Dome Cars

[Hanno]

Five years ago my wife and I took the Canadian from Toronto to Vancouver. While I have not traveled extensively with Amtrak and thus am not an expert I can say that the Canadian trip was the best train trip we were ever on. The dome car, along with the park car, were a definite plus and made the expereince even more memorable.

Wouldn't it be great to have some of these cars in service for the EB, CZ, or SWC!

Bob

 

[spacecadet]

Five years ago my wife and I took the Canadian from Toronto to Vancouver. While I have not traveled extensively with Amtrak and thus am not an expert I can say that the Canadian trip was the best train trip we were ever on. The dome car, along with the park car, were a definite plus and made the expereince even more memorable.
Wouldn't it be great to have some of these cars in service for the EB, CZ, or SWC!

Ironically (or maybe not), Amtrak's last dome car and the one that's been mentioned here several times was built for the Empire Builder.

Here it is in the later green GN livery: http://www.trainweb.org/DOMEmain/picGN1391j.jpg

Here is one of its sister "View" series dome cars (I believe four were built) in the more well-known GN livery on the EB: http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/gn1394.jpg

Amtrak also used to run many dome cars on western routes - its consists in the early days were basically the same as the railroads it inherited them from. So on the EB, you might have three or four domes, including the great domes (I like the little domes better; you can see front and back more easily, and there's less ceiling structure and more glass). Amtrak also ran dome cars on the Capitol Limited. I was lucky enough to ride in many of these Amtrak dome cars.

The Superliner sightseer lounges are not a bad substitute considering Amtrak's mandate, but the 360 degree panoramic view is lost in those cars. And of course, in the east, we don't even have real lounges at all anymore (cafe cars don't count). I wonder why they never tried to build a "sightseer lounge" out of an Amfleet car, with wraparound windows like on the Superliner lounges.

 

[AlanB]

Wouldn't it be great to have some of these cars in service for the EB, CZ, or SWC!

Actually if they were in service on those trains, part of their charm would be lost. That is the ability to look forward over the train and rearward over the train. The domes aren't tall enough to let you see over the top of the Superliner cars.

 

[Hanno]

Wouldn't it be great to have some of these cars in service for the EB, CZ, or SWC!

Actually if they were in service on those trains, part of their charm would be lost. That is the ability to look forward over the train and rearward over the train. The domes aren't tall enough to let you see over the top of the Superliner cars.

That's a good point and the whole idea of domes cars is a moot one as well since there are none planned for future use to my knowledge!

 

[sky12065]

Wouldn't it be great to have some of these cars in service for the EB, CZ, or SWC!

Actually if they were in service on those trains, part of their charm would be lost. That is the ability to look forward over the train and rearward over the train. The domes aren't tall enough to let you see over the top of the Superliner cars.

Alan, my first reaction to your statement was how much can you really lose? Then I did a google photo search on dome car and realized that if you had the dome's front seats (further back to a lesser degree) on a single level consist, you could actually fanticize that your the engineer running the train! Where's my RR hat! Woo-woo, what a hoot!

ON EDIT: This may not be the same exact dome being discussed, but it's the same idea!

 

[NativeSon5859]

I used to enjoy sitting in the Dome cars on the CONO. They had one, sometimes two (the second was part of the River Cities consist), until the train went all Superliner in 1994.

 

[jis]

Alan, my first reaction to your statement was how much can you really lose? Then I did a google photo search on dome car and realized that if you had the dome's front seats (further back to a lesser degree) on a single level consist, you could actually fanticize that your the engineer running the train! Where's my RR hat! Woo-woo, what a hoot!

You'd get that feeling only if you were in the first dome car in the consist. In case of the Canadian, that would be the Skyline Dome for the Comfort (Coach) Class passengers. OTOH from the dome of the Park car on the Canadian looking forward you see a series of Skyline Domes ahead of you depending on the length of the train that day. This has a charm of its own. And then of course there is the ultimate railfan seat at the rear end of the Park car too! Just four more days to go before I am on the Canadian traveling from Vancouver to Toronto! Woo-hoo!

 

[MrFSS]

You'd get that feeling only if you were in the first dome car in the consist. In case of the Canadian, that would be the Skyline Dome for the Comfort (Coach) Class passengers. OTOH from the dome of the Park car on the Canadian looking forward you see a series of Skyline Domes ahead of you depending on the length of the train that day. This has a charm of its own. And then of course there is the ultimate railfan seat at the rear end of the Park car too! Just four more days to go before I am on the Canadian traveling from Vancouver to Toronto! Woo-hoo!

This is the view from the second dome, front seat. I had it as we left Toronto.

