Superliner Roomettes 1-10

Advertise with us
Shop deals on ebay
shop deals on amazon
Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum

Help Support Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Status
Not open for further replies.
Oldtimer:

Didn't know about that issue in the Sunset derailment. So sorry to hear about it. In actual fact, I think a person's risk in a derailment depends more on the circumstances of the derailment than on the person's location in the car. Overall, if there's going to be a derailment at all, I'd rather be in a Superliner than any other type of car. The very safest place is probably inside one of the rest rooms, but that's just my speculation.

Tom
 
jis said:
I wonder why so many Superliners have been lost in accidents when compared to the single level LD fleet. Is it perhaps because they run more in the wilderness out west than the single levels?
Click to expand...
Good question. Amtrak has had few attrition losses with the Amfleet IIs, none that I know of with the Viewliner I sleepers compared to the Superliner Is and IIs. Is it just the luck of the draw on the few major accidents over the decades for the Superliner equipped trains versus the single level LD trains? Perhaps, along with the Superliners covering more miles per trip with 2 day trips versus the single night trips of the single level trains? How often do the western Superliner LD train get into bad grade crossing collisions with heavy trucks versus the eastern single level LD trains? Also have to take the original number of Superliner versus Am IIs, Viewliners, and Heritage cars in comparing the attrition loss rate.

As for the original question of the thread, roomettes 3 to 10 are good. #2 is close to the ice, juice, stairs, restroom so it may not be as quiet for those bothered by noise.
 
Here is the survival ratio of rolling stock acquired new by Amtrak (source of numbers: OTOL Roster, Dan Ainsworth's Superliner page; and David Warner and Elbert Simon "Amtrak By the Numbers")

S1 - built 284, in service 248 - 87%

S2 - built 195, in service186 - 95%

A1 - built 492, in service 465 - 95%

A2 - built 150, in service145 - 97%

V1 - built 50, in service 50 - 100%

H - built 104, in service 93 - 89%

90 of the A1's operated on LD trains before the arrival of S1's and A2's. 30 something of the 195 S2's are captive in Autotrain service. A few Amfleet 1s were wreck rebuilt as special purpose cars, so they still operate but not in commercial service. Counting them as in service raises the in service ratio for A1's to 96%.

Looks like S1 and H have had the worst attrition.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
The stats are interesting. Amfleet 1's are getting pretty old, so that could account for at least some of the losses. It's not surprising that more S1's than S2's are retired, partly for the same reason. An awful lot of Amfleets run in the Northeast where there are more grade-separated crossings, so that would tend to "insulate" Amfleets from grade crossing accidents. On the other hand, Superliners run in areas where more of the crossings are at grade, so they may be more likely to be involved in crossing accidents. As mentioned above, it's possible that Superliners spend a greater percentage of their lives on the road, so that would expose them to a greater risk. These are just a few ideas off the top of my head, & I could be very wrong about these things.

Tom
 
jis said:
Looks like S1 and H have had the worst attrition.
Click to expand...
That the Superliner Is and Horizons have the highest loss rate indicates that the western and mid-western trains are more likely to have serious accidents. However Dan Ainsworth's Superliner page lists incidents by date for Superliner damage and there were a lot from the mid-1990s to the mid 2000s with several major derailments or accidents causing a number of Superliners to get scrapped: the Sunset Limited sabotage in AZ in 1995, CONO #59 in Bourbonnaise IL in 1999, AT in Crescent City FL in 2002. There is some luck of the draw in the major derailments for the LD system whether Superliners or single level cars are involved.

Looks like Amtrak a bad stretch from circa 1995 to circa 2005 for rolling stock losses. If track conditions have improved since those days due to the freight companies having more money to spend on maintenance, better monitoring, and grade crossing collisions have declined (although they are still way too frequent), my impression is that there have been fewer incidents resulting in rolling stock getting scrapped in recent years than there were in the 1990s or the early aughts.

Still, whenever Amtrak can place replacement orders for the Superliners or Amfleet IIs, they should buy enough to have a reserve to cover projected attrition losses for the next 20-30 years.
 
jis said:
I wonder why so many Superliners have been lost in accidents when compared to the single level LD fleet. Is it perhaps because they run more in the wilderness out west than the single levels?
Click to expand...
Looking at Dan Ainsworth's page, there's some very serious damage from a fairly small number of incidents.

