Coach restrooms

[striker71]

Years ago there was a train that went from Houston to Galveston, old time nostalgia ride. My wife took her son on it and he was amazed that he could see the tracks through a space in the restroom.

 

[newchapter]

When I went to the Boy Scout Jamboree in 1960, the B&O coaches we rode in still had toilets that emptied down onto the ties. (No worry about people clogging up the toilets with paper towels back then!) Although this practice was not very sanitary, neither is a toilet that backs up and floods a coach full of people.

I remember this too. And there was a sign to not use the toilet at the stations.

 

[newchapter]

I am not sure if this could be the cause, but I have a friend that works a flight route from El Salvador to the US and they too see the same things happening in their bathrooms from time to time. He tells me the reason is that they have customers from time to time who are flying that do not have indoor plumbing at home. They simply go outside, or they have a basic outhouse and have never used a western modern toilet. They go in the room and pee, not knowing what the closed toilet is for. Then they feel bad and put paper all on the ground to try and soak it up. Others put paper towels down the toilet as that's what they do at home. I know it sounds crazy, but this is just what I was told. Maybe some signs with pictures showing would help.

 

[MARC Rider]

I am not sure if this could be the cause, but I have a friend that works a flight route from El Salvador to the US and they too see the same things happening in their bathrooms from time to time. He tells me the reason is that they have customers from time to time who are flying that do not have indoor plumbing at home. They simply go outside, or they have a basic outhouse and have never used a western modern toilet. They go in the room and pee, not knowing what the closed toilet is for. Then they feel bad and put paper all on the ground to try and soak it up. Others put paper towels down the toilet as that's what they do at home. I know it sounds crazy, but this is just what I was told. Maybe some signs with pictures showing would help.

Traveling in Japan, I had a little problem with Japanese style toilets, which are basically a basin on the floor over which you squat. (It's supposed to be healthier.) Some trains had western-style toiles, and there were elaborate instructions (in Japanese) telling users how to use the things.

 

[jis]

Traveling in Japan, I had a little problem with Japanese style toilets, which are basically a basin on the floor over which you squat. (It's supposed to be healthier.) Some trains had western-style toiles, and there were elaborate instructions (in Japanese) telling users how to use the things.

The problem faced specifically by airlines which fly to places where people are not familiar with the facilities provided in the planes is that until a sufficient group of people from those areas become familiar they do unexpected things leading to a more difficult to clean up situation in the on board restrooms. Amtrak should not face that problem as much since most of its customers know how the basic setup works. However, the waste handling system still is more finicky than the ones people are used to in regular restrooms. So typical problems have to do with putting the wrong sort of "paper" in the toilet thus clogging it up. The more egregious problems described above are uncommon on Amtrak. But they are a reality in many other parts of the world.

 

[Asher]

I am not sure if this could be the cause, but I have a friend that works a flight route from El Salvador to the US and they too see the same things happening in their bathrooms from time to time. He tells me the reason is that they have customers from time to time who are flying that do not have indoor plumbing at home. They simply go outside, or they have a basic outhouse and have never used a western modern toilet. They go in the room and pee, not knowing what the closed toilet is for. Then they feel bad and put paper all on the ground to try and soak it up. Others put paper towels down the toilet as that's what they do at home. I know it sounds crazy, but this is just what I was told. Maybe some signs with pictures showing would help.

Very common for newcomers from south of the border using the waste basket to dispose of toilet tissue

 

[Bob Dylan]

There was a movie back in the early 1970s starring Steve McQueen called “The Getaway.” In it, there is a sequence when McQueen’s character is on board a train about to depart from a station, chasing a con man who has ripped off the loot from a bank heist. Trying the door to the bathroom, he finds it locked. A passing conductor tells him that it will be unlocked after the train leaves the station. This probably was a bathroom with a direct dump toilet. (The con man was, in fact, hiding in the bathroom, which he’d gained access to by picking the lock. Unfortunately for him, he scratched the lock while picking it, so Steve knew he was in there.)

This Movie was mostly filmed during 1972 in my hometown of San Marcos while I was attending College there.( I had a bit part driving the Orange VW as a Stuntman drove a Car into a House during the Getaway from the Bank Robbery.)