This is the inside view of the Park Car - I found it to be empty of passengers most of the time.

Jis - are you going to have the triple bedroom in the Park Car. Its really nice, I'm told, but a long walk to the diner!

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

You'd get that feeling only if you were in the first dome car in the consist. In case of the Canadian, that would be the Skyline Dome for the Comfort (Coach) Class passengers. OTOH from the dome of the Park car on the Canadian looking forward you see a series of Skyline Domes ahead of you depending on the length of the train that day. This has a charm of its own. And then of course there is the ultimate railfan seat at the rear end of the Park car too! Just four more days to go before I am on the Canadian traveling from Vancouver to Toronto! Woo-hoo!

This is the view from the second dome, front seat. I had it as we left Toronto.

This is the inside view of the Park Car - I found it to be empty of passengers most of the time.

Jis - are you going to have the triple bedroom in the Park Car. Its really nice, I'm told, but a long walk to the diner!

There is always a soft spot in my heart for a streamlined rear observation car. I have mentioned numerous times that my first train trip was at age 3 on the Dixie Flagler from Chattanooga to Daytona Beach. But a detail I usually do NOT bother to mention is that our coach seat resevations were screwed up and we had to begin the first part of the trip in the tapered rear observation car.

Thus my affinity for them...not sure if I really remember it or not but there is a definate "connection"

I,too, was on the Canadian-- about 2004 I guess-- and loved every mile and every minute of it.

 

[Ryan]

Amtrak also ran dome cars on the Capitol Limited. I was lucky enough to ride in many of these Amtrak dome cars.

Thanks so much for saying that - this has been something that's bothering my for years!!!!

In 1994 (I was 14), I took a train trip from Harper's Ferry to Raton to go to the Philmont Scout Ranch - it was the dream trip of a lifetime for a young kid like me. I vividly remember the train trip out there, and one of the things that I thought was the coolest was sitting in the front of the dome car and seeing the signals out in front of us change from green to red as the first part of the train passed by.

Fast forwarding to today, as I gained an interest in trains and started reading and learning, the fact that the CL was a superliner (and as was mentioned there are no superliner dome cars) really had me flummoxed. Knowing that dome cars once ran that route (I'm hoping as late as the summer of 1994???) makes everything make sense again!

As an aside, totally unrelated to domes, we went CL - SWC for the ride out, but went SWC and then CHI to PHL (and then south on the NEC to NCR) for the trip home. What train(s) were running that route then? Broadway Limited? Three Rivers? I remember (since we had a guaranteed connection) that Amtrak held the NEC train for us, as we were late getting into Philly. Once the train got in, they had us off first, and we all ran up a flight of stairs, across the station and then down a flight of stairs to get on the waiting train to head home. I was shocked and amazed that they would hold up the departure of a whole train, just for us!

 

[spacecadet]

Fast forwarding to today, as I gained an interest in trains and started reading and learning, the fact that the CL was a superliner (and as was mentioned there are no superliner dome cars) really had me flummoxed. Knowing that dome cars once ran that route (I'm hoping as late as the summer of 1994???) makes everything make sense again!

1994 seems kinda late, but I suppose it's possible unless someone proves it isn't. I think I last rode a dome on this route about 1990.

btw other eastern trains ran with domes - it's kind of a misconception that these were purely a western thing. In addition to the CL, the Crescent had four domes when Amtrak took it over and they kept running it that way for a while. I think I have a picture from the dome on the Crescent on my hard drive at home - maybe I'll upload it later tonight.

As an aside, totally unrelated to domes, we went CL - SWC for the ride out, but went SWC and then CHI to PHL (and then south on the NEC to NCR) for the trip home. What train(s) were running that route then? Broadway Limited? Three Rivers?

In 1994 it still would have been the Broadway Limited.

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

Fast forwarding to today, as I gained an interest in trains and started reading and learning, the fact that the CL was a superliner (and as was mentioned there are no superliner dome cars) really had me flummoxed. Knowing that dome cars once ran that route (I'm hoping as late as the summer of 1994???) makes everything make sense again!

1994 seems kinda late, but I suppose it's possible unless someone proves it isn't. I think I last rode a dome on this route about 1990.

btw other eastern trains ran with domes - it's kind of a misconception that these were purely a western thing. In addition to the CL, the Crescent had four domes when Amtrak took it over and they kept running it that way for a while. I think I have a picture from the dome on the Crescent on my hard drive at home - maybe I'll upload it later tonight.

As an aside, totally unrelated to domes, we went CL - SWC for the ride out, but went SWC and then CHI to PHL (and then south on the NEC to NCR) for the trip home. What train(s) were running that route then? Broadway Limited? Three Rivers?

