Caboose Diner?

[MrMattyMatt]

About 25 years ago (yikes!) I roade the California Zephyr and there was a "Caboose" diner reserved for sleeper passengers only. I am pretty sure this was on from Chicago - Salt Lake City. Do they do this anymore? I thought it was pretty cool.

 

[Ryan]

Not anymore, sorry...

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

What is a caboose diner?

 

[MrMattyMatt]

Just an extra Superliner Diner at the end of the train

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

If it was during pre-Superliner days you may have experienced a Dome Diner. I know Union Pacific had some in their fleet and how many ended up going to Amtrak I'm not sure right off hand without pulling old fleet guides.

 

[zephyr17]

I'm not sure, but I don't think Amtrak acquired any of the UP dome diners. They were expensive to operate. Even UP had stopped using them in 1970. I don't think Amtrak picked up all the many of the UP domes of any type (they had Dome-Lounges, Dome-Coaches, as well as the diners. Though they resembled Budd domes, they were ACFs). A lot went to the the Auto-Train (which was NOT an Amtrak operation then), another bunch of dome-coaches went to the Alaska Railroad, where they still run.

The Amtrak CZ did operate with 2 Superliner diners during the mid-80s through Colorado, I used it. I think one was the diner off the Desert Wind which they operated through for awhile instead of turning it in Salt Lake. Of course, was cut off in Salt Lake City and went to LA.

Pre-Superliner, there was no Amtrak CZ, which started in 1983. Prior to that, it was the San Francisco Zephyr which operated via Wyoming and Ogden, although in later years, it did go from Ogden to Salt Lake and went west via the old WP south of the lake instead of the Lucin Cutoff. I think it was because the flooding problems they were having on the Lucin Cutoff in the early 80s.

 

[railiner]

I'm not sure, but I don't think Amtrak acquired any of the UP dome diners. They were expensive to operate. Even UP had stopped using them in 1970. I don't think Amtrak picked up all the many of the UP domes of any type (they had Dome-Lounges, Dome-Coaches, as well as the diners. Though they resembled Budd domes, they were ACFs). A lot went to the the Auto-Train (which was NOT an Amtrak operation then), another bunch of dome-coaches went to the Alaska Railroad, where they still run.
The Amtrak CZ did operate with 2 Superliner diners during the mid-80s through Colorado, I used it. I think one was the diner off the Desert Wind which they operated through for awhile instead of turning it in Salt Lake. Of course, was cut off in Salt Lake City and went to LA.

Pre-Superliner, there was no Amtrak CZ, which started in 1983. Prior to that, it was the San Francisco Zephyr which operated via Wyoming and Ogden, although in later years, it did go from Ogden to Salt Lake and went west via the old WP south of the lake instead of the Lucin Cutoff. I think it was because the flooding problems they were having on the Lucin Cutoff in the early 80s.

I agree with your history. I will add that the diners were never exclusively for sleeping car passengers. The original CZ did carry a coffee shop car, which was popular with coach passengers, but they were welcