what was the name of the NY-DC train that let you sleep for several ho

[Bill Haithcoat]

Did they ever do a set out sleeper for the California Zephyr or the Coast Starlight? I think it would be a great addition in SLC & SAC. In both locations & trains, they arrive late evening/early morning.

Nope, I do not recall set out sleepers at either of those cities at least from my childhood in the 50's forward. Does not mean that there were not, of course.

OF course the further back you go, the more trains there were. So some other train might have gone through at a more convenient tme thus making redundant the need for set out sleepers on some trains.

 

[sunchaser]

Did they ever do a set out sleeper for the California Zephyr or the Coast Starlight? I think it would be a great addition in SLC & SAC. In both locations & trains, they arrive late evening/early morning.

Nope, I do not recall set out sleepers at either of those cities at least from my childhood in the 50's forward. Does not mean that there were not, of course.

OF course the further back you go, the more trains there were. So some other train might have gone through at a more convenient time thus making redundant the need for set out sleepers on some trains.

I think it would be a great idea to have set out sleepers again-of course that means Amtrak would need more sleepers!

I think it would certainly improve the notion of 'First Class', & be much more convenient.

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

Did they ever do a set out sleeper for the California Zephyr or the Coast Starlight? I think it would be a great addition in SLC & SAC. In both locations & trains, they arrive late evening/early morning.

Nope, I do not recall set out sleepers at either of those cities at least from my childhood in the 50's forward. Does not mean that there were not, of course.

OF course the further back you go, the more trains there were. So some other train might have gone through at a more convenient time thus making redundant the need for set out sleepers on some trains.

I think it would be a great idea to have set out sleepers again-of course that means Amtrak would need more sleepers!

I think it would certainly improve the notion of 'First Class', & be much more convenient.

Of course a superliner sleeper carries so much more passengers than a single level sleeper, today,as well as in the preAMtrak past.

That means it takes more potential passengers to justify a set out superliner than the single level cars of the present or past.

ALso keep in mnd that when there were many more set out sleepers proportunately railroad stations had more set out tracks, more switch engines to make it work.I do not see it as a priorty for Amtrak at all.

Having said all that, it was still one of the coolest aspects of rail travell

 

[railiner]

This practice goes way back almost to the beginning of Pullman service. It was a staple of their business, utilized primarily by "commercial travelers", nowadays commonly referred to as "road warriors". The business traveller would conduct a days business, have dinner at a restaurant, and then check in to one of these cars, get a nights sleep, and wake up refreshed and ready to begin business bright and early in another city.

The jet airliner, Interstate Highways, and the likes of Holiday Inns, brought the demise of this service.

 

[had8ley]

Yeah, I'm familiar with the talk of adding sleepers back to the overnight train (former Night Owl/Twilight Shoreliner/Federal). But I had not heard any mention of restoring the Executive Sleeper-style New York set-out sleeper. In fact, I'd be quite surprised if it came back. I was just thinking that it was rather surprising that it lasted into the 1990s (or maybe it was late-1980s) at all.

In January 1994 (exact date unknown), the Executive Sleeper was pulled due to shortages associated with equipment freezing. It was restored on May 1st, and discontinued on August 19, 1994.

The poor 10 and 6's just missed the advent of the Viewliners. I think they could have kept a Heritage car going, once the Viewliners showed up, just like they have been able to run the wheels off of the Heritage diners.

 

[cpamtfan]

I believe one of the reasons the 10-6s went out the door so quickly was due to lack of plumbing, they didn't have retention takes. Guess where many a bathroom break went...

Now that I think about it, why didn't they refit the 10-6s with retention tanks when tey got HEPed? Maybe Amtrak thought they were going to toatally replace the Heritage fleet with Viewliners, but that didn't happen as planned.

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

I believe one of the reasons the 10-6s went out the door so quickly was due to lack of plumbing, they didn't have retention takes. Guess where many a bathroom break went...Now that I think about it, why didn't they refit the 10-6s with retention tanks when tey got HEPed? Maybe Amtrak thought they were going to toatally replace the Heritage fleet with Viewliners, but that didn't happen as planned.

Well I could be wrong..but were not the 10-6's, the ones which were kept...and thus which became known as heritage...that they were re equipped wih retention toilets? I sort of thought that HEP and retention toilets happened about the same time on the old cars.

This would be on the old cars which they decided to keep and begn calling "heritage" from that date forward.

And maybe I am wrong.

 

[AlanB]

I believe one of the reasons the 10-6s went out the door so quickly was due to lack of plumbing, they didn't have retention takes. Guess where many a bathroom break went...Now that I think about it, why didn't they refit the 10-6s with retention tanks when tey got HEPed? Maybe Amtrak thought they were going to toatally replace the Heritage fleet with Viewliners, but that didn't happen as planned.

Well I could be wrong..but were not the 10-6's, the ones which were kept...and thus which became known as heritage...that they were re equipped wih retention toilets? I sort of thought that HEP and retention toilets happened about the same time on the old cars.

This would be on the old cars which they decided to keep and begn calling "heritage" from that date forward.

And maybe I am wrong.

No, Bill, they were never given retention toilets. I rode in a Heritage sleeper only once in my life, on the Three Rivers about 2 years before its demise, and the toilet flushed directly onto the tracks.

 

[alanh]

It's probably not a simple matter to refit with retention toilets -- there was no allowance for the storage tanks, pumps, and sewage lines, so it would have had to been woven around the existing car hardware.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

I believe one of the reasons the 10-6s went out the door so quickly was due to lack of plumbing, they didn't have retention takes. Guess where many a bathroom break went...Now that I think about it, why didn't they refit the 10-6s with retention tanks when tey got HEPed? Maybe Amtrak thought they were going to toatally replace the Heritage fleet with Viewliners, but that didn't happen as planned.

They were planning to do that, but that is not why the 10-6s fell off 66/67. A few Heritage 10-6 cars stayed in operation until 2002 or so on the Three Rivers. By that time, the cars were really falling into crappy shape, and the Viewliner was mostly seen as an upgrade.

Amtrak had decided they would not get retention tanks and in that decision, they missed the boat for any other refurbishing. Ever seen the way a building gets when people decide it is going to be demolished 5 years hence? That's what the 10-6 sleepers were like in the twilight of their lives.

It's probably not a simple matter to refit with retention toilets -- there was no allowance for the storage tanks, pumps, and sewage lines, so it would have had to been woven around the existing car hardware.

VIA did it, and various private car owners have done it, so it must be possible.

 

[Donctor]

I believe one of the reasons the 10-6s went out the door so quickly was due to lack of plumbing, they didn't have retention takes. Guess where many a bathroom break went...Now that I think about it, why didn't they refit the 10-6s with retention tanks when tey got HEPed? Maybe Amtrak thought they were going to toatally replace the Heritage fleet with Viewliners, but that didn't happen as planned.

Well I could be wrong..but were not the 10-6's, the ones which were kept...and thus which became known as heritage...that they were re equipped wih retention toilets? I sort of thought that HEP and retention toilets happened about the same time on the old cars.

This would be on the old cars which they decided to keep and begn calling "heritage" from that date forward.

And maybe I am wrong.

No, Bill, they were never given retention toilets. I rode in a Heritage sleeper only once in my life, on the Three Rivers about 2 years before its demise, and the toilet flushed directly onto the tracks.

And Amtrak had to be granted a special waiver to operate them on the Three Rivers.