Two PPC's saved by Steam Railroading Institute

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.

NSC1109

OBS Chief
Joined
Aug 14, 2016
Messages
544
Location
MI
The Steam Railroading Institute, owners of PM 1225, have purchased two Pacific Parlor Cars, one of them being 39975 Williamette Valley (confirmed by Trains) and the other rumored to be 39970 Columbia Valley.

These cars will be leaving Beech Grove "shortly" according to the SRI spokesman and will make their way to Owosso via freight train. There haven't been any details regarding repairs or changes, but SRI hopes to have them in service in time for the annual Fall Color Tours and the October 5th 1225 excursion from Mt. Pleasant. They will also be utilized on the yearly North Pole Express trips for passengers 18+.

The new cars will be make up the new Pere Marquette Parlor-class.

http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wir...tute-acquires-two-amtrak-pacific-parlour-cars

Note: Columbia Valley was one of two PPCs used on the "final revenue run" for the class on the Coast Starlight.

Both cars can be seen in this link: http://www.rtabern.com/ppc/now.html

 
I'm wondering if Corridor Capital had a cleverer plan than we realized, and is brokering all the cars it's bought to different tourist trains.
 
I'm wondering if Corridor Capital had a cleverer plan than we realized, and is brokering all the cars it's bought to different tourist trains.

If they do I need to talk to them.

I’m hearing from sources in the industry there might be another auction soon with Pacific Bend, Ocean View, and Beech Grove.
 
If they do I need to talk to them.

I’m hearing from sources in the industry there might be another auction soon with Pacific Bend, Ocean View, and Beech Grove.
So Amtrak is gonna get rid of the Only Dome Car they had left! That's really not what most of us want to hear, hopefully some of the new Single Level Cars (when/if they ever arrive???) will include some decent Lounge cars for the LD Routes in the East?????
 
Last edited:
The Amtrak Equipment Asset report listed Ocean View as "active" not stored. So hopefully it won't be auctioned off. It does generate a lot of business when it is added to trains in the fall. Even though it was listed as active, things could have changed since the report was released.
 
It would be a shame if they got rid of any of those cars, but I think the inclusion of the office cars in particular is extremely ominous. It represents a CEO and management who have absolutely no interest whatsoever in the actual services their company provides. When you haven’t even stepped foot on the long distance trains you regard as just a nuisance with little value, all you see is the gap between expenses and income on a spreadsheet. The same is true for the PVs, charter trains, and generally anything that isn’t small, efficient corridor trains. Even if they truly do want to “improve” Amtrak, that total lack of interest in the trains and routes themselves makes them think they are actually helping by cutting trains and cutting costs. This attitude also surely incentivizes messing with the accounting to support their bias against LD trains as described in RPA’s paper last year.
 
Agreed about the office car. However, in a perfect world the CEO and management could and probably should just stay in a normal revenue bedroom and eat in the dining car to truly see what’s going on. Gunn did it, I’m sure Boardman did on occasion too when he wasn’t enjoying a ride as a train buff in the office car.

Anderson no way in ... , he probably feels it’s beneath him.
This is where it really hurts to have a CEO so disinterested in railroading. He or Gardner will never have their fingers on the pulse of Amtrak or ridership.

It would be a shame if they got rid of any of those cars, but I think the inclusion of the office cars in particular is extremely ominous. It represents a CEO and management who have absolutely no interest whatsoever in the actual services their company provides. When you haven’t even stepped foot on the long distance trains you regard as just a nuisance with little value, all you see is the gap between expenses and income on a spreadsheet. The same is true for the PVs, charter trains, and generally anything that isn’t small, efficient corridor trains. Even if they truly do want to “improve” Amtrak, that total lack of interest in the trains and routes themselves makes them think they are actually helping by cutting trains and cutting costs. This attitude also surely incentivizes messing with the accounting to support their bias against LD trains as described in RPA’s paper last year.
A
 
The Steam Railroading Institute, owners of PM 1225, have purchased two Pacific Parlor Cars, one of them being 39975 Williamette Valley (confirmed by Trains) and the other rumored to be 39970 Columbia Valley.

These cars will be leaving Beech Grove "shortly" according to the SRI spokesman and will make their way to Owosso via freight train. There haven't been any details regarding repairs or changes, but SRI hopes to have them in service in time for the annual Fall Color Tours and the October 5th 1225 excursion from Mt. Pleasant. They will also be utilized on the yearly North Pole Express trips for passengers 18+.

