Pacific Parlour Car Temporary Withdrawal

[Thirdrail7]

There is rumbling that more maintenance may occur this winter, which will bench part of the fleet.

 

[CHamilton]

October 20, 2016
Beginning January 6, 2017 through mid-March 2017 (exact date to be determined), a time of lower ridership, the Pacific Parlour Car equipment operated on the Coast Starlight, trains 11/14, will be cycled through the shops for heavy maintenance. The Pacific Parlour Cars were originally ordered by the Santa Fe Railway in 1954 as lounge cars for the El Capitan coach streamliner that operated between Los Angeles and Chicago, so they are not exactly young, and they need attention from time to time.
During this time the Pacific Parlour Cars will not be on the train, except for train 14 departing Los Angeles on Fridays, and train 11 departing Seattle on Sundays. There will be no substitute car on other days.
The consist of the Coast Starlight will therefore be:
•Locomotives
•Baggage car
•Transition sleeping car
•Sleeping cars
•Pacific Parlour Car (train 14 Fridays only; train 11 Sundays only - no substitute otherwise)
•Dining car
•Business class car
•Sightseer lounge car
•Coach cars

https://www.facebook.com/groups/AmtraksCoastStarlight/permalink/1342313609125810/

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Hey, that's still an improvement over no cars at all. Kudos to Amtrak, or Amtrak California, or whoever makes these decisions. The CS is my favorite Amtrak route and the PPC is my favorite Amtrak car (never ridden in the great dome) so this is good news for me.

 

[tricia]

Not so good news for me, alas. I'll be traveling on the Coast Starlight in January....

 

[sitzplatz17]

While frustrating for anyone traveling during that time, i do think it's a positive thing that Amtrak seems to be intent on keeping PPC and doing the necessary maintenance on the cars.

While annoying, it's also necessary.

As someone who commutes on the DC Metro every day, i can tell you first hand what NOT doing preventative maintenance will eventually look like! :help:

 

[tricia]

While frustrating for anyone traveling during that time, i do think it's a positive thing that Amtrak seems to be intent on keeping PPC and doing the necessary maintenance on the cars.

While annoying, it's also necessary.

As someone who commutes on the DC Metro every day, i can tell you first hand what NOT doing preventative maintenance will eventually look like! :help:

IIRC, after the PPCs were taken out of service for intensive "maintenance" last winter, there was some discussion on this forum about whether much work was actually done on them at all, or was "maintenance" a fig leaf for "save money by not running the PPCs in the slow season."

No way to know at this point what will happen during this winter's hiatus, but I'm skeptical. However, I generally tend to be skeptical about Amtrak's public statements, especially since the misleading AGR 2 rollout earlier this year.

 

[Ryan]

I wouldn't take the comments of some uninvolved bystanders on an Internet forum as any indicator of what was or was not done.

 

[TiBike]

I don't doubt that they will do some maintenance on the PPCs in January and February, but I don't believe that maintenance is the reason that they're being taken nearly completely out of service for two months. Are the cars in such bad shape that they need two months of intensive maintenance every year, in addition to the periodic maintenance that happens during the other ten months? Maybe I've just been unlucky, but the PPC was replaced by a lounge car on about half my CS trips this year.

Which is another point: when business is brisk, they do find the odd lounge car or two to fill in.

It makes sense from a business perspective to reduce headcount and other expenses during slack times – I wouldn't argue with that, even if I don't like it. I do object to being fed happy talk about why it's happening, though.

 

[west point]

I don't doubt that they will do some maintenance on the PPCs in January and February, but I don't believe that maintenance is the reason that they're being taken nearly completely out of service for two months. Are the cars in such bad shape that they need two months of intensive maintenance every year, in addition to the periodic maintenance that happens during the other ten months? Maybe I've just been unlucky, but the PPC was replaced by a lounge car on about half my CS trips this year.

Well the other Santa Fe cars have not been able to get road worthy and still sit in illinois. Amtrak publishes in their monthly report that their car availability is ~ 90&. In that vein that would mean the PPCs would be out of service for ~ 5 weeks. However being one off cars the additional 3 weeks would seem very reasonable.

 

[rtabern]

I don't doubt that they will do some maintenance on the PPCs in January and February, but I don't believe that maintenance is the reason that they're being taken nearly completely out of service for two months. Are the cars in such bad shape that they need two months of intensive maintenance every year, in addition to the periodic maintenance that happens during the other ten months? Maybe I've just been unlucky, but the PPC was replaced by a lounge car on about half my CS trips this year.

Well the other Santa Fe cars have not been able to get road worthy and still sit in Michigan. Amtrak publishes in their monthly report that their car availability is ~ 90&. In that vein that would mean the PPCs would be out of service for ~ 5 weeks. However being one off cars the additional 3 weeks would seem very reasonable.

Slight correction. Most of the Santa Fe cars are in Madison Illinois outside of STL. I walked through them in November 2015 including the sad 6th Parlour Car.

