Coast Starlight Without Pacific Parlour Car

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dbfrese

Train Attendant
Joined
Nov 20, 2018
Messages
22
My wife and I have never been on an Amtrak train before, and we are going "all in" in June with a trip on the SL from Maricopa to Los Angeles, then LA to Seattle on the CS. With the PPC gone, are first class passengers allowed to use the "lounge" in the transition sleeper? I also read (maybe somewhere on this forum) that they have added a second dining car for first class passengers to use as a lounge? Is this true, and if so, is it being done consistently?

I understand that the Sightseer Lounge is often filled with squatters, and it might be hard to get a seat most of the time. 
 
Based on my first/last/only trip in a roomette in the dorm car 18 months ago, the 'lounge' area was a wide-open vacant space about 8 ft x 20 ft, if memory serves.
 
My wife and I have never been on an Amtrak train before, and we are going "all in" in June with a trip on the SL from Maricopa to Los Angeles, then LA to Seattle on the CS. With the PPC gone, are first class passengers allowed to use the "lounge" in the transition sleeper? I also read (maybe somewhere on this forum) that they have added a second dining car for first class passengers to use as a lounge? Is this true, and if so, is it being done consistently?

I understand that the Sightseer Lounge is often filled with squatters, and it might be hard to get a seat most of the time. 
There is only one dining car and passengers are not allowed to use the (small and unimpressive) crew lounge on the lower level of the Trans-Dorm. So I don't know where you heard that there are two diners or that passengers can relax in the crew dorm, but it is definitely not true.
 
Okay, thanks for the info. I've spent quite a few months lurking here before joining in on the fun. There certainly is a wealth of information here fom the members. 
 
4 tables? Sounds luxurious!

Granted I don't spend much time in a dorm, but the only ones I've seen only have 2 tables.
Well I definitely saw four on the Eagle. The Trans-Dorms' layouts can vary a fair bit, right? As I understand it, some still have an H room, some don't; some have typical bathrooms, others have a combined shower and toilet bathroom; etc. 
 
Well I definitely saw four on the Eagle. The Trans-Dorms' layouts can vary a fair bit, right? As I understand it, some still have an H room, some don't; some have typical bathrooms, others have a combined shower and toilet bathroom; etc. 
What?  There still exists some variety in a (mostly) standardized fleet?   How refreshing!    :)

Would like to see some 'comparo' photo's of the differences, if anyone has some to post....
 
I rode the CS from Los Angeles to Portland and then back home again in May. We mostly stayed in our roomette other than the dining car, but did occasionally go to the sightseer lounge and found seats every time.
 
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