PPC Bathrooms?

Did the Pacific Parlour Cars have bathrooms on the lower level? I rode the cars several times before they were retired but can't remember.

No.  But in their original Santa Fe configuration I am pretty sure they had restrooms downstairs opposite the Kachina Coffee Shop (what became the theater).

Guest steve _w said:

Did the Pacific Parlour Cars have bathrooms on the lower level? I rode the cars several times before they were retired but can't remember.

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zephyr17 said:

No.  But in their original Santa Fe configuration I am pretty sure they had restrooms downstairs opposite the Kachina Coffee Shop (what became the theater).

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Not quite. They actually had restrooms on the upper level. Since the coaches had no lower level seating, passengers with mobility limitations were seated upstairs in a special reserved section near this entrance of the lounge car. They still had to negotiate the stairs when boarding and detraining, but once on board they could complete their trip without any further "up and down."

See floor plan on page 45.

ehbowen said:

Not quite. They actually had restrooms on the upper level. Since the coaches had no lower level seating, passengers with mobility limitations were seated upstairs in a special reserved section near this entrance of the lounge car. They still had to negotiate the stairs when boarding and detraining, but once on board they could complete their trip without any further "up and down."

See floor plan on page 45.

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What if you were in a wheelchair though?

Years ago, there wasn’t anything like ADA. Not even little things like curb cuts! :mellow:

cpotisch said:

What if you were in a wheelchair though?

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the_traveler said:

Years ago, there wasn’t anything like ADA. Not even little things like curb cuts! :mellow:

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The Traveler is right. Now if you were in a wheelchair I'm sure that the employees would have bent over backwards to help you (I've seen film of porters physically lifting wheelchairs aboard up the vestibule steps), but you wouldn't have been able to travel aboard the El Capitan. You would either need a bedroom on the Super Chief or, if all you could afford was coach, travel on the Grand Canyon or on a competing Union Pacific train. And you would most likely have needed a traveling companion available to assist with a bedpan as the toilets were not accessible either on any of the trains.

ehbowen said:

The Traveler is right. Now if you were in a wheelchair I'm sure that the employees would have bent over backwards to help you (I've seen film of porters physically lifting wheelchairs aboard up the vestibule steps), but you wouldn't have been able to travel aboard the El Capitan. You would either need a bedroom on the Super Chief or, if all you could afford was coach, travel on the Grand Canyon or on a competing Union Pacific train. And you would most likely have needed a traveling companion available to assist with a bedpan as the toilets were not accessible either on any of the trains.

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Just did some checking. "Blind and attendant" was a valid discount fare on secondary trains in the pre-Amtrak era but I can't find a corresponding category for the physically handicapped unless you qualified as Disabled Volunteer Soldier or Veterans Army Hospital. Unless you were fortunate enough to have an inheritance or well-to-do relatives it looks as if you were pretty much stuck.