CZ Roomette: Trans Sleeper or End-of-car

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T

trainBOS

Joined
Sep 3, 2019
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2
I will be taking CZ westbound from Denver for the first time ever next weekend, and was looking for some advice from those more experienced!

I currently have two roomettes reserved: 540#20 (upper level, mid-ish car, trans / dorm sleeper) and 533#10 (upper level, end of car, regular sleeper).

Would love your thoughts / recommendations on which is preferable! I have read 50+ posts, but difficult to get a true comparison. This will be my first ever sleeper + long ride, so just looking for the best experience!

Note: only 540#19/18/17 are available; otherwise I'd go to 531, etc.
 
We had roomette 10 on the Chief on one trip last year. It wasn't my first choice and I was concerned about noise since it was at the end of the car. However, it turned out fine and there was no noticeable noise at all. I wouldn't hesitate to take roomette 10 again.

As you have probably seen there are all kinds of opinions on the transition sleeper. I have a slight preference for a regular sleeper and would pick that if I had a choice but I would take the transition sleeper anytime if necessary. On my one trip in a transition sleeper on the Texas Eagle, I found it to be a bit too quiet and lonely. Passengers who prefer to stay in their room most of the trip would probably love it.

Hope you have a great trip.
 
Rasputin said:
We had roomette 10 on the Chief on one trip last year. It wasn't my first choice and I was concerned about noise since it was at the end of the car. However, it turned out fine and there was no noticeable noise at all. I wouldn't hesitate to take roomette 10 again.

As you have probably seen there are all kinds of opinions on the transition sleeper. I have a slight preference for a regular sleeper and would pick that if I had a choice but I would take the transition sleeper anytime if necessary. On my one trip in a transition sleeper on the Texas Eagle, I found it to be a bit too quiet and lonely. Passengers who prefer to stay in their room most of the trip would probably love it.

Hope you have a great trip.
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We prefer to go to the lounge and eat in the diner and I like to wander. Last year we got stuck in transdorm. We dreaded it but both decided it was great and debated the advantages over rooms in the other cars (we often take 2 roomettes across if it's cheaper than a BR (almost always) as neither of us can climb well any more.

Now, if we had a choice, we'd have a tough decision.
 
I will definitely be eating in the dining car and be spending a decent amount of time in the observation car. Taking the trip solely for the journey--not the destination!

At the moment, trending towards 20 in the transition sleeper for two main reasons:
  1. Less noise from door / track noise (vs 10 on a traditional sleeper)
  2. Higher likelihood of being on the right side of the train (which I've heard is better for westbound Zephyr), since the transition end should be connected to the baggage car
Still relatively young and fit, so the extra walk shouldn't kill me...
 
I would go with mid-car in the Transdorm verses the end of the car though 533 will be the furthest sleeper from the dining car so traffic would be much lighter than if in the end room in 531 next to the Dining Car. My experience is that the Transdorm is much quieter and less competition for the shower.
 
Lonestar648 said:
My experience is that the Transdorm is much quieter and less competition for the shower.
Click to expand...

As I did with the shower's occupying a large trash bag in my Southbound Silver Meteor Sleeper. SCA no where to be found. Put the bag in the aisle blocking access to/from the following sleeper? That didn't seem to be the smart thing to do. SCA's Roomette was empty; but it in there? Thought about doing so, but the bag was heavy and my upper body strength is not world class.

A sponge bath worked well. Yet. What should I have done?
 
I have had this issue on the Viewliners when the SCA uses the shower for storage. One time, I was up early to get ready before breakfast since I was getting off about 8AM for a business meeting. I had to put several large roller bags in the hallway while I took a shower. The SCA peaked out of his room, but did nothing to help. I will say when I was done, another passenger scooted in thanking me for moving the bags. Evidently they or the SCA put the bags back in the shower room.
 
Last week, to use the shower about 6 AM on the Silver Meteor, I had to move the giant trash bag into the hallway. There was also a reusable plastic bin full of sleeping car supplies in there as well, that I put on the 'seat'.

I've moved stuff out of Viewliner showers more times than I can count. Earlier this year, I put two giant rolling suitcases in the hall on the Lakeshore Ltd.

When I'm done with the shower, I always use my towel to dry the floor and then put whatever was there ahead of me back into the shower. I also saw a giant suitcase in the vestibule for the entire trip from Florida. The problem stems from the fact there is no space for large luggage or anything else large in a Viewliner roomette like the luggage rack in Superliners. So, there's no choice but to put the big stuff wherever it fits.
 
Large bags have always been an issue with viewliners. There was a time with a few SCA if the baggage car was next to the sleeper, they had some agreement, or just put them there, placing the large bags in a corner of the baggage car closest to the sleeper. This was with the old baggage cars. I haven't seen or heard of any SCA doing that in recent years.
 
bratkinson said:
When I'm done with the shower, I always use my towel to dry the floor and then put whatever was there ahead of me back into the shower.
Click to expand...

bratkinson, you are a very thoughtful Amtrak guest. If the SCA attendant was aware of what was going on and he/she did nothing when you were finished with your bathing, I'm not sure I would be so considerate.
 

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