In 1994 it still would have been the Broadway Limited.

Absolutely true, domes were not purely a western thing. But they were mostly western and originally western. At least some back east domes would have been on the Panama Limited, CHI to NOL, the South WInd and the City of Miami, CHI to MIA. The B&O, the Florida Special from NYC to Miami(but the dome only from Richmond south).Still, mostly in the west. Notably,though, the Sunset Limited never had dome, at least not pre-Amtrak.

I notice you mention the Crescent at one time having four domes.Actually, it never had four in one set of equipment. You maybe counting the total on hand,but the Crescent never had but one in each set, and it ran only from Atlanta to NOL.

 

[Ryan]

Fast forwarding to today, as I gained an interest in trains and started reading and learning, the fact that the CL was a superliner (and as was mentioned there are no superliner dome cars) really had me flummoxed. Knowing that dome cars once ran that route (I'm hoping as late as the summer of 1994???) makes everything make sense again!

1994 seems kinda late, but I suppose it's possible unless someone proves it isn't. I think I last rode a dome on this route about 1990.

btw other eastern trains ran with domes - it's kind of a misconception that these were purely a western thing. In addition to the CL, the Crescent had four domes when Amtrak took it over and they kept running it that way for a while. I think I have a picture from the dome on the Crescent on my hard drive at home - maybe I'll upload it later tonight.

As an aside, totally unrelated to domes, we went CL - SWC for the ride out, but went SWC and then CHI to PHL (and then south on the NEC to NCR) for the trip home. What train(s) were running that route then? Broadway Limited? Three Rivers?

In 1994 it still would have been the Broadway Limited.

Thanks! Another childhood mystery solved! Somewhere, there exists a box of photos from that trip, some of which were taken on/near the train. One of these days I'll have to dig them out and scan the good ones.

 

[spacecadet]

I am not sure what you mean about the Crescent at one time having four domes. It never had four in one set of equipment. You maybe counting the total on hand,but the Crescent never had but one in each set, and it ran only from Atlanta to NOL.

I was probably misremembering the number. When I remember my photos of my last trip on the train, I'm picturing four domes in my head (three plus the one I'm in)... but it's fuzzy enough that there could be as few as just the one. I'll check when I get home. But I am probably thinking of some other train and mixing a set of photos together in my memory.

I definitely do have pictures from the Crescent dome, though, because the Southern locos are clearly visible (and that's something I remember clearly).

 

[jis]

This is the inside view of the Park Car - I found it to be empty of passengers most of the time.

Jis - are you going to have the triple bedroom in the Park Car. Its really nice, I'm told, but a long walk to the diner!

I am in a single room, exactly where in the train I don't know, but it does seem to be in a Manor sleeper.

When I travel by the Canadian, that last chair on the right in the Park car is usually facing towards the rear

Yes from the Park car one would have at least three Manor/Chateau cars and a Skyline Dome to walk through to get to the Diner.

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

I am not sure what you mean about the Crescent at one time having four domes. It never had four in one set of equipment. You maybe counting the total on hand,but the Crescent never had but one in each set, and it ran only from Atlanta to NOL.

I was probably misremembering the number. When I remember my photos of my last trip on the train, I'm picturing four domes in my head (three plus the one I'm in)... but it's fuzzy enough that there could be as few as just the one. I'll check when I get home. But I am probably thinking of some other train and mixing a set of photos together in my memory.

I definitely do have pictures from the Crescent dome, though, because the Southern locos are clearly visible (and that's something I remember clearly).

The scenery is not that great on The Crescent until you get near NOL IMHO. However, that dome was usually on the rear of the train and it has so many curves between ATL and Birmingham a dome was a neat place to be. I rode the dome once.I live just a few blocks from the station in Atl so I have kept up with it fairly well through the years.

 

[access bob]

Amtrak also ran dome cars on the Capitol Limited. I was lucky enough to ride in many of these Amtrak dome cars.

Thanks so much for saying that - this has been something that's bothering my for years!!!!

In 1994 (I was 14), I took a train trip from Harper's Ferry to Raton to go to the Philmont Scout Ranch - it was the dream trip of a lifetime for a young kid like me. I vividly remember the train trip out there, and one of the things that I thought was the coolest was sitting in the front of the dome car and seeing the signals out in front of us change from green to red as the first part of the train passed by.

Fast forwarding to today, as I gained an interest in trains and started reading and learning, the fact that the CL was a superliner (and as was mentioned there are no superliner dome cars) really had me flummoxed. Knowing that dome cars once ran that route (I'm hoping as late as the summer of 1994???) makes everything make sense again!

As an aside, totally unrelated to domes, we went CL - SWC for the ride out, but went SWC and then CHI to PHL (and then south on the NEC to NCR) for the trip home. What train(s) were running that route then? Broadway Limited? Three Rivers? I remember (since we had a guaranteed connection) that Amtrak held the NEC train for us, as we were late getting into Philly. Once the train got in, they had us off first, and we all ran up a flight of stairs, across the station and then down a flight of stairs to get on the waiting train to head home. I was shocked and amazed that they would hold up the departure of a whole train, just for us!

The Capitol Limited under the B&O had some custom made "squatty" domes these were about a foot lower than the traditional dome car. and this was so that they could get into Washington Union Station under the wires (Wires have since been raised) But Amtrak ran those squat domes on the CL for many years up until or near to when the train got Superliners.

the last time I was by there was still one sitting in Brunswick yard, looking very forelorn, I have been told it was bought by a private party but never picked up. status is uncertain. (MARC it was claimed ran it a few times when very short of equipment, but I have never been able to confirm this)

as for coming back via Phila you probably came on the Broadway in 1994 this was the "late" train routing for the CL which left earlier then, I have had this connection forced onto me by Amtrak once or twice. they have since cleaned up Chicago departure times.

Bob

 

[MrFSS]

The Capitol Limited under the B&O had some custom made "squatty" domes these were about a foot lower than the traditional dome car. and this was so that they could get into Washington Union Station under the wires (Wires have since been raised) But Amtrak ran those squat domes on the CL for many years up until or near to when the train got Superliners.Bob

I saw one of them in Chicago in the 50's. Not a very good picture, but I took this one about 1957.

 

[access bob]

The Capitol Limited under the B&O had some custom made "squatty" domes these were about a foot lower than the traditional dome car. and this was so that they could get into Washington Union Station under the wires (Wires have since been raised) But Amtrak ran those squat domes on the CL for many years up until or near to when the train got Superliners.Bob

I saw one of them in Chicago in the 50's. Not a very good picture, but I took this one about 1957.

actually that is far better than most "roster" type photos that I have seen (or taken myself) over the years.. Really gives the impression of speed too.

Bob

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

If I'm right, those are spotlights at the front of the dome. B&O put those on the dome cars to light up passing scenery at night and I understand they were turned off as the train passed through a town so as not to startle folks living along the tracks.

 

[Bierboy]

Wouldn't it be great to have some of these cars in service for the EB, CZ, or SWC!

Actually if they were in service on those trains, part of their charm would be lost. That is the ability to look forward over the train and rearward over the train. The domes aren't tall enough to let you see over the top of the Superliner cars.

Alan, my first reaction to your statement was how much can you really lose? Then I did a google photo search on dome car and realized that if you had the dome's front seats (further back to a lesser degree) on a single level consist, you could actually fanticize that your the engineer running the train! Where's my RR hat! Woo-woo, what a hoot!

ON EDIT: This may not be the same exact dome being discussed, but it's the same idea!

WOW...does that bring back memories!! We rode the Northern Pacific's North Coast Limited back and forth from Chicago to Seattle in the 60s and I'd spend nearly all the time in the dome cars. That view is awesome!

 

[spacecadet]

Ex-B&O domes, taken in Washington, probably on the Capitol Limited:

One of those same cars in 2002

And in happier days...

 

[George Harris]

Ex-B&O domes, taken in Washington, probably on the Capitol Limited:

This picture was taken in 1973. What is in the background is the WMATA major repair shop with the tracks under construction. the retaining wall just behind the dome cars is for the WMATA track outbound going up to cross over the B&O wye tracks to the Rhode Island Avenue station. The tracks the cars are on was designated as the B&O main and replaced the former double track B&O main access to Washington Union Station. I was working for the track contrator building the WMATA tracks there at that time. Same contractor had built the track on which the train is standing, and all the others in the picture as replacements for WUS storage tracks that occupied the space taken over by WMATA.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Clearly a Pullman-Standard dome. I doubt they ran to '94, especially since in that recent photo, it still sits in phase-I paint. Nothing in P-1 paint ran much past 1980. All Heritage cars got atleast Phase II, most Phase III, as they got HEP.

 

[spacecadet]

Clearly a Pullman-Standard dome. I doubt they ran to '94, especially since in that recent photo, it still sits in phase-I paint. Nothing in P-1 paint ran much past 1980. All Heritage cars got atleast Phase II, most Phase III, as they got HEP.

No, that particular dome was sold in the 1970's. But Amtrak ran other domes on that route into the 1990's. This is from 1993:

1994 looks like it was the year of the Superliner changeover, but they could have still been running a dome in the first part of the year. I just can't find a picture of a single level consist from 1994.