When was the last time you rode in an Amtrak dome car?

[crescent-zephyr]

Well... It would have been a hi-level sleeper with the same windows that the pacific parlor car had.

As had been mentioned, Colorado Railcar had the plans for a full window sleeper, same kind of cars that are on the Alaska railroad "Gold Class" (but those are in coach configurations of course). Those would have really been something!

 

[railiner]

I found this reference to the proposed Hi-Level sleeper....

It’s little wonder that it’s weird duplex design was never built...



Taken from “More Classic Trains”, by Arthur Dubin, Kalmbach 1974.

 

[railiner]

I found this reference to the proposed Hi-Level sleeper....

It’s little wonder that it’s weird duplex design was never built...

IMG_2032.JPG

Taken from “More Classic Trains”, by Arthur Dubin, Kalmbach 1974.

Sorry for it being upside down...shot and posted from my phone on the app.....If someone knows how to fix...please feel free....

 

[crescent-zephyr]

Thanks for posting that. I feel like the diagram was made well after 1957 by someone confusing hi-levels with single level "duplex" pullman cars. Hi-levels did not have end-vestibules as shown in that diagram. While I don't have any proof... if they were going to call them "Vista-Bedrooms" it would seem to me like they would have Vista-dome like windows in them, like on the hi-level lounges.

 

[cpotisch]

I found this reference to the proposed Hi-Level sleeper....

It’s little wonder that it’s weird duplex design was never built...

IMG_2032.JPG

Taken from “More Classic Trains”, by Arthur Dubin, Kalmbach 1974.

Sorry for it being upside down...shot and posted from my phone on the app.....If someone knows how to fix...please feel free....

Here:

 

[Seaboard92]

Trust me a good reason not to build sleepers in a dome or with a skylight is this old PV adage. The more widows you have the more places water can come into the car

 

[rtabern]

I am Vice President of the American Passenger Rail Heritage Foundation (APRHF) in La Plata, MO -- we just spent the last couple of years putting together a website dedicated to the Great Domes and Ocean View... feel free to check it out.

www.AmtrakDome.com

Moderator's Note: the APRHF is a 501©(3) non-profit organization and I have no personal financial benefit by posting this link.

Just launched this website today.

We also manage... www.PacificParlourCar.com now, too...

 

[railiner]

I found this reference to the proposed Hi-Level sleeper....

It’s little wonder that it’s weird duplex design was never built...

IMG_2032.JPG

Taken from “More Classic Trains”, by Arthur Dubin, Kalmbach 1974.

Sorry for it being upside down...shot and posted from my phone on the app.....If someone knows how to fix...please feel free....

Here:

post-2762-15371968057287.jpg

I would say those rooms would not have had much of a "vista" experience at all...the closest comparison I can think of is the Family Bedroom on the Superliner...sure a window on each side of the room, but a really limited view....

In addition, that car would sure look out of place on the single level Super Chief. It wouldn't work with the El Cap cars either, because its end doors are both single level compatible. You would have to have a transition coach on one end...

I suppose they could have designed an entirely Hi-Level Super Chief, but by the time the mid-century Super Chief was due new equipment, Santa Fe was getting out of the passenger business...

 

[Notelvis]

I last rode a dome on an overnight Amtrak train returning to Washington. DC from Chicago on the 'Capitol Limited' in March 1993.

In 1998 the North Carolina DOT owned a former Milwaukee Road Super Dome which they operated on the 'Piedmont' service trains as a 'Business Class' car for the princely extra fare of $8.00. I rode that car several times then and have been on it since it entered excursion service with the Friends of the 261 organization as well.

In July 2016 I rode what I believe was a former Santa Fe big dome in Illinois Central dress on the Iowa Pacific 'Hoosier State' between Indianapolis and Chicago. As with the NCDOT 'Piedmonts', this train could only be called an Amtrak train with an asterisk. The whole being served a meal cooked on board on a china plate was just so 'not' Amtrak.

Additionally, I have continued seeking out dome cars and have ridden them on the VIA Canadian, several all-day mainline excursions behind both steam and diesel, and numerous regular tourist operations. My most recent dome ride was in July 2018 at the Conway Scenic Railroad in New Hampshire.

I prefer the classic Budd Half Dome cars.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

Amtrak is very capable of matching that class when they want to...

Hoosier State dinner vs. Amtrak with China dinner (starlight I think).

 

[Bob Dylan]

Yep, I remember the Enhanced Food Service on the Empire Builder and of course the PPC was the Closest thing to the Canadian when it came to a Classy Meal expierence.

 

[cpotisch]

Yep, I remember the Enhanced Food Service on the Empire Builder and of course the PPC was the Closest thing to the Canadian when it came to a Classy Meal expierence.

It really is a shame that I missed all that, especially the PPC. I was incredibly lucky to get the chance to go inside a PPC (I think it was Columbia Valley) when they were parked in the Chicago yard, on the way to Beech Grove, but I there's no doubt that actually riding in one would be so much nicer. It's a shame.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

Yep, I remember the Enhanced Food Service on the Empire Builder and of course the PPC was the Closest thing to the Canadian when it came to a Classy Meal expierence.

With the right LSA, I thought the PPC beat the Canadian. Dining at a private table in a Pacific Parlor Car was the best of the best. The Hoosier State Dome was a similar experience.

I had always wanted to ride the Auto Train when it was single level equipment so I could "eat in a dome dining car" - the Hoosier State finally gave me that experience! I wish I had ridden it more when it was around. I only did one trip north and one trip south.