how did they get the seats so wrong? Was just shy of sitting on plywood and zero ergonomics at all. The Amfleets were way better in my opinion. I don't think that anyone who made seat decisions ever actually sat in one before saying "Perfect! Send it to production."

Was kinda nice that the cars are openly connected until you get to the old Cafe car.

zetharion said:

Back to CHI business was the blue seats (Venture?) and my God how did they get the seats so wrong? Was just shy of sitting on plywood and zero ergonomics at all.

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This might explain the reports I've heard of Venture business class cars being used for coach seating.

zetharion said:

Back to CHI business was the blue seats (Venture?) and my God how did they get the seats so wrong? Was just shy of sitting on plywood and zero ergonomics at all. The Amfleets were way better in my opinion.

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Well, I'll have to ride one before I make a judgement, but I spent a night on the Silver Star trying to sleep in an Amfleet 2 coach, and it was like sitting on concrete.

One recent review that was posted on YT:

Amtrak's Wolverine - Detroit to Chicago in Venture Business Class

I'll be on coach outgoing DEA-CHI and business class returning later this month (Star Trek convention in Chicago) so it'll be interesting.