The Train Scenes were filmed @ Sunset Station in San Antonio, and West of there on the El Paso Line using Heritage SP Equipment,( Route of the Sunset Ltd )so yep, the Toliets were the old Step on the Pedal and watch the Tracks and Ballast fly by as the Toliet dumped.

 

[zephyr17]

This Movie was mostly filmed during 1972 in my hometown of San Marcos while I was attending College there.( I had a bit part driving the Orange VW as a Stuntman drove a Car into a House during the Getaway from the Bank Robbery.)

The Train Scenes were filmed @ Sunset Station in San Antonio, and West of there on the El Paso Line using Heritage SP Equipment. Equipment,( Route of the Sunset Ltd )so yep, the Toliets were the old Step on the Pedal and watch the Tracks and Ballast fly by as the Toliet dumped.

That's my favorite movie train sequence. Even more than North by Northwest because it reminds me of my rides in those SP cars on the SP and in Amtrak’s early days.

 

[niemi24s]

The first few lines of Oscar Brands lyrics to Humoresque are . . .

"Our passengers will please refrain
from flushing toilets while the train
is in the station, darling I love you."

The whole thing is available on YouTube

 

[Brian Battuello]

You think it is bad when an Amtrak toilet malfunctions, look what happened to this Delta flight:

https://www.flightradar24.com/blog/...like-source-of-control-problems-on-delta-767/
Loss of aileron control is a huge problem, with almost no other way to keep the wings level. You can make slight leveling and course changes with the rudder, but only very carefully.

 

[jis]

You think it is bad when an Amtrak toilet malfunctions, look what happened to this Delta flight:

https://www.flightradar24.com/blog/...like-source-of-control-problems-on-delta-767/
Loss of aileron control is a huge problem, with almost no other way to keep the wings level. You can make slight leveling and course changes with the rudder, but only very carefully.

One wonders whatever happened to ETOPS level inspection of the aircraft before crossing the ocean at Delta. Quite scary actually. What if it was flying in the winter north of the Arctic Circle with nowhere to descend to where temps were above freezing? But I digress. Back to Amtrak toilets. Fortunately the worst that can happen there is some Fisherman gets a toilet blob on his head.

 

[WBG Station 1935]

Sadly quiet a few times I have picked up a morning train at WBG, the very first stop out of Newport News, and the restrooms are already gross.

 

[jis]

Sadly quiet a few times I have picked up a morning train at WBG, the very first stop out of Newport News, and the restrooms are already gross.

Maybe they just skipped the cleaning overnight part at Newport News?

 

[Bob Dylan]

Maybe they just skipped the cleaning overnight part at Newport News?

Pretty common on Trains that turn overnight such the Texas Eaglette in San Antonio.( the Coach Restrooms on #22 Yesterday were Filthy when I boarded in Austin)

 

[WBG Station 1935]

Maybe they just skipped the cleaning overnight part at Newport News?

Pretty common on Trains that turn overnight such the Texas Eaglette in San Antonio.( the Coach Restrooms on #22 Yesterday were Filthy when I boarded in Austin)

I presume that's the reality, because I'd hate to think that the restrooms get that filthy in the 19 minutes between the start in Newport News and the first stop at Williamsburg. I'm sure I'm expecting too much, but, you'd think that in the time that the train overnights in Newport News, that the restrooms would get a thorough cleaning

 

[Rasputin]

I presume that's the reality, because I'd hate to think that the restrooms get that filthy in the 19 minutes between the start in Newport News and the first stop at Williamsburg. I'm sure I'm expecting too much, but, you'd think that in the time that the train overnights in Newport News, that the restrooms would get a thorough cleaning

Amtrak is one company that manages to exceed our expectations. Just when you think it can't get any worse, it does.

 

[west point]

EAL bought a number of L-1011 aircraft. They had 2 lavatories in the forward cabin with a common 30 gallon pre charged holding tank. Sunday departure ATL - SEA. Enroute the tank leaked into forward compartment. Forward compartment had a weep hole that leaked into nose gear unpressurized nose wheel well.

Aircraft made a visual approach to SeaTac airport from the northeast. When gear let down ~ 240 pound lump of blue fluid fell into lake near Boeing field. Being a Sunday many calls to emergency services saying body fell out of aircraft into lake. Trying to convince ERTs was futile until partially melted blue ice block found.