Vermonter: Anything I should be aware of?

Just about a week until I ride the Vermonter from Montpelier to Philadelphia. I am riding in Business Class. I recently received a “change” in my departure from MPR; however the time wasn’t unchanged. What’s this all about? Are there any other issues I should be aware of?

I think their computer is going wacko. I got a pair of 'schedule change' emails from Amtrak 2 weeks ago for the shuttle from New Haven and there wasn't any schedule change at all. I know there's some ongoing track work at Windsor that may add maybe 5 minutes to the travel time, but that's reasonably easy to make up with padding already in the schedule.

As for business class, that'll be the rear half of the last car of the 5 car train. Be sure to take advantage of the free non-alcoholic beverages as a BC passenger. It's a split cafe/BC car with 18 BC seats in 2 & 1 configuration. There's pluses and minuses for either side, in my opinion. On the '2' side, there's a fixed armrest between the seats that has shallow beverage holders, not so on the '1' side (my 17" laptop fills the pull down tray). I like the '1' side, but the lack of a beverage holder and the 5" or so 'gap' between the seat and the side of the car makes it more difficult for sleeping.

They’ve been moving times around for trains on the Springfield line due to construction until mid November (5-10 minutes here and there.) that’s most likely what’s going on

bratkinson said:

As for business class, that'll be the rear half of the last car of the 5 car train. Be sure to take advantage of the free non-alcoholic beverages as a BC passenger. It's a split cafe/BC car with 18 BC seats in 2 & 1 configuration. There's pluses and minuses for either side, in my opinion. On the '2' side, there's a fixed armrest between the seats that has shallow beverage holders, not so on the '1' side (my 17" laptop fills the pull down tray). I like the '1' side, but the lack of a beverage holder and the 5" or so 'gap' between the seat and the side of the car makes it more difficult for sleeping.

Click to expand...

I haven't ridden in one of those cars, so I am somewhat curious about the setup....

Why do they have that gap you mentioned? Sounds like they could have put the seat as close to the wall as the double seats are, no? And had either a wider aisle, a wider gap between the double seats, or even wider seats, themselves....

I realize they are not going to change any of that at this point...but a relatively cheap enhancement, would be to mount a 'foldaway' cup holder in that gap, at each seat....

railiner said:

bratkinson said:

As for business class, that'll be the rear half of the last car of the 5 car train. Be sure to take advantage of the free non-alcoholic beverages as a BC passenger. It's a split cafe/BC car with 18 BC seats in 2 & 1 configuration. There's pluses and minuses for either side, in my opinion. On the '2' side, there's a fixed armrest between the seats that has shallow beverage holders, not so on the '1' side (my 17" laptop fills the pull down tray). I like the '1' side, but the lack of a beverage holder and the 5" or so 'gap' between the seat and the side of the car makes it more difficult for sleeping.

Click to expand...

I haven't ridden in one of those cars, so I am somewhat curious about the setup....

Why do they have that gap you mentioned? Sounds like they could have put the seat as close to the wall as the double seats are, no? And had either a wider aisle, a wider gap between the double seats, or even wider seats, themselves....

I realize they are not going to change any of that at this point...but a relatively cheap enhancement, would be to mount a 'foldaway' cup holder in that gap, at each seat....

Click to expand...

The Split B/C cars are very nice. Plush leather seats, curtains on the windows, often quiet as there is a curtain between the cafe section and the DC section. Amtrak calls them club/dinette cars. Here's a (not very good) picture.

It's still an improvement from no armrest on every other car on the Amtrak system...except for maybe the Cascades, as I'm not very familiar with their consists, and the Acela, but still, nearly every car.

railiner said:

bratkinson said:

As for business class, that'll be the rear half of the last car of the 5 car train. Be sure to take advantage of the free non-alcoholic beverages as a BC passenger. It's a split cafe/BC car with 18 BC seats in 2 & 1 configuration. There's pluses and minuses for either side, in my opinion. On the '2' side, there's a fixed armrest between the seats that has shallow beverage holders, not so on the '1' side (my 17" laptop fills the pull down tray). I like the '1' side, but the lack of a beverage holder and the 5" or so 'gap' between the seat and the side of the car makes it more difficult for sleeping.

Click to expand...

I haven't ridden in one of those cars, so I am somewhat curious about the setup....

Why do they have that gap you mentioned? Sounds like they could have put the seat as close to the wall as the double seats are, no? And had either a wider aisle, a wider gap between the double seats, or even wider seats, themselves....

I realize they are not going to change any of that at this point...but a relatively cheap enhancement, would be to mount a 'foldaway' cup holder in that gap, at each seat....

Click to expand...

It has to do with the way the seats were designed and having the ability (space) to turn the seats.