The new cars will be make up the new Pere Marquette Parlor-class.

http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wir...tute-acquires-two-amtrak-pacific-parlour-cars

Note: Columbia Valley was one of two PPCs used on the "final revenue run" for the class on the Coast Starlight.

Both cars can be seen in this link: http://www.rtabern.com/ppc/now.html
Thanks for the great photo story.
 
Correct.

And the Capitol Limited ride was just before the NARP meeting in Chicago.

He was very unhappy about the decreipt state of the cars. And even unhappier about being delayed by freight trains. But he said if it ran on time, it would be a good way to get from Washington to Chicago.
 
Last edited:
The Starlight incident is what cost us the PPC.

Sorry, could someone explain what the "Starlight Incident" was? There have been several that I recall. Heck, we spent 8 hours stranded in the woods of Oregon waiting for a UP tow just a few summers ago, but fortunately had a PPC and an extended wine tasting to fill the time. Got into Seattle at 2 am.
 
I am new to railroad discussions and live in the Great In-Between, so I don't know much about railroad stuff or Amtrak. I was wondering if there is one place on the internet that names all the different types of cars, their features, what lines which car types run on, and if and how often they switch out the types on a line. I am particularly interested in luggage storage in the various types of cars.
 
It was Anderson riding the train and learning how much money was being dumped into operating a museum piece.

It's hard for the PPC to pay its own way when they only stock enough JD for a single customer to order one drink across an entire multi-day run. Most of the PPC attendants never took orders outside of the counter, which dissuaded impulse sales and often meant that a potential customer couldn't order a drink or snack without the risk of losing their seat. Wine tastings plummeted in quality and were ignored or canceled at the whims of the attendant. PPC meals ranged from stale and mushy pre-plated sandwiches prepared before before departure to dried out hot entrees that could spend hours in heating trays before serving. Many passengers didn't even know what a PPC was or how to gain access to it. Amtrak had a real bonafide treasure in the PPC, and it was one of the few tangible benefits Amtrak sleeper service had over first class flights, but many of the LSA's treated it like a cushy hideaway.
 
The PPC’s were the bomb around 2005-8, the cars were packed, the dedicated PPC attendants took pride in the cars. I probably rode them 40 times mostly between LAX and SJC. Harold one of the attendants brought his own speakers would play jazz music, he studied up on wine tasting and gave a great tasting. People would buy multiple bottles they were reasonable 18-20 bucks from vineyards along the route. Nanette another attendant would do bingo and other games in addition to the wine. The cars were packed! Tour groups booked exclusively to ride the cars as well.

It all seemed to change when Mica found out Amtrak was giving out free wine. Which makes no sense to me, they didn’t take away free alcohol from Acela first class. What form of transportation doesn’t comp drinks to first class passengers? Yes, I know sleepers aren’t first class technically. (Pet peeve why does AGR give business class seats a 25% point bonus and Acela first 50% bonus but no bonus for sleepers?) I digress but it all changed after free wine went away. The dedicated attendants went away and the car was staffed by anyone and everyone. Service ranged from ok to bad.

I agree toward the end 2016-2018 half the sleeper car passengers didn’t even know the Parlour car existed as announcements were far and few between. It’s very possible Anderson saw 4 people in the car total when he rode. I was under the impression he only rode LAX to SBA but I could be wrong. The car required a marketing department (think Brian Rosenwald) that wanted it to succeed and it did in its day.
 
Last edited:
I agree toward the end 2016-2018 half the sleeper car passengers didn’t even know the Parlour car existed as announcements were far and few between. It’s very possible Anderson saw 4 people in the car total when he rode. I was under the impression he only rode LAX to SBA but I could be wrong. The car required a marketing department (think Brian Rosenwald) that wanted it to succeed and it did in its day.

Sounds about right. Glance in the car, immediately says it's a waste of money without actually seeing what it is used for or its potential.

I'll echo DA's comments about the attendants. A good attendant like Nanette would regularly advertise the bar and encourage sales. Other LSA's acted annoyed if you wanted to get a drink. Didn't they try serving espresso from the bar? How long did that last? I know I would pay dearly for a nice espresso in the morning.
 
So Amtrak is gonna get rid of the Only Dome Car they had left! That's really not what most of us want to hear, hopefully some of the new Single Level Cars (when/if they ever arrive???) will include some decent Lounge cars for the LD Routes in the East?????

The Amtrak Equipment Asset report listed Ocean View as "active" not stored. So hopefully it won't be auctioned off. It does generate a lot of business when it is added to trains in the fall. Even though it was listed as active, things could have changed since the report was released.
I believe the overall consensus on this board is that last fall was Ocean View's last run unfortunately.
 
Back
Top