Odors on lower level of superliners?

[Mq316mq316]

Question about bathrooms on lower level and any odors including train brakes tracks engine odors .....im going between chemos and have a sensitive nose .....need the least amount of people and lowest level of odor....highest of fresh air

 

[pennyk]

On which train(s) will you be traveling? Coach or Sleeper?

 

[desertflyer]

My partner and I just did an overnight downstairs in room 14, and one upstairs in room 5. I don't have a super sensitive nose, but I can share my experience. I didn't notice much of a difference in bathroom smell downstairs vs upstairs. As for brakes, they also didn't smell worse downstairs vs upstairs. You *can* smell them in both spots.

What really seemed to impact smells more than room location were fellow passengers, the car attendant, and the Superliner itself. For whatever reason some of them seem to smell more than others.

 

[F900ElCapitan]

The worst odors I’ve smelled were in the upstairs bedrooms. I haven’t had a room downstairs, but when I’ve gone to the restroom and hung out in the vestibule, I haven’t noticed anything near being as offensive as the odors we got in the bedrooms.

 

[Steve4031]

It depends on the particular car. There is one car that I rode on the Texas Eagle and it had a strong sewage smell. It was one of the ones named after a state. I encountered the car on a another trip and it smelled on that trip too. I suspect maintenance or lack of maintenance contributed to the problem. But to have the same experience on two different trips tells me that it was a reoccurring problem with this car that was probably frustrating for the employees trying to keep it running.

 

[Lonestar648]

It varies from car to car. Overall, if everything is working properly, I find very few odors. Worst odor was very strong perfume from the room next mine, all the rooms around her were gagging. Downstairs, usually quiet, except two summers when the Family room was full of running kids slamming the room door every few minutes, plus screaming as they were running. Off peak season, I have found downstairs quiet with no issues from the bathrooms.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

have a sensitive nose

I'm not going through chemo (best wishes on that) but I do have a sensitive nose and even the cleanest Amtrak train has what I would consider strong odors. At best you'll have a mix of industrial cleansers, carpet deodorizers, septic disinfectants, and pungent liquid soap. Not everyone has a negative reaction to this smell but it takes time to get acclimated. Amtrak hardware is old with a lot of miles, so if you end up in the wrong car you may experience a strong and pervasive untreated sewage smell that is impossible for me to get used to.

 

[me_little_me]

I had no problem in the handicap room on two trains (SW Chief & City of NOL) last month. And we used the facilities outside our room. No smell at all that I noticed. My wife, who is much more sensitive than I also said nothing about it.

 

[Barb Stout]

Bathroom/sewage smell from worst to "best": H room, downstairs, upstairs roomette section

I don't have problems with machine smells like I do with bathroom/sewage smells, so I haven't noticed with the former.

 

[Skyline]

Isn't it amazing that even with the much older rolling stock, these issues are rare on The Canadian.

 

[zephyr17]

Isn't it amazing that even with the much older rolling stock, these issues are rare on The Canadian.

The sewage system on the Canadian's Budd cars dates from the early 1990s when the cars were HEP'd and converted from direct dump to retention. The sewage system dates from about the same era as the Superliner IIs, uses the same vacuum technology, and is subject to a lot the same problems.

Hint: on the Canadian test flush your toilet in every service stop after servicing your car is complete, but hopefully before leaving the station. Toilet issues are far from rare on the Canadian, although not as frequent as Amtrak. I attribute this to VIA's better attention to maintenance.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Isn't it amazing that even with the much older rolling stock, these issues are rare on The Canadian.

I never noticed any sewage smell, or much in the way of general odors on The Canadian. Presumably this is because those cars receive more routine and/or involved maintenance than Amtrak cars. An Amtrak insider previously explained that when the SL1 cars underwent refurbishment the plumbing system was left as-is despite several known issues with the original design. To my knowledge the SL2's have never have been refurbished with no future plans to do so. I wonder if you could lobby for a waiver to allow a delayed dump that was GPS-aware and only released in designated areas away from stations and waterways.

 

[zephyr17]

Lack of odor probably has more to do with the placement of the retention tanks. On the Canadian they are slung beneath the car, so odors are probably wafted away by the airstream of the train. On Superliners, they are inside, in the utility space beside the H room. No airstream there.

The Canadian has toilet issues pretty regularly. I have ridden it at least annually for the last several years and have experienced them myself and have also heard about them in other cars over VIA's OBS channel on my scanner.

Their maintenance is better and the issues do not appear to be as frequent as Amtrak, but they are definitely there.

 

[zephyr17]

The SL Is originally had a delayed dump system with limited storage. There was a "mascerator" so it didn't dump big chunks or intact TP shreds. Dumping operated automatically over certain speeds. In passing through urban areas, the attendant would set the system to "inhibit" to override the automatic dump. I recall announcements over the PA for attendants to set "inhibit".

They had to redo the Is for full retention when the regs changed, my recollection is that happened around 1990.

The IIs were always full retention. But since they are basically the same overall design with the same space restraints, both are probably a bit short on poo storage.

 

[Maglev]

Are the retention tanks emptied enroute on any trains?

 

[zephyr17]

Are the retention tanks emptied enroute on any trains?

On the LDs they are emptied at some of the service stops. Minot comes to mind. As does Sacramento.

On corridor trains, just at endpoint servicing.

 

[F900ElCapitan]

While railfanning I once saw the 422 sleeper from LAX get serviced in Fort Worth due to strong odors. But this was very abnormal.

 

[Sauve850]

I have experienced odors from various sources over my many years of travel. Never has happened often and its usually for a short period of time. Im always in a sleeper.

 

[Shortline]

I had on trip on the Eagle, where the tanks overflowed or something, and the whole lower level bathroom area was sloshing waste back and forth. They shut down all the toilets and water in the car, cleaned up as best they could, but was still pretty bad.....thankfully it happened not long before I was getting off in Ft Worth. No idea what they did with it there.