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

I don't doubt that they will do some maintenance on the PPCs in January and February, but I don't believe that maintenance is the reason that they're being taken nearly completely out of service for two months. Are the cars in such bad shape that they need two months of intensive maintenance every year, in addition to the periodic maintenance that happens during the other ten months? Maybe I've just been unlucky, but the PPC was replaced by a lounge car on about half my CS trips this year.

Well the other Santa Fe cars have not been able to get road worthy and still sit in Michigan. Amtrak publishes in their monthly report that their car availability is ~ 90&. In that vein that would mean the PPCs would be out of service for ~ 5 weeks. However being one off cars the additional 3 weeks would seem very reasonable.

Slight correction. Most of the Santa Fe cars are in Madison Illinois outside of STL. I walked through them in November 2015 including the sad 6th Parlour Car.

I believe some are also in Dallas, just across from the Fairgrounds; at least they were a few years ago.

 

[Thirdrail7]

h34r:

 

[desertflyer]

h34r:

I'm fairly dense sometimes. Does this mean full Parlour service will return on March 15? Amtrak have been understandably vague about the PP middle of March return.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Who knows what it means. I don't even think he wants us to know so much as he wants us to know that he knows. *shrug*

 

[StriderGDM]

h34r:

I'm fairly dense sometimes. Does this mean full Parlour service will return on March 15? Amtrak have been understandably vague about the PP middle of March return.

I have no idea, but generally, one doesn't associate the Ides of March with GOOD stuff.

 

[Tennessee Traveler]

My understanding was that the PPC's would return to service this week of March 6 from an email I received from Amtrak regarding my January trip. Since I don't have Coast Starlight travel plans again until June, I did not keep nor remember the exact date that was in the email for the return.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

h34r:

I'm fairly dense sometimes. Does this mean full Parlour service will return on March 15? Amtrak have been understandably vague about the PP middle of March return.

I have no idea, but generally, one doesn't associate the Ides of March with GOOD stuff.

Eventually someone will post one assumption too many and then Thirdrail will come back to say "Didn't you understand the intentionally cryptic attention seeking message I casually dumped on you previously?"

 

[KnightRail]

...Does this mean full Parlour service will return on March 15?...

We have a winner!

 

[KnightRail]

Eventually someone will post one assumption too many and then Thirdrail will come back to say "Didn't you understand the intentionally cryptic attention seeking message I casually dumped on you previously?"

The reason information is disseminated in such fashion has been previously explained. Regardless there will be no spoon feeding. There are two options. You can either get info from the FAKE NEWS rumor mill, or you can use your critical thinking skills, take the the clues give, solve the brain teaser, and find yourself with REAL NEWS. Do not bite the hand that feeds.

 

[west point]

et tu Brutus ?

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Eventually someone will post one assumption too many and then Thirdrail will come back to say "Didn't you understand the intentionally cryptic attention seeking message I casually dumped on you previously?"

The reason information is disseminated in such fashion has been previously explained. Regardless there will be no spoon feeding. There are two options. You can either get info from the FAKE NEWS rumor mill, or you can use your critical thinking skills, take the the clues give, solve the brain teaser, and find yourself with REAL NEWS. Do not bite the hand that feeds.

**Like**

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Eventually someone will post one assumption too many and then Thirdrail will come back to say "Didn't you understand the intentionally cryptic attention seeking message I casually dumped on you previously?"

The reason information is disseminated in such fashion has been previously explained. Regardless there will be no spoon feeding. There are two options. You can either get info from the FAKE NEWS rumor mill, or you can use your critical thinking skills, take the the clues give, solve the brain teaser, and find yourself with REAL NEWS. Do not bite the hand that feeds.

So a riddle shoved into an enigma wrapped in nonsense is what passes for "real news" in your mind? If you have access to real insider information, not this convoluted reconfirmation of already disseminated information, then by all means spill the beans and earn your gold stars and brownie points. If you have access to information but are not allowed to release it then maybe you should honor the wishes of your employer and avoid discussing it in public. Otherwise you're really no different than the attention-seeking kid who used to blurt out every random thing he heard while talking/listening to the staff.

 

[KnightRail]

So a riddle shoved into an enigma wrapped in nonsense is what passes for "real news" in your mind? If you have access to real insider information, not this convoluted reconfirmation of already disseminated information, then by all means spill the beans and earn your gold stars and brownie points. If you have access to information but are not allowed to release it then maybe you should honor the wishes of your employer and avoid discussing it in public. Otherwise you're really no different than the attention-seeking kid who used to blurt out every random thing he heard while talking/listening to the staff.

If using your brain is asking to much, then don't play along. No soup for you!

 

[keelhauled]

If given the choice between no information and coded information I will choose the latter every time. I rather enjoy the riddles and discussion anyway, what is a forum for if not talking? If I wanted it spelled out I'd wait for the press release.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

If given the choice between no information and coded information I will choose the latter every time. I rather enjoy the riddles and discussion anyway, what is a forum for if not talking? If I wanted it spelled out I'd wait for the press release.

^^ same for me ^^