Questions about bedrooms in both sleeper cars

[mflsjhs]

Going to LAX from PHL (via NOL) next monday

19- Crescent (Viewliner) Bedroom "B"

1- Sunset Limited (Superliner) Bedroom "E"

does any one know for sure if in these rooms the couch/bed seating will be going backwards or forwards?

 

[pennyk]

I have never traveled on the Crescent, but every time I have traveled on the Silver Meteor (Viewliners) in a bedroom, the couch in B is facing forward. As for the Superliners, I think it is the luck of the draw - sometimes E is facing forward, sometimes not - either way, E is considered by a lot of folks the best bedroom in a Superliner.

 

[Ryan]

Like Penny, the Superliners are a random draw. However, my experience in Viewliners is opposite hers, Room B has always faced backwards for me (Silver Star and Cardinal).

 

[HotlantaAl]

I was on the Crescent twice last week and the couch in B is facing forward. All the times I've been on the Crescent they have placed the Viewliner with the bedrooms toward the front of the train. The reason I know this is that I have Bedroom A on the same train in a couple weeks and I wanted to check the same thing.

By the way, some diagrams (non-Amtrak) of the sleeping cars show Bedroom A toward the middle of the car and that is not correct, Bedroom B is toward the middle of the car on the Viewliner. I think this is the cause for some confusion on which is Bedroom A or Bedroom B.

Have a great trip!

 

[Ryan]

Ok, now I'm second guessing myself - I think that I was backwards. B faces the right direction when the car is running bedrooms forward, so we must have been in A on the Star.

 

[MrFSS]

The bottom line answer is - you never know which way your car will be oriented on the train so you never know which way the couch will face until you actually board the train and look.

 

[Shanghai]

Everytime we have traveled in Bedroom B, we faced forward

and when we traveled in Bedroom A, we faced backward.

These trips were on Viewliners on the Silver Star, Lake Shore Ltd,

Cardinal & the Crescent.

 

[amamba]

I rode forward on Bedroom B on the LSL earlier this year.

 

[the_traveler]

And if you find the couch "backwards", if you sit in the seat by the table, you will be facing "forward"! Sure, that seat doesn't have much padding, but at least you will be facing forward - if it batters to you - during the day. I've done this numerous times to keep the afternoon sun out of my eyes!

 

[mflsjhs]

I have traveled in Bedroom B on the silver meteor and the silver star, i remember on the meteor that we were facing forwards , was pretty sure about the star to just not positive trip was a long time ago

 

[AlanB]

Because of the need to have exit doors near the dining cars, which have no door of their own, the Viewliner's will always be orientated such that the couch in B faces forward. This practice could change in 2012 as the new Viewliner II diners come online, as they will have exit door. But for now, you should be facing forward sitting on the couch in room B.

As for the Superliners you future is less certain as those cars can be orientated in either direction as others have noted. I'd place the odds at around 75% to 80% chance that E will face forward.

 

[had8ley]

Like Penny, the Superliners are a random draw. However, my experience in Viewliners is opposite hers, Room B has always faced backwards for me (Silver Star and Cardinal).

And B is almost always forward on the Crescent~ must be the way the cars are turned at Sunnyside...

 

[L. P. DAVIS]

I AM BOOKED ON A "TOUR OF WEST VIRGINA" THRY TRAINS OF AMERICA - I HAVE MADE MANY TRIPS BY TRAIN & ALWAYS HAD A DELUXE SLEEPER OR WOULD TAKE A ROOMETTE - THEY CLAIM THERE ARE NOW SLEEPERS AVAILABLE BUT PUT ME ON A SLEEPER WAITING LIST IN CASE SOMEONE

CANCELLS OUT. I AM NO. 5 - I DON'T KNOW HOW MANY ARE BEHIND ME BUT THIS DOES NOT MAKE GOOD BUSINESS SENSE IF YOU HAVE SAY 15 PEOPLE WHO WANT SLEEPERS AND YOU DO NOT ADD A CAR OR TWO ON THIS TRAIN. THINK OF THE MONEY FACTOR THAT IS UNLESS YOU ARE

NOT INTERESTED IN MAKING MONEY AND JUST LIVING OFF GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIES. I AM PRESENTLY THINKING OF WRITING THE LOCAL NEWPAPER ABOUT THIS STORY AND THE FACT YOU ARE TURNING YOUR BACK ON MAKING A GOOD PROFIT. I WILL NEVER BOOK WITH THE AGENCY EVER

AGAIN AS I THINK THEY ARE JUST SMOKE AND MIRRORS. I BOOK A LONG TIME AGO SO WHY WAS THERE NOT ANY SLEEPERS AVAILABLE THEN ? MY FIGHT WITH THEM AND YOU IS NOT OVER - I'LL GO ON THE "TODAY SHOW" IF I HAVE TOOL

 

[AlanB]

Mr. Davis,

First, please note that this forum is not run by Amtrak. It is a privately owned forum by a single individual that was created for the purpose of allowing people to ask questions about Amtrak and to discuss Amtrak. Therefore I'm sorry to say that we can no more get Amtrak to add another car than you can or anyone else for that matter. We simply don't have that power, nor any connections with Amtrak to make it happen.

Second, Amtrak does not have any extra sleeping cars to add to the train. There are only 50 of the single level sleeping cars in the fleet which is a problem for Amtrak. In fact that's why Amtrak proceeded with a new order of cars last year without even knowing for sure that Congress is going to give them the money to buy the cars. That order will include 15 more single level sleeping cars or Viewliners as they're called.

Not being affiliated with Amtrak we at this point in time have no idea what the disposition of those cars will be when the hopefully arrive next year. It may well be that they will add a second sleeper to the Cardinal, but they also may not. I don't know.

Third, included in that new car order is something called a baggage/dorm car. This car will be half baggage and have rooms for the crew. And therein lies another big problem for the Cardinal. Right now there are no crew cars on any of the east coast single level trains; they were all retired due to age. So the crew occupies rooms in the only sleeping car on the train. That reduces the number of available rooms by at least 3 or 4 unfortunately.

Fourth, even if Amtrak did have extra cars to add or skipped an inspection on one car so as to add it to the train on the day you need it, another problem is that there is no dining car on this train. The only food service car is a combination car, half cafe/half quasi-dining car. This single car would be unable to serve enough meals to feed everyone if there were two sleeping cars. And at present, Amtrak has no extra single level dining cars either. That same order that I mentioned above includes new dining cars. The current dining cars that Amtrak is using on the single level trains are now 60 to 70 years old because Amtrak has never been given the money to replace them.

Which brings us to the subsidies that you mentioned. Consider the following; in the last 3 years the Fed has provided more than $62 Billion in subsidies to our highways. That's more money than Amtrak has received in its entire 40 years! So if you want to write to the local papers or go on the Today show, please be sure to make the point that you can't get a sleeper because Congress isn't providing enough funds for Amtrak to buy enough new equipment.

I do understand your frustration; in fact most of us here do. Even on trains that have 2 or 3 sleepers it is often impossible to get a room during the summer months if you haven't already booked by May. When Amtrak first got the new bi-level Superliner cars 30 years ago, they had 125 sleepers in total. Today after several accidents, they only have 111 sleepers left. Looking at the entire Superliner fleet, they had 479 cars of all styles and are now down to 431, a loss of 48 cars. And again, Congress have never shown any willingness to help Amtrak buy replacements. Thirty years ago in 1980 Amtrak carried 21.2 million passengers, last year they carried 28.7 million. So they're carrying more people with less equipment than ever!

So again, please put the blame where it belongs, on Congress for their failure to fund Amtrak properly!