Superliner Roomette Locations

Hi All:

This is my first post to what is a very informative website. I'm about to take my first Amtrak overnight trip (SEA-CHI-NOL-LAX) and have booked Superliner Roomettes. (Also two nights in NOL to pig out at some fabulous restaurants, but that's another story). I have looked all over to find out exactly where my roomettes are located in each car and have come close with some of the previous posts on this forum. But some of the answers may be out of date. For instance, one post describes a 4-digit car numbering system. Another explains that roomettes are identified by letters, starting from the end of the car. However, my assignments on the three trains I am taking don't conform to any particular pattern. Empire Builder-Room H Car 831; CONO-Room 009 Car 5900; Sunset Limited-Room 021 Car 131. I am particularly interested about the Sunset, wondering if my roomette is in the crew/dorm car (viz Room 021), and whether that makes any difference. Does Amtrak have a uniform sleeping car/room numbering format?

On another question - I have a 4-hour layover in Chicago between Empire and CONO. From peoples' experience, can I expect the Empire to be more or less on time arriving? If I miss CONO, I'll have to change my New Orleans dinner reservations! :lol:

Thanks much!

George said:

Hi All:
This is my first post to what is a very informative website. I'm about to take my first Amtrak overnight trip (SEA-CHI-NOL-LAX) and have booked Superliner Roomettes. (Also two nights in NOL to pig out at some fabulous restaurants, but that's another story). I have looked all over to find out exactly where my roomettes are located in each car and have come close with some of the previous posts on this forum. But some of the answers may be out of date. For instance, one post describes a 4-digit car numbering system. Another explains that roomettes are identified by letters, starting from the end of the car. However, my assignments on the three trains I am taking don't conform to any particular pattern. Empire Builder-Room H Car 831; CONO-Room 009 Car 5900; Sunset Limited-Room 021 Car 131. I am particularly interested about the Sunset, wondering if my roomette is in the crew/dorm car (viz Room 021), and whether that makes any difference. Does Amtrak have a uniform sleeping car/room numbering format?

On another question - I have a 4-hour layover in Chicago between Empire and CONO. From peoples' experience, can I expect the Empire to be more or less on time arriving? If I miss CONO, I'll have to change my New Orleans dinner reservations! :lol:

Thanks much!

Click to expand...

Here is a link to some car diagrams... http://trainweb.org/crocon/sleeperplans.html

Yes, with room #21 on the Sunset you'll be in the Trans/Dorm car.

The room numbering format is pretty uniform overall, the car numbering isn't. Roomettes in standard Superliner cars are always 1 to 14. The Family room is room #15 and also sometimes referred to room F. Bedrooms are always A - E, with the exception of the Auto train where you can find higher letters in 6 special cars.

In a Viewliner sleeper Roomettes are always 1 to 12 and there are only two bedrooms A & B.

When it comes to the car numbers, the one thing that is always consistant is that the first two digits are always the train number that you're riding. Examples are 59 for train #59 and in the case of the Sunset technically there is a 0 before the 1 in 131 so that's train #1.

After that, the only thing that is consistant is that the last digit signifies how close to the dining car the sleeping car is. But on some trains the lowest number is 0 and on others the lowest is 1. The next to last digit however can vary all over the place. In the case of the City of NOL, they use a 0; the Empire builder puts a 3 in that spot; the Lake Shore puts a 1 in that place.

However all sleepers with the exception of the trans/dorm will always have the same next to last digit on a particular train. In otherwords, while the EB uses 3 and the LSL uses 1 all sleepers on the EB are 3 something and all sleepers on the LSL are 1 something.

Thanks very much, Printman and AlanB. I have since lerned from Amtrak that the H refers to the handicapped room. I booked on line and was automatically put int this room becaause it was the only room left. But I was charged almost double the Roomette rate ($800= vs. $400+) without knowing it, because when you use the multi-city booking option, the web page doesn't show comparative rates. The Amtrak phone agent told me that I should have called to ask. DUH!!!! "Julie" always tells me to go to the web where "rates may be lower." I guess you can't win.

Anyway, this isn't going to spoil what I hope will be a great adventure. The phone agent did put me as #1 on a waiting list to be moved to a regular roomette if one becomes available. She also cautioned me not to get my ticket printed until the last minute because, once printed, I can't change accomodations and get a refund for the difference.

The lesson I learned from all this is to probably research each segment as a separate ticket so I can see all price comparisons. Then I can decide how to book the total package.

As far as the EB's connection with the CONO, you should have no problems. The EB is very reliable as far as being reasonably on-time (weather-related issues aside). I'd say there is a very good chance of making your dinner reservations!

JayPea said:

As far as the EB's connection with the CONO, you should have no problems. The EB is very reliable as far as being reasonably on-time (weather-related issues aside). I'd say there is a very good chance of making your dinner reservations!

Click to expand...

As it was said before the empire builder is usually reliable. I just checked the empire builder's tardiness on amtrakdelays.com and its average delay is just shy of 3 hours. So you will have plenty of time to make the cono connection, and remember two things, 1st amtrak will hold your train if you are not extremly late, and 2nd the cono has the cross country cafe which is open later than a traditional dining car so you will still be able to enjoy your dinner. But things happen so expect the unexpected and have a back up plan and you will be fine.

ray828 said:

JayPea said:

As far as the EB's connection with the CONO, you should have no problems. The EB is very reliable as far as being reasonably on-time (weather-related issues aside). I'd say there is a very good chance of making your dinner reservations!

Click to expand...

As it was said before the empire builder is usually reliable. I just checked the empire builder's tardiness on amtrakdelays.com and its average delay is just shy of 3 hours. So you will have plenty of time to make the cono connection, and remember two things, 1st amtrak will hold your train if you are not extremly late, and 2nd the cono has the cross country cafe which is open later than a traditional dining car so you will still be able to enjoy your dinner. But things happen so expect the unexpected and have a back up plan and you will be fine.

Click to expand...

Thanks, Ray. Good to know about Amtrakdelays.com. I might guess that delays earlier this month and in June were due to the midwest flooding. More recent trains appear to be more punctual. Good news for making my connection AND dinner in New Orleans!

Yes most of the recent big delays were due to the flooding and/or detours. Aside from that, the EB is very dependable. I would not be too concerned.

The CONO departs at 8 PM, but as a sleeper passenger you'll be able to board early and have dinner. They usually board sleeper passengers from the Metropolitan Lounge between 6:45 PM and 7 PM. That's when we boarded and got dinner reservations for 7:30 PM. Personally I would try to get a later reservation so your meal can be when you're out of the station and able to view the scenery.

Another suggestion would be to go to Giordano's three blocks away for some fantastic deep dish pizza. Sure, you've got a free dinner waiting for you on the train, but the pizza is just that good.