Pullman Rail Journeys

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ciship

Service Attendant
Joined
May 4, 2004
Messages
164
Is there a forum page somewhere where I can ask about the Pullman Rail Journey cars from Chicago to New Orleans? I really want to understand and "visualize" the berth upper and lower compartments and have questions about it. I've only been able to find a couple of images of them and people are always in the way in the photos from me viewing it. I also don't understand the daytime set up. If I travel alone and only have an upper berth, does that mean I will be sitting with a stranger during the day? Does anyone know? Also, can people just come down the aisle and stare at you while you're sleeping or is there a curtain or something for privacy.

I have also searched YouTube for a possible video of the berths........sigh........help!!
 
There are curtains for privacy. Heavy curtains at that.

During the daytime on Pullman everyone is always in the lounge... Theoretically if you were booked in an actual berth on a sold out train your daytime space would be shared with a stranger. However In my experience on Pullman, I was upgraded to a private room, and I feel like that is the norm. They only have one sleeper with actual open sections, so it seems they usually run with cars with bedrooms.
 
In a section sleeper (upper & lower berths), during the day there are two facing seats seat each wide enough for two persons. The two seats were separated by a metal wall from the set of seats in front and back of you. They were open to the aisle. One seat belonged to the lower berth and the other to the upper. So, theorectically, you could be seated across from a stranger.

At night the seats slide down to form the lower bed and the upper flops down from the ceiling much as a superliner roomette. You climb to the top via a movable ladder; and a heavy curtain separated you from the aisle.

I remember the matresses being much larger and plusher than Amtrak's. But then my last section sleeper experience was on the Gulf Coast Rebel in 1956. So my perception of size may be distorted.

In old movies, it it was a comedy, the characters rode section sleepers and were always sticking their head out the curtain. If it was a drama, they had a drawing room and usually didn't want to be disturbed.

Oops: I did ride a section sleeper abord the Ocean Limited from Montreal to Halifax in 1985.
 
I rode in an upper berth on the Canadian from Vancouver to Toronto last February. There was someone else in the lower berth each night, and, in theory, I would sit across from him/her (with me facing backwards, as that is the "rule" for riders in open sections). But, in practice, I spent most of my day hours in the observation lounge car or the dining car. And if Pullman Rail Journeys has their dome and observation car in your consist, I suspect that you will spend most of your ride in those places, also.
 
After googling and looking at the pictures, it pretty much looks like a roomette with curtains instead of a hard physical wall and door. If you rip the walls out of the superliner roommettes and replace them with curtains, and you pretty much have the same thing it looks like.
 
You are correct for night time. But the staff put the curtains away during the daytime, so there is no "privacy" when the berths are put away. The mattresses in the Canadian's sections are substantially wider and thicker than the mattresses in Amtrak sleepers.
 
In old movies, it it was a comedy, the characters rode section sleepers and were always sticking their head out the curtain. If it was a drama, they had a drawing room and usually didn't want to be disturbed.
And in The Three Stooges when they were riding a train with circus employees, the bearded lady helped all 3 boys get into the upper berth that they were sharing, at times with a lion that had gotten out of his cage in the baggage car.
 
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There are curtains for privacy. Heavy curtains at that.

During the daytime on Pullman everyone is always in the lounge... Theoretically if you were booked in an actual berth on a sold out train your daytime space would be shared with a stranger. However In my experience on Pullman, I was upgraded to a private room, and I feel like that is the norm. They only have one sleeper with actual open sections, so it seems they usually run with cars with bedrooms.
Yes, I've thought of booking the open, since I think most of the time, they will simply put you in a roomette or bedroom. However, now it looks like they have scaled back on the equipment; there is basically nothing open for 2014. They used to seemingly take all comers and add on stock as demand warranted. I am guessing that more passengers cost them more in losses.
 
From what I have gathered anything beyond 2 extra cars required an extra (second in this case) locomotive from Amtrak... apparently Amtrak is not always willing / able to provide an extra locomotive so that limits when they can add more than 2 cars.

Of course many of the fall departures could be with full 4 car consists... Pullman has been getting some great advertising lately on TV and such so hopefully things are picking up for them.

If they could find a route with a single host railroad, who is agreeable... it seems that running with their own train and consist may be the best bet in the future (indeed that is what they are doing in late August running from Chicago to Spring Green Wisconsin).
 
You are correct for night time. But the staff put the curtains away during the daytime, so there is no "privacy" when the berths are put away. The mattresses in the Canadian's sections are substantially wider and thicker than the mattresses in Amtrak sleepers.
Ed Ellis of Iowa Pacific has said that he thinks the open berths have the best beds.
 
If they could find a route with a single host railroad, who is agreeable... it seems that running with their own train and consist may be the best bet in the future (indeed that is what they are doing in late August running from Chicago to Spring Green Wisconsin).
CHI-MSP, perhaps? That second run courtesy of CP and Iowa Pacific?
 
Oh, interesting. They're now putting musicians on the trains. I tried to sell one of their head representatives on that possibility a couple of years ago, and offered booking suggestions/possibilities. I was politely but summarily brushed off, being told this was something that just would not work within the contexts of how they operate. (At best, perhaps an occasional band playing before departure might be an outside possibility, he said.) Yet, what they're now doing seems to be PRECISELY what I promoted. Well, at least some of my friends and colleagues are getting work out of it. I'll have to ask them how it's going and for more details about the arrangement.
 
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After googling and looking at the pictures, it pretty much looks like a roomette with curtains instead of a hard physical wall and door. If you rip the walls out of the superliner roommettes and replace them with curtains, and you pretty much have the same thing it looks like.
IIRC, toward the end of Pullman open section newbuild's, they did experiment with some sort of sliding door arrangement for the section's, instead of the traditional heavy curtains....not sure how many there were of those, or where they were regularly run. Or even if they later reverted them back to curtain's.....
 
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