Dining Car Etiquette

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Green Maned Lion said:
I had a lot of fun on the cardinal socializing with people in the lounge. It involved a lot of beer, a lot of story telling, and a lot of laughing. It has a lounge. A lounge requires people more than anything else.
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Agreed GML!

The lounge works perfect for today's traveler. The old Pullman lounges had a mix of tables, (just like the current amtrak lounge cars) and seats facing away from the windows with no tables, but ash trays. Is that what we want? I personally like being able to sit at a table, next to a window, and play cards, have a snack etc.

It would be nice to have some Viewliner Lounge Cars, with bigger windows.. or better yet the Single Level "Dome" cars as seen on the Rocky Mountaineer... but as far as the table layout.. I think the Amfleet Cafe cars work just fine.
 
the_traveler said:
The only real difference between the Cardinal and any other train in food prep is that there's no grill. So there's no items such as steaks or eggs or made to order items. All other items are pre-made and reheated by use of a convection oven - just like on the Cardinal!
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I beg to differ Dave. The food, and prep of same food, on the Cardinal just plain STINKS, usually. I attribute some of that to the fact that there is less "pride taken" when preparing food in a galley, vs. a real kitchen like in Superliner or new VL diners. (Or better yet, the old Heritage divers)

I think it is a REQUIREMENT on the Cardinal to "cook-to-death" the veggies, (it happens on other full-diner rains, but not nearly as often)

Take trained Chef, and put him in a Superliner Kitchen, and watch what he creates. Take same chef, same food, put in galley of Am-Crap-Dinette, and he has a CHANCE to produce same quality food, but it's more difficult.

NOW, AFAIK, the Cardinal does NOT require a CHEF position for the Am-Crap-Dinette. (I could be wrong here, I freely admit.) so now you have an LSA doing food prep, and table service, too much to ask.
 
Green Maned Lion said:
I had a lot of fun on the cardinal socializing with people in the lounge. It involved a lot of beer, a lot of story telling, and a lot of laughing. It has a lounge. A lounge requires people more than anything else.
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Cardinal DOES NOT HAVE A LOUNGE CAR.

That's like aaying EVERY REGIONAL TRAIN has a "lounge car".

They don't, they have a "food service car" with tables, that also sells alchohol, that is NOT a lounge car.
 
A lounge car is a car in which you lounge. I lounged and had fun with my fellow passengers. I'm sorry you refuse to let yourself have fun because the windows are too small.

And people call me grumpy!
 
rrdude said:
Green Maned Lion said:
I had a lot of fun on the cardinal socializing with people in the lounge. It involved a lot of beer, a lot of story telling, and a lot of laughing. It has a lounge. A lounge requires people more than anything else.
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Cardinal DOES NOT HAVE A LOUNGE CAR.

That's like aaying EVERY REGIONAL TRAIN has a "lounge car".

They don't, they have a "food service car" with tables, that also sells alchohol, that is NOT a lounge car.
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The Amfleet II food service cars when acquired were officially called Amlounge, and many were named cars with names like Miami Lounge etc. And this was way before Amtrak started the much ballyhooed "nickeling and diming" and "service reduction" that some are belly-aching about, a bit over the top IMHO.

So anyone is of course free to believe what they want to, but the fact of the matter is that the Amfleet II car used to serve food on single level LD trains are indeed Lounge cars and have always been so. Sorry to rain on the parade on this one.

The cars are numbered 28000 to 28024, 25 in all - all currently in service. They were acquired from Bombardier in the '81-'83 timeframe as Amlounges. Some were converted to Smokers in the late '90s. Eventually all were converted to "Diner-Lite" configuration in the '06 - '10 timeframe. On trains that have a separate Diner they serve the role of a Lounge, on trains that do not have a Diner they serve the dual role of Diner and Lounge.

Now unfortunately occasionally the Card may get an Amfleet I food service car subbing for an Amfleet II Diner-Lite, and that is when both Diner-lite food service and size of window are both somewhat challenged.
 
Rare chance, and I'll take it. Jishnu, they were the last intercity coaches produced at Red Lion by Edward G. Budd Company of Philadelphia. NOT Bombardier.
 
I'm with rrdude on this one! I have enjoyed my trips on the Card but a hybrid AmCan Diner Light is NOT a Lounge Car! IMHO the only True Lounge Car on Amtrak Trains is the PPC on the Starlight! The Observation Car on the Superliners is OK but its not a real Lounge Car and neither are the CCC hybrids! Hence the disappointment when folks ride the Starlight and the PPC has one for a substitute! As we say, YMMV!
 