Anyone have any guess how Amtrak decides what type of BC car to put on each train? For example, how come all the Empire Corridor trains use a split car?

OBS said:

railiner said:

bratkinson said:

As for business class, that'll be the rear half of the last car of the 5 car train. Be sure to take advantage of the free non-alcoholic beverages as a BC passenger. It's a split cafe/BC car with 18 BC seats in 2 & 1 configuration. There's pluses and minuses for either side, in my opinion. On the '2' side, there's a fixed armrest between the seats that has shallow beverage holders, not so on the '1' side (my 17" laptop fills the pull down tray). I like the '1' side, but the lack of a beverage holder and the 5" or so 'gap' between the seat and the side of the car makes it more difficult for sleeping.

Click to expand...

I haven't ridden in one of those cars, so I am somewhat curious about the setup....

Why do they have that gap you mentioned? Sounds like they could have put the seat as close to the wall as the double seats are, no? And had either a wider aisle, a wider gap between the double seats, or even wider seats, themselves....

I realize they are not going to change any of that at this point...but a relatively cheap enhancement, would be to mount a 'foldaway' cup holder in that gap, at each seat....

Click to expand...

It has to do with the way the seats were designed and having the ability (space) to turn the seats.

Click to expand...

Thinking about what you said, it sounds like the cars were designed to be able to have double seats on both sides, or the two and one as pictured, with the same located floor mounting pedestal....

In June, I rode the Vermonter in BC from Essex Junction to NYP. It was a very comfortable riade and I was pleasantly surprised by the new cafe car menu. I tried one of the Boar's Head sandwiches and enjoyed it.

Thank you, Daybeers, for posting the picture of the BC section of the car. I'm a little surprised seeing the seats facing the vestibule end vs the center section cafe. In the times I've ridden BC in the split cars, or even walked through them on the way to/from the 'real' diner/lounge on the Cardinal, on the Vermonter, Empire Service trains, and even the 66/67 'Night Owl', the BC section is always at the rear, with the tables in the front - mostly taken by cafe attendant, conductor, assistant conductor, and one or two 'campers' who spread out their laptops, papers, cell phones, etc all over the one or two tables not already occupied. On the Cardinal, at least, the table section is completely empty save maybe the conductor and AC at one table as the coaches are ahead of the lounge/diner car, which is ahead of the BC/cafe car, so there's no coach passengers in that car.

And thank you, Dayliner for what seems to be the only plausible explanation of why the '1' side seats are so far away from the wall, the floor pedestal. It gets me to thinking...maybe I should come up with some kind of over the armrest cup/can holder to use when riding a single seat. Perhaps something like they used to make that hooks over the drivers side window to hold a can of soda, but with a 2.5=3" wide 'hook' section. Hello, Amazon...

bratkinson said:

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And thank you, Dayliner for what seems to be the only plausible explanation of why the '1' side seats are so far away from the wall, the floor pedestal. ...

Click to expand...

"Dayliner"??

You can call me "Dayliner", "Railiner", "Speedliner", "Highliner", "Shoreliner", "Beeliner", or whatever....just don't call me late for dinner in the diner....

Didn't "Dayliner" replace the "Alexander Hamilton" on the Hudson River way back?

BC = what's available, revenue (yield) management, consist factors, what the states are paying for....

railiner said:

bratkinson said:

.

And thank you, Dayliner for what seems to be the only plausible explanation of why the '1' side seats are so far away from the wall, the floor pedestal. ...

Click to expand...

"Dayliner"??

You can call me "Dayliner", "Railiner", "Speedliner", "Highliner", "Shoreliner", "Beeliner", or whatever....just don't call me late for dinner in the diner....

Click to expand...

Since retiring for the 2nd time nearly 4 years ago, I think I'm getting a good start on Altimers...can't remember anything, either!

Thank you all for the suggestions. However, I had to cancel this trip today; an emergency came up while I’m here in Maine and need to get home early. Sigh...

bratkinson said:

And thank you, Dayliner for what seems to be the only plausible explanation of why the '1' side seats are so far away from the wall, the floor pedestal. It gets me to thinking...maybe I should come up with some kind of over the armrest cup/can holder to use when riding a single seat. Perhaps something like they used to make that hooks over the drivers side window to hold a can of soda, but with a 2.5=3" wide 'hook' section. Hello, Amazon...

Click to expand...

While riding Acela 2172 in first class a few hours ago in a 'single' seat, I needed to plug in my laptop and discovered that like the '1' side of 2-1 seating in business class/cafe cars, the single first class seat was 5 inches or so away from the wall. It HAS to be the PEDESTAL! I'll have to remember to look at the '2' side first class seat pedastals next time I ride.