Future Amtrak Equipment and ADA ideas

Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum

Help Support Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Amtrak has its own Passenger loading gauge plates that are distinct from the AAR plates but conform to fit within a specific AAR plate but still being different. This puzzled me for quite a while, but I guess it is what it is.
That makes sense. So they have an internal plate that is between Plates E and F, that meets clearance of Amtrak facilities on routes where it applies and meets Plate F generally, being smaller.

A bit off topic, looking to the past, I wonder if there were different clearance restrictions that applied to Santa Fe when designing the Hi Levels that no longer applied by the 70s when the Superliners were designed. Hi Levels were a few inches shorter than Superliners.
 
Last edited:
Not that I know of. Where did you hear this? That seems very unlikely, because the lounge is also the food service car for most coach passengers.
Following is what I read above and there was discussion to the effect that coach passengers need a place to get away from their seats in coach for a break. So it leads me to believe that sightseeing car privileges are on tap to be taken away from coach passengers. I wondered if yhat extended to west of ChicagoZaza:

With the proposed design, lounge car for sleeper passengers only means NO lounge car for coach passengers, which are 75% of the people on the train, which is not acceptable and a severe downgrade from existing Superliner trains. Nodody on the current Capitol Ltd and Texas Eagle likes it. A cafe section in a coach means a noisy and high traffic coach and a lot of smelly food in the coaches, stuffing the trash boxes from 6am to 11pm, also not acceptable, and means an additional cafe car attendant. They want to treat LD coach passengers like corridor passengers on Venture trains with loss of tables, also not popular.
 
How did Amtrak get permission to go from the height limit of a gallery commuter or Santa Fe high level car to that of a Superliner ?

I never did like that hazardous step in the gangway in passing between a Santa Fe car and a Superliner.
 
I remember reading in Trains magazine (pre-Amtrak) that a first-class lounge was expected, such as in a car with 6 bedrooms. I remember boarding such a car in Pittsburgh once as we saw my Dad off on a business trip to St. Louis. On all-Pullman trains a full lounge car with beverage service would be standard. As a coach passenger I remember full access to dining cars and someone with a cart coming down the coach aisle selling food & a few beverages. There were no trays to pull down, but napkins for laps. At night pillows were free or available for a small charge. Sleeping car passengers would not have put up with Superliner roomettes for two. Of course many trains on minor routes such as Omaha to Chadron, Nebraska or even the Dakota 400 west of Mankato, MN lacked diners or cafe cars. Brookings, SD had a depot with food service. People I think took snacks along with them. Sleeping cars were on these trains but not on branch lines which often had "Galloping Goose" service (like a minibus for rail lines) after train service ended, or there was a slower mixed train, often averaging 10 or 15 mph. Way back in 1915 my Mom's extended family had two cars on a trip from eastern SD to WI and it took several days (one day they "plowed mud all day" and didn't cover many miles). They slept at farms where hospitality included a pump for water (no plumbing in the house), trees, lawn, possibly a picnic table. I don't know whether trey set up a tent. No wonder people relied on trains.
 
People are going to compare the new fleet with the current fleet, not what ran prior to 1971 with both amenities and seat comfort, since relatively few are around who remember that. So far, it appears to be a downgrade for coach passengers, continuing Richard Anderson's trendline.
 
Last edited:
How did Amtrak get permission to go from the height limit of a gallery commuter or Santa Fe high level car to that of a Superliner ?

I never did like that hazardous step in the gangway in passing between a Santa Fe car and a Superliner.
It is a difference of four Inches…the highest pre-Superliner cars were 15’ 10” above the rails.
IIRC, the old Transdorm coaches had a small ramp covering the diaphram buffer plates to protect feet from tripping, but yes, it was tricky to negotiate for some…
 
Last edited:
I do like the idea of rocky mountaineer carriages on ld trains they would have to be a shorter version though . Stanlder has been expanding their facilities so they def could do it . However coach lounges are something we really need. I hope that they do fix this But other than that, I could definitely see Rocky Mountaineer shortened cars being a changer.
 
Their "seat pods" are interesting - getting a marginally space efficient herringbone layout (trains aren't wide enough to be really efficient with 1+1 seating) but adding that second level in, presumably as a different, non-accessable ticket, seems like a great way to fit 2+2 passengers into at least the middle part of a coach.
 
I imagine upper pods would be slightly cheaper than lower pods just like with berths. Passengers could book based on their preferences. Both the seat pods and hotel pods seem well suited for business travelers.
 
A crucial feature IMO is the ability for passengers to swap their accomodations whenever they feel like it without involving an attendant. It makes a 40+ pod car viable with a single attendant, and the seats are desirable on daylight segments as well as overnights. The Chicago to Minneapolis segment on the Empire Builder would probably sell through these like hotcakes, but a reequipped Borealis with a pod based first class is even better. It can make a daylight run in one direction with premium seats, then make the return journey as a night/late evening train with sleeper accomodations, and it's always got the perfect mix. The Capitol Limited would be another great use case.
 
Both these designs would o ly work in single-level cars, but their capacity negates the advantages of bilevel cars. Indeed the seat pods might even be viable as the economy long distance option. 🤯 If they make the hotel pods the mid-tier/business class option that leaves alot of room for creativity ensuite sleeping compartments for first class. That's thinking pretty far outside the box though.
 
So I asked ChatGPT to create a floorplan for a sleeping car with the same dimensions as a Siemens Venture Coach and this was the result. As you can it needs  alot of work. ;)
 

Attachments

  • file-Qcg2CW6t2yNoe63arfvF4G.PDF
    3.6 MB
Back
Top