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You guys, I want to take a picture of y'all. I'm putting out a Yiddish dictionary and need an illustration for the word Kvetch.
 
Wait a minute. I often recline my seat a little bit when I'm riding a train. In fact, I recline it far enough that one could quite easily consider me to be lounging. Does that make every coach car (and sleeper) a lounge car? If not, does that mean I'm going to be forced to stop reclining my seat?
 
Tell me right now why a Superliners sightseer lounge car is not a lounge???

That's the craziest thing I've ever heard.

Youd complain about the Pullman lounges since the seats face away from the windows. Or you would find something to complain about. Good grief.
 
As my wife often says, her voice dripping with disdain, "F-o-o-o-amers!"

(Aimed at me, too.)
 
But even so the sightseer lounge is set up as a lounge.... I'm not sure what in the world makes that car not a lounge.
 
Personally, I think "lounge" is an awful word anyway. It's so reminiscent of the 60s and 70s. Who is really excited to go to a "lounge" anyway? Amtrak ought to come up with a better, more appealing name. "Observation Car" works, but it sounds so clinical. How about "Spectacular View Car" or "Enormous Window Extravaganza"?
 
D.P. Roberts said:
Personally, I think "lounge" is an awful word anyway. It's so reminiscent of the 60s and 70s. Who is really excited to go to a "lounge" anyway? Amtrak ought to come up with a better, more appealing name. "Observation Car" works, but it sounds so clinical. How about "Spectacular View Car" or "Enormous Window Extravaganza"?
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And just what is so wrong with the 60's and 70's??? :p ;) :lol:
 
JayPea said:
D.P. Roberts said:
Personally, I think "lounge" is an awful word anyway. It's so reminiscent of the 60s and 70s. Who is really excited to go to a "lounge" anyway? Amtrak ought to come up with a better, more appealing name. "Observation Car" works, but it sounds so clinical. How about "Spectacular View Car" or "Enormous Window Extravaganza"?
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And just what is so wrong with the 60's and 70's??? :p ;) :lol:
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'60s: Watching the maniacs in the South on the News and finding it hard to believe how they acted towards black people. :angry:

'60s: Watching those stupid Batman TV shows in college. :blush:

Those flared pants in the '70s: I can't believe my wife made me wear them. :wacko:

Late '60s & early '70s: The way we service people had to hide from Americans to avoid being spit at or assaulted. :ph34r:
 
I view the SSL as a GREAT lounge car. Jis, Lion, just 'cause a car has tables in it does not MAKE it a lounge car. Nor does the layout alone of the SSL MAKE it a lounge car, though the fact that it has HUGE window, has several different seating arrangemebts, AND has tables and serves snax n drinks, goes a long way to making it WAY MORE of a lounge car than the Am-Dinettes.

Sorry Lion, "tables" do not make a lounge car.

The Montrealer used to have a Lounge.

The PPC's are the epitome of lounge cars, in Amtrak's current fleet.
 
You can argue the Amlounge is not a 'good' lounge. You can argue it's an awful one even. But it remains a lounge.
 
I have to agree that the SSL is a lounge car.

How many times have you heard on the train to "visit (the café) in the LOUNGE Car? And how many times have we called those who sleep all night in there and take 2-3 seats as LOUNGE lizards - or do we say Sightseer Lizards? :huh:
 
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I stand corrected by the Lion. The Amcafe is a God-Awful EXCUSE for a lounge car. The SSL otoh, is a PERFECT EXAMPLE of a lounge car...
 
Green Maned Lion said:
You can argue the Amlounge is not a 'good' lounge. You can argue it's an awful one even. But it remains a lounge.
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Well put sir! That is the point I was making too but much less eloquently I suppose.
Furthermore, given the general lack of resources, given some money can be found for new cars, I would not spend it on spiffy lounge cars. I'd spend it to get revenue earning cars and basic food service cars (which might indeed look like Amfleet II kind of arrangement but perhaps in a Viewliner shell - sort of like the Viewliner Diner slightly rearranged) needed to serve the passengers. The lounge cars can wait until demand for revenue seats and associated food service provision are met to the extent required to stabilize fares. I don't for a moment believe that people in general will not travel if they need to, just for the lack of a wonderful lounge experience.

I am not saying that I necessarily like the outcome, but when one has to tradeoff between putting food on the table and taking a fancy vacation most reasonable people would opt for the former. This is a similar situation.
 
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