The worst were:

- Kingman AZ in 1997 -- took out 5 cars (3 repaired later) -- due to BNSF not noticing that a bridge had been washed out by a flash flood

- Bourbonnaise IL in 1999 -- took out 6 cars (2 repaired later) -- track circuit maintenance failure by CN

- Nodaway IA in 2001 -- took out 7 cars (3 repaired later) -- due to poorly thought out track repair procedure by BNSF (since changed)

- Crescent City FL in 2002 -- took out 9 cars (6 repaired later) -- due to bad track maintenance by CSX

- Kensington MD in 2002 -- took out 7 cars (3 repaired later) -- due to bad track maintenance by CSX

- Flora/Bentonia MS in 2004 -- took out 8 cars (4 repaired later) -- due to bad track maintenance by CN

Almost all of these -- the high-speed derailments which damaged a lot of cars -- are attributable to skimping on track maintenance in one way or another. Perhaps the tracks which the Amfleets run on are simply better maintained on average. This would make sense since they are more heavily used.
 
Are the S1 cars more likely to be used on one LD train than another? If so, which trains?

Are the S2 cars the ones that have roomettes with no enclosed closets?
 
jis said:
Dakota 400 said:
Are the S2 cars the ones that have roomettes with no enclosed closets?
Click to expand...
Yes. S2s have no enclosed closet. So there effectively is space for two bags, not just one, in the roomette in S2s
Click to expand...
The luggage storage is my concern. From photos that I have seen by the poster who kindly put videos of the interior of the Sleeping Car rooms on this web site, I note a significant difference between where I was able to put my hard-side one suiter American Tourister on the steps leading to the unusued upper birth on what I am sure were S1 cars in 2002 as compared to what I see with the interior of the roomettes of, what I assume are the S2 cars. This piece of luggage will not fit in the space abpve the accommodations door, I am sure. From what I see in the videos, the length of the "steps" to the upper berth have been considerably shortened. (I hope I am wrong!) I have another small piece of carry-on that will go in the area above the door, I think.

Clarity as to what to expect will be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
 
Your Post is somewhat confusing in that there has been no change in the configuration of the Superliners since they were built! And there is no place for luggage over the door in a Superliner Roomette, are you thinking of the cubby hole over the toilet and sink on a Viewliner Roomette??

Also if you're by yourself you can store your luggage that you want in your room on the top bunk ! The big luggage should go into the Luggage Rack downstairs in the hall between the doors and the roomettes and the Family Room!!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Jim, Thanks for your reply.

Maybe I am getting things mixed up. I have not traveled on Amtrak since 2002 and found that in the 2002 Suplerliner roomettes that there was ample room to put my prime hardside luggage on the steps that would lead to the upper berth. And, I have certainly have no experience with the Viewliner Sleeping Cars.

Given that my trip will be a multi-day rail journey, I will have a checked piece of luggage, so there should be no need to store a piece on the bottom floor of the Sleeping Car.

The video that I viewed showed a very much reduction of space on the steps leading to the upper berth in the non-S1 roomettes. At least, that is what my impression was. Those "steps" are where my American Tourister luggage very nicely fit. If they are reduced in size, i.e. length, I may have an issue inasmuch as the one-suiter will not fit.

Very hard to tell from what one sees on a video. But, certainly, they are valuable. It does help in the "what if?" planning if nothing else.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
In my experience, whatever fit on the Super-1 steps will fit fine on the Super-2 steps. In Super 2s in addition you have space for another smaller bag, typically my smaller hand baggage goes there, on the other side of the door in the space that is occupied by the useless closet in Super-1s. In Super-1s typically I leave my bigger piece downstairs and just bring the hand baggage to the roomette.

In Vielinwers, the bigger piece goes in the cubbyhole above the corridor and the smaller piece goes next to the door opposite the facilities.

And of course on Autotrain, the bigger pieces all stay in the car. That may include all odds and ends including things like potted plants!
 
Roomette #9 is not bad if you are in the last car on the train. Not too much foot traffic then.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Back
Top