Club car

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Mike

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My wife and I will be tavelling on the Silver Meteor in January from Washington to Winter Hsven, FL. Does this train usually have a club or a lounge car?
 
My wife and I will be tavelling on the Silver Meteor in January from Washington to Winter Hsven, FL. Does this train usually have a club or a lounge car?
It has a lounge car, and it is on the "coach side" of the dining car.
 
It has a cafe car with tables and spartan decor. To call it a lounge or club car is a stretch.
 
The beautiful Amfleet II lounge cars, and the even nicer Heritage lounge cars, are all gone. The Amfleet II lounges are all diner-lites now, with the ugly, cold blue-and-grey decor.
 
I vaguely remember the "classic" Amfleet Lounge from a trip about 17 years ago on the pre-Superliner CONO. At least they were "loungey." Of course I spent more time on that trip in the Dome :)
 
The lounge car (on the coach side) fills up pretty quickly with families playing cards and with coach passengers eating from the snack bar. The other side of the lounge (closest to the diner) usually has a couple of tables occupied by the conductor/assistant conductor and attendants. I usually can find a place to sit, if I want to - even if I share a booth with a stranger. In a few minutes, my table mate is no longer a stranger.
 
I usually can find a place to sit, if I want to - even if I share a booth with a stranger. In a few minutes, my table mate is no longer a stranger.
But (s)he is usually much stranger after spending some time with you, right?
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The beautiful Amfleet II lounge cars, and the even nicer Heritage lounge cars, are all gone. The Amfleet II lounges are all diner-lites now, with the ugly, cold blue-and-grey decor.
Are there any photos of these Amfleet II lounge cars available somewhere on the web? I don't think I've ever seen an Amfleet lounge.
 
Are there any photos of these Amfleet II lounge cars available somewhere on the web? I don't think I've ever seen an Amfleet lounge.
I'm not finding any photos of the interiors, but I have seen photos online previously that showed Amfleet food service cars denoted as "Lounge" cars, and I've ridden in them also. I don't remember them being "beautiful" by any stretch, though the ones I rode in were basically set up the way the last dome car is now - half the car was booths, the other half was individual chairs (and I remember them swiveling). They had that same brown and orange decor also.

There have been a lot of different lounge car configurations in Amtrak's history so there may have been some "beautiful" configuration that I haven't seen, but I think probably what I'm describing is what Green Maned Lion was referring to.

By today's standards these were better than what we have now, but at the time they seemed a poor replacement for the heritage lounge cars that were still in the system, if you got lucky enough to get a train with one still in the consist. Though I think the heritage lounges all basically got converted to be similar to the Amfleet configuration eventually, just with the food service area at the end of the car rather than the middle. So the car still felt a lot more open and free-flowing than the Amfleets.
 
I usually can find a place to sit, if I want to - even if I share a booth with a stranger. In a few minutes, my table mate is no longer a stranger.
But (s)he is usually much stranger after spending some time with you, right?
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Dave, that is what my relatives say. They accuse ME of getting stranger every year. :wacko:
 
I vaguely remember the "classic" Amfleet Lounge from a trip about 17 years ago on the pre-Superliner CONO. At least they were "loungey." Of course I spent more time on that trip in the Dome :)
I still have night mares about the meals ???, and I say that loosely, that came out of the nuclear reactor in the "Am-dinette." I still would prefer the dome to Superliner equipment but a Heritage diner-lounge would have probably been a better fit.
 
I think "lounge cars" by whatever name are or were among the most fascinating cars on a train,just because there were so many forms they could take.

Mostly I am remembering pre Amtrak equipment. (Though I take nothing from sightseer lounges or the pacific parlor car.)

They might be called club lounge cars, tavern lounges, etc

Sometimes they were combined with other cars,such as coach lounge, sleeper lounge, diner lounge.etc

Sometimes they had domes. Sometimes they rounded observation end.

To this day the Canadian is graced at the rear with an observation lounge dome sleeper. The pre Amtrak CZ had such a car, in fact those two were very similar as to equipment.

Some lounge cars had a theme, and or pictures and such appropriate to the route. There was a cable car room on the pre Amtrak CZ. There was a sun lounge on the Silver Meteor. It was a lounge sleeper with large windows to make up for no dome.

It goes on. There are no doubt categories I am not remembering as to how flexible lounge cars could be.

The cafe lounges, such as on the Crescent, are unsatisfactory to my needs,as it being all tables, no lounge seats.
 
This will probably bring howls from the "spartan" is fine crowd. Club cars as mentioned used to be the most wonderful and cozy of railcars. Nearly any old movie of train travel features great scenes of people seating enjoying conversation and beverages in the Club Cars. After Amtrak took control of the ordering all the glamor and even the comfort went out of them. To this day I cringe at them calling a cheap plastic looking set of bench seats and a card table a "Lounge". I don't know where they got that idea but it is well beneath the thousand dollar overnight fare they seem to find legitimate. Too bad the service and equipment don't match the prices.
 
The only thing that the prices need to match is the demand, and they're doing a fine job.

If the trains were running empty, you'd have a point.

And the competition is? They are running with what is provided by Amtrak an no more, no less and do not represent the service the cost is based on. My guess would be that perhaps you've never ridden a class train from the past?
 
The only thing that the prices need to match is the demand, and they're doing a fine job.

If the trains were running empty, you'd have a point.

And the competition is? They are running with what is provided by Amtrak an no more, no less and do not represent the service the cost is based on. My guess would be that perhaps you've never ridden a class train from the past?
There's a reason that those trains aren't around anymore.
Try as I may, I can't make a logical thought out of the bolded portion. Care to try again?

The only thing that the prices need to match is the demand, and they're doing a fine job.

If the trains were running empty, you'd have a point.
Ever hear of a monoply.
If you think you can to better, you're welcome to start a competing company.
 
The only thing that the prices need to match is the demand, and they're doing a fine job.

If the trains were running empty, you'd have a point.

And the competition is? They are running with what is provided by Amtrak an no more, no less and do not represent the service the cost is based on. My guess would be that perhaps you've never ridden a class train from the past?
There's a reason that those trains aren't around anymore.
Try as I may, I can't make a logical thought out of the bolded portion. Care to try again?

The only thing that the prices need to match is the demand, and they're doing a fine job.

If the trains were running empty, you'd have a point.
Ever hear of a monoply.
If you think you can to better, you're welcome to start a competing company.
We have had much better in the past. Other countries put Amtrak to shame, even Canada.
 
I miss the club car on the Montrealer. Now THAT was an example of what a lounge car could be, especially during the Holiday season. (Then again, I was a tad younger and a wee bit more of a party animal back then) Nevertheless, Amtrak could take some lessons about what makes a good experience in the lounge car from it.
 
We have had much better in the past. Other countries put Amtrak to shame, even Canada.
Certain foreign rail systems do put Amtrak to shame. VIA Rail is not one of them. Canada's trains may be nice, but they are hardly an example of an efficient rail network. (Not saying that Amtrak is an example of an ideal rail system, but at least they try. And at least there's something to show for it — California service, for example.)

But who am I to talk? I have yet to ride both of Canada's trains.
 
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A couple of points on Canada's VIA system:

First, I know I was not clear on this, but The Montrealer was an Amtrak train (WAS to MTR) that used Heritage equipment. I remember there being an actual piano on at least one of its lounge cars.

Secondly, VIA does a respectable, and in some ways better job with its 'corridor service' than Amtrak does in the NEC.
 
I'm not finding any photos of the interiors, but I have seen photos online previously that showed Amfleet food service cars denoted as "Lounge" cars, and I've ridden in them also. I don't remember them being "beautiful" by any stretch, though the ones I rode in were basically set up the way the last dome car is now - half the car was booths, the other half was individual chairs (and I remember them swiveling). They had that same brown and orange decor also.

There have been a lot of different lounge car configurations in Amtrak's history so there may have been some "beautiful" configuration that I haven't seen, but I think probably what I'm describing is what Green Maned Lion was referring to.

By today's standards these were better than what we have now, but at the time they seemed a poor replacement for the heritage lounge cars that were still in the system, if you got lucky enough to get a train with one still in the consist. Though I think the heritage lounges all basically got converted to be similar to the Amfleet configuration eventually, just with the food service area at the end of the car rather than the middle. So the car still felt a lot more open and free-flowing than the Amfleets.
First of all, beauty is and always will be in the eye of the beholder. I loved those lounges, orange seventies eyesore colours included. They were nice and fun and I have fond memories riding in them.

I don't know if I ever rode in a heritage lounge. I may have. I was a wee kid at the time, if so. I am 26 years old. I have never rode a non-Amtrak long-distance train. I have no basis to compare Amtrak to except VIA rail, the only remotely comparable network in the world. All other systems are either tiny or put them to shame.

I do turn, however, to a railroad timetable, circa 1953. There were some beautiful trains, such as the 20th Century Limited. There were some real stinkers, including an unnamed accommodation train that ran from New York to Chicago on the Water Level Route stopping at every podunk imaginable, containing a snack coach and sleepers that "may not run on every train". Run time? I don't feel like figuring it, but it makes the Lake Shore seem like the Shinkansen, let alone the Limited.

Amtrak runs a consistent train system, nothing like the 20th Century, but nothing like that bloody accommodation run, either. Those special luxury trains, while they may have run every day, were special luxury trains. Normal people didn't ride them, nor could they afford the extra fare to do so.

Larry, I have pulled teeth out of your alligator self over inflation and your preposterous theorizing on cost. I will refrain from doing so again.

A couple of points on Canada's VIA system:

First, I know I was not clear on this, but The Montrealer was an Amtrak train (WAS to MTR) that used Heritage equipment. I remember there being an actual piano on at least one of its lounge cars.

Secondly, VIA does a respectable, and in some ways better job with its 'corridor service' than Amtrak does in the NEC.
VIA's corridor service is a bad joke. Corridor services should run hourly or better during daylight, period. Until they do they are regional rail systems with multiple frequencies. Which is what VIA has. The NEC is a corridor. The Keystone is a Corridor. Stretching my definition, perhaps the Empire service is. The Cascades, Lincoln, Wolverine, and even the damned Hiawatha are not corridors, end of discussion.

VIA runs a trio of tourist trains, a bevy of accommodation trains, and a few multiple frequency inter-cities. They don't have a train "network" outside of the Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal area. They don't network- they misconnect more laughably than NJ Transit. VIA can't even work up the sense to have their two tourist trains connect in the same station- either extending the Canadian to Montral or the Ocean to Toronto.

Amtrak has a real rail network, and it will serve the average traveller quite comfortably. Could it be better? Sure.

Amtrak gets their network right, and for that I will forgive the more spartan lounges. VIA can keep them, if that means keeping a sensible service.
 
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