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SarahZ

SarahZ

Quality Control
Joined
May 8, 2011
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8,427
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KAL
I noticed the TE has a CCC. From the pictures I've seen, it looks like there are C-shaped booths with "regular" booths in between.

How many people do they seat at the C-shaped booths? I can't tell how many they hold. I'm thinking three?
 
The CCC is a very nice car. I had my first experience on the CL back in September. It was a very nice car to ride in. Off hand I'll take a guess that 3 can fit in the Booths you're talking about. But it's a very nice car to ride in! :)
 
The original CCC has "regular" booths seating 4 diners, alternating with the "U-shaped" booths seating 3 diners comfortably (although I've seen them fit 4 uncomfortably). Now all that I've seen (including on the TE last month) only have all 4 seat (regular) booths on the dining side. (It still had the 3 seat tables on the "lounge" side.)
 
I've been seated in one of those booths with 3 others and it was a little tight, it's been quite a while though - maybe I've been lucky.

In the past year or so that I've been on a train - usually the TE - with a CCC, twice just last week on the CONO, the larger part of the car had normal booths and there were only 4 'lounge' tables in the other part of the car and I believe only 2 of those were the c-shaped ones.

People used it as a waiting area for breakfast one time and staff used it quite a bit.
 
Okay. I was just curious. I've never been in one before. I like the U-shaped booths. :)
 
SarahZ said:
Okay. I was just curious. I've never been in one before. I like the U-shaped booths. :)
Click to expand...
Sarah... not me :eek:

Way too close for comfort - ugh!

Those booths are way too small and the tables are way to close to the seats for anyone of any size - jmo

Sitting next to one stranger on one side of a booth is bad enough but being book-ended is not for me - bleh!

I did have one of those tables to myself once on a strangely empty northbound TE - total of 8 sleeper pax and sparsely populated coaches.

Had the best LSA - Anthony Clemente - and we had a fun time swapping Chicago tales.
 
The other problem with the U shaped booths: you face the aisle. One of the best parts of the dining car is being able to look at the country fly by at 79 miles per hour while you eat. With these booths you're instead forced to look at the people across the aisle.
 
I'm kind of hoping to end up on the end, not in the middle, but we'll see. :)
 
As has been said most of the CCCs have had the "Mafia" Seats replaced with Regular 4 Seat Dining Tables on the Diner Side of the Car! The "Lounge" Part of the Car is Basically a Waste of Space! But the Major Problem with the CCCs is that when they are used as a Subsittute for a Sightseer Lounge or even a Regular Diner is Not So Much a Problem for the Passengers but for the Crew! Most OBS will tell you they really Dislike working in a CCC, both the Diner Crews and the LSA that runs the Cafe!

So you on't have have this Problem Sarah, you'll be seated 2 a Regular table for 4 in the Diner and hopefully your Trains will have a regular Sightseer Lounge Car and not a Second CCC!!! :angry:
 
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I've been in the CCC with the U-shaped tables. Generally they seat three, but I've also seen them with three adults plus one child.

My complaint is that the tabletop is very small for three or four people. I remember once sitting at one and our plates were practically overlapping.

I think it was a design with accommodating larger people in mind, but it doesn't work as well (IMHO) as the four-tops do, and they seem to have a fair amount of space. (I am not a tiny person but I feel like the table is far away from me when I sit at a four-top)
 
SarahZ said:
Hahaha... "mafia tables"... :) I love that.
Click to expand...
We call it a "mafia table" or "mafia seat" because as said if you're in the middle seat, you're facing the aisle. If you want to look out the window, you don't just have to turn you head or eyes, you need to turn your whole body - because the window is in BACK of you!
And there is barely enough room for all the plates and other things (salt, pepper, sugar, salad dressings, etc...) at those tables for 3 people. Let alone seating for 3 people! :eek:

I for one do not miss them. And I think many passengers would also agree!
 
While several have called the four person booths "regular", I would not call them that. The table starts narrow at the end and gets wider towards the window. I really dislike this. If you sit on the isle seat, you feel way too far away from the table.
 
printman2000 said:
While several have called the four person booths "regular", I would not call them that. The table starts narrow at the end and gets wider towards the window. I really dislike this. If you sit on the isle seat, you feel way too far away from the table.
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I didn't notice that. (The pictures I saw are from the aisle perspective, not above the tables.) I thought they were "regular" four-tops like the tables in the Superliner diners.
 
When the CCC's first came out some years ago, there was a large cry out from AU folks who had used them about how bad they thought they were. The person with their back to the window couldn't see out very well. They were cramped. The style didn't look good on a train, etc, etc.

Interesting now that many seem to like them!
 
SarahZ said:
printman2000 said:
While several have called the four person booths "regular", I would not call them that. The table starts narrow at the end and gets wider towards the window. I really dislike this. If you sit on the isle seat, you feel way too far away from the table.
Click to expand...
I didn't notice that. (The pictures I saw are from the aisle perspective, not above the tables.) I thought they were "regular" four-tops like the tables in the Superliner diners.
Click to expand...
If you look at Google images for pics, you can see some that show it. I think the booth seats are also angled a bit, but it still makes for a long reach to the table.
 
the_traveler said:
The original CCC has "regular" booths seating 4 diners, alternating with the "U-shaped" booths seating 3 diners comfortably (although I've seen them fit 4 uncomfortably). Now all that I've seen (including on the TE last month) only have all 4 seat (regular) booths on the dining side. (It still had the 3 seat tables on the "lounge" side.)
Click to expand...
On the CL last week I saw we had a 'diner-lounge' that had nothing but four-seat booths, was that the fate of the CCCs? As a fellow of large size I dreaded those three-seat booths.
 
MrFSS said:
When the CCC's first came out some years ago, there was a large cry out from AU folks who had used them about how bad they thought they were. The person with their back to the window couldn't see out very well. They were cramped. The style didn't look good on a train, etc, etc.

Interesting now that many seem to like them!
Click to expand...
I do have to agree with having my back to a window. But that's my only complaint.
 
ALC_Rail_Writer said:
the_traveler said:
The original CCC has "regular" booths seating 4 diners, alternating with the "U-shaped" booths seating 3 diners comfortably (although I've seen them fit 4 uncomfortably). Now all that I've seen (including on the TE last month) only have all 4 seat (regular) booths on the dining side. (It still had the 3 seat tables on the "lounge" side.)
Click to expand...
On the CL last week I saw we had a 'diner-lounge' that had nothing but four-seat booths, was that the fate of the CCCs? As a fellow of large size I dreaded those three-seat booths.
Click to expand...
Yes, that's the current fate of the CCC. Until they get them redone to Diners (yeah sure), a CCC will have 4 seaters on the dining side. (They still may have the 3 seat booths on the "lounge" side for a while though.)
 
I had my first experince with this last June when we were returning from FL and rode the CL between DC and CHI, and I didn't like it.. The tables are very odd, and I don't see how anyone came up with that table lay out..

It really made the dinning car better on regular Superliner Dinner car.
 
I once was seated at a U shaped booth with 2 others and actually really liked it. I think then design of the CCC cars is awesome and reminds me of the ACL dining cars (they had booths facing the aisle too... Different design but similar).

I'm not sure why the crews would complain? The kitchen is the same correct? I think it's smart to change the booths to all 4 tops, but as is the car is a lovely design in my opinion.
 
As stated by Jim, Dave and others, the old CCC configuration is no more on the Texas Eagle. When I rode from STL to CHI for the Gathering last month, it was a surprise that the basic four seat booths were back, but only on the side they serve dinner in. The other side was only used by the staff, conductors, etc to do paperwork and take a break. :eek:
 
MiRider said:
I've been seated in one of those booths with 3 others and it was a little tight, it's been quite a while though - maybe I've been lucky.

In the past year or so that I've been on a train - usually the TE - with a CCC, twice just last week on the CONO, the larger part of the car had normal booths and there were only 4 'lounge' tables in the other part of the car and I believe only 2 of those were the c-shaped ones.

People used it as a waiting area for breakfast one time and staff used it quite a bit.
Click to expand...
I rode the CONO in June and that's what it had at that time, also.
 
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