Capitol Limited sightseer lounge question

On the Amtrak website schedule for the capial limited, it states the sightseer lounge is seasonal. Is this correct and and if so, when is it not part of the consist? Just booked a trip and was looking for details of my trip and i noticed this which I was not aware of.

Where does it say that it's seasonal? The Sightseer Lounge is in the consist year round.

on the pdf schedule: https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/projects/dotcom/english/public/documents/timetables/Capitol-Limited-Schedule-060118.pdf

Actually come to think of it, I haven't seen a CL consist since the new dining system. It might just be operating with a Diner Lite these days & a seasonal SSL...

peter

PerRock said:

on the pdf schedule: https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/projects/dotcom/english/public/documents/timetables/Capitol-Limited-Schedule-060118.pdf

Actually come to think of it, I haven't seen a CL consist since the new dining system. It might just be operating with a Diner Lite these days & a seasonal SSL...

peter

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Nope. That is not the case. The consist has not changed at all since contemporary dining was implemented. It's just the use of the CCC that has changed, and not the equipment.

I was on it in early June, it had a CCC and an SSL, using the new dining format. My half dozen or so trips are by no means definitive, but I've never ridden a CL without an SSL.

I know the operation of the SSL was seasonal at one time. The Diner-Lounge (aka Cross Country Cafe style) was the single food service car with a single LSA handling the Dining Car money and serving the Cafe food from the counter of the Diner-Lounge car.

I'm pretty sure each time I rode the Capitol during that time the physical SSL car was still in the consist though, just unstaffed. (Like the current operation on the City of New Orleans).

I'm looking at several videos of the CL this summer, and it has an SSL in all of them. To my knowledge, all long distance Superliner routes (other than the Auto Train) are supposed to have SSLs year round. Every once in a while a car might be bad-ordered, but all those routes are always supposed to have a Sightseer.

cpotisch said:

I'm looking at several videos of the CL this summer, and it has an SSL in all of them. To my knowledge, all long distance Superliner routes (other than the Auto Train) are supposed to have SSLs year round. Every once in a while a car might be bad-ordered, but all those routes are always supposed to have a Sightseer.

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Well it would be the winter season that the SSL cars would be taken off the train.

crescent-zephyr said:

cpotisch said:

I'm looking at several videos of the CL this summer, and it has an SSL in all of them. To my knowledge, all long distance Superliner routes (other than the Auto Train) are supposed to have SSLs year round. Every once in a while a car might be bad-ordered, but all those routes are always supposed to have a Sightseer.

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Well it would be the winter season that the SSL cars would be taken off the train.

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Yes, however I was primarily thinking of and responding to PerRock's post:

PerRock said:

Actually come to think of it, I haven't seen a CL consist since the new dining system. It might just be operating with a Diner Lite these days & a seasonal SSL...

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I was just considering the presence/absence of the car itself, not whether or not the lower level was used as cafe, or the other half (non diner half) of the CCC.

There have been a few times that the Sightseer Lounge was not part of the consist on our CL trips. Jan 2015 comes to mind. That was several years ago in the winter months and the CCC diner was part of the consist.. used by coach passengers for sandwiches, etc on the one side of the car. So there have been times that this has occurred.

The "available seasonally" verbage has been on the schedule since at least 2015. It doesn't appear to be an addition because of the new meal service.

If I remember correctly, sometimes there's no SSL during parts of January and February on the Capitol. Maybe that's what it's referring to?

For whatever it may be worth, I have been on the Cap within the last several years when it had no SSL. It was sometime in the winter.

Yeah that "seasonal" verbiage has been around for a while.

I have the pleasure of having my office window look out over the Metropolitan Branch, so I see the CL pass by twice a day. In the winter, it's an abbreviated consist, with usually one P-42, two coaches, a diner, and two sleepers. It doesn't carry a baggage car or the SSL. I call it the "Limited Limited".

Does anyone know whether the Capitol Limited has its Sightseer Lounge back again, or if it will with the resumption of daily service?

I've got a trip upcoming in June and was curious if the Sightseer Lounge would be in the consist.

As far as I know the Capitol Limited still doesn't have a sightseer car. Same with the Texas Eagle. A shame

I'm riding the Capitol Limited in July and this is a bit of a disappointment.

I agree. We've booked a trip out East on the Empire Builder and the Capitol Limited in mid-June, and the flex meals all across the country coupled with no SSL on the Capitol Limited is taking some of the fun out of the trip. We initially booked a return trip by train with our 9 year old granddaughter for her first big train trip, but we've cancelled it and will be flying instead with her. We want her first trip to be memorable, and these downgrades don't fit with that idea. Maybe next summer...

Gee,Amtrak are you listening? Capitol Limited...Continued Flex dining,no sightseer car,high sleeper prices. Great way to discourage travel. I normally use it West out of Pittsburgh to connect to a Western train in Coach

It is quite unlikely that Amtrak is actively listening to anything posted on this web site anymore. There was a time when they were more proactive. There is no evidence that that is the case any more.

Instead of, or at least in addition to venting here, please get in touch directly with Amtrak and their paymasters.

I honestly think they don't care what the passengers think. When flex dining was introduced in June 2018 there was a huge outcry,petitions,writing to influential people,etc and what was the result? Flex dining on every Eastern train in October 2019. This was BEFORE the pandemic.

The only reason traditional dining is returning on the Western trains is the overwhelming negativity and Amtrak can rationalize these are two night trains and the flex dining remains on the one over night trains. If nobody complained,I am certain flex dining would have continued.

As far as the SSL cars I have a feeling they will never return on the TE and CL no matter what we do...and now we are dealing with sky high sleeper prices that most people can't afford or think they aren't worth the high price,considering all the alternatives.

I have been a faithful Amtrak rider for over 30 years taking a long cross country train-cation every year,but I will not pay $900 for a roomette between Chicago and LA. Obviously,some people will and that's who Amtrak is catering to.

They continue to actively and intentionally work to kill LD trains. I have seen no evidence that they have made any attempt (without pressure) to improve service but have made multiple attempts to make it less desirable.

I no longer attribute the moves they have made to incompetence. It has to be deliberate. I made a major effort to book my LD trip and made as much of an effort to totally undo it, besides having to make and delete the train reservation. If they have not significantly improved things by September, I have no qualms about flying first class at lower cost even though it's service has deteriorated because it has not gone down as much as Amtrak , the reservation process is easier, the onboard crew is more reliably nice (at least in FC), the waiting time through TSA is much reduced, the planes are just as fast, and the cost is less.

Amtrak management doesn't want its LD customers and cares nothing about them. Simple as that.

They appear to be following Espee's handbook for driving off unwanted passengers. Ben Biaggini would be proud.

jis said:

It is quite unlikely that Amtrak is actively listening to anything posted on this web site anymore.

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Did they ever?

Cal said:

Did they ever?

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Well. Someone who played a significant role in the AGR program before he left Amtrak was deeply involved in this forum. At various points the CEO’s right hand man was generally a silent observer in this forum. I believe he is still around but more or less retired. There were several other senior folks who were members. One of the guys who worked on the iPhone e-ticket scanning app was here. None of them I believe are at Amtrak anymore. And yes they did listen and acted on many things, and some even explained how their hands were tied by an inept Congress and Board too.

too bad the younger generation missed all that. They were some fun times.