Odd sighting

[socalsteve]

On my Metrolink ride to work today in Los Angeles, I saw a car in the Amtrak yard I'd never seen. it was a lounge car, but not like a Sightseer. It had a kind of dome roof that went pretty much the length of the car. It was painted in the new scheme and had "Lounge Car" lettered on the side by the end in small type. Is this some old car they're using on some trains now? It looked pretty cool.

 

[engine999]

It could have been the pacific parlor cars. They are first class lounge cars only on the surfliners. They were former Hi-level cars retrofitted jsut for the starlight a few years ago.

 

[battalion51]

It's entirely possible it was Amtrak's only Full Length Dome car as well.

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

Probably is the full length dome. The pacific parlor cars actually say "pacific parlor car" on them rather than "lounge car".

 

[socalsteve]

It wasn't a Parlour car--I've ridden in those. The full-length dome sounds right--I just didn't know there were any of those anymore. I thought it was the regular Sightseer Lounge car or nothing.

 

[Viewliner]

Right, it was definitely Dome 10031...the recent pictures I've seen of it have it in Phase VI. I believe it's generally used for charters unless theres a single level Surfliner, someone correct me if I'm wrong on that, but it's undoubtedly 10031. (Ex-GN IIRC)

 

[AlanB]

I believe it's generally used for charters unless theres a single level Surfliner, someone correct me if I'm wrong on that, but it's undoubtedly 10031. (Ex-GN IIRC)

Then right now the dome is getting a vacation, since all charters have been cancelled. In fact Amtrak sent a trainset of Horizons that they keep for charters on the west coast, to the east coast to free up Amfleet I's for the corridor.

 

[Trogdor]

My one experience in that dome car was pure luck. In January 2004, I was scheduled to take the Coast Starlight from LAX to SEA. However, due to winter storms in the mountains in Oregon and California, Starlight service was screwed up (in fact, the trainset I was supposed to ride in hadn't even arrived in LAX yet, though it was due in the night before).

Fortunately, Amtrak just so happened to have a trainset in LAX that needed to head up to Oakland for their Reno ski train. Part of that consist was dome 10031. So, we were able to ride that from Los Angeles up to Sacramento, where we boarded a regular, Superliner-equipped Starlight (which was turned from an annulled southbound train earlier that day).

Photos of that trip (and others) can be found here: http://community.webshots.com/album/109590271ceoXde

 

[Allen Dee]

Right, it was definitely Dome 10031...the recent pictures I've seen of it have it in Phase VI. I believe it's generally used for charters unless theres a single level Surfliner, someone correct me if I'm wrong on that, but it's undoubtedly 10031. (Ex-GN IIRC)

Dome 10031 was used quite frequently on the single level Surfliners in the past. Now, the only regularly-scheduled, single-level trainset on the Surfliner route is 798/799, which uses Club-Cafe car 58108.

With all of the west coast charters cancelled to send as many Horizon and Amfleet Is east, Dome 10031 is definitely in storage until the other cars return.

I always enjoyed riding this car up and down the Southern California coastline.

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

So.........is this the full-length dome (or "great dome" as I THINK the Great Northern used to call it) which used to operate on the Piedmont (summers only, weekends only,I think)?

I remember riding the Piedmont once during the time period and being disappointed because the this car (if it is the same car) was not on.

 

[Trogdor]

No. The Piedmont dome was a former Milwaukee Road "Super Dome" that was sold by North Carolina to the "Friends of the 261."

This car ran on the Empire Builder en route to its new home last month.

http://community.webshots.com/photo/320636...320660457OsFkzt

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

Thanks for the clarification, Robert.

Interesting that it recently ran on Amtrak's EB, inasmuch as I assume it was originally built for the pre-Amtrak EB.

Do you happen to know if it was in sufficiently good shape to run as an in service car recently on the EB or did it run as a deadhead?

 

[AlanB]

Do you happen to know if it was in sufficiently good shape to run as an in service car recently on the EB or did it run as a deadhead?

Bill, the car was probably in very good shape, as up until two years ago it was still in use on the Piedmont during the summer months.

FRA safety regulations required some major interior work in order for them to keep the car on the road. North Carolina decided not to foot the bill for those renovations and mothballed the car while looking to sell it.

So again, I think that the car was probably in decent shape for the move, however those FRA regs would have prevented its usage on the Builder.

 

[Superliner Diner]

Then right now the dome is getting a vacation, since all charters have been cancelled. In fact Amtrak sent a trainset of Horizons that they keep for charters on the west coast, to the east coast to free up Amfleet I's for the corridor.

I am assuming that they are also no longer running the special trains to Seattle Mariners games. I believe this charter set was used for special runs between Portland, OR and Seattle on Sundays to serve home Mariners and Seahawks games. It also was used to provide an extra run between those cities in November for the Thanksgiving rush. Hopefully things will be back to normal before both the Seahawks season begins and Thanksgiving.

 

[Trogdor]

Do you happen to know if it  was in sufficiently  good shape to run as an in service car  recently on the  EB or  did it run as a deadhead?

Bill, the car was probably in very good shape, as up until two years ago it was still in use on the Piedmont during the summer months.

FRA safety regulations required some major interior work in order for them to keep the car on the road. North Carolina decided not to foot the bill for those renovations and mothballed the car while looking to sell it.

So again, I think that the car was probably in decent shape for the move, however those FRA regs would have prevented its usage on the Builder.

Besides those factors, it would not have run as an in-service car because the car wasn't owned by Amtrak. I'm not sure if the new owner (Friends of the 261) would have been able to have non-revenue passengers occupy the car. The last car on the train had a couple of people sitting on the open platform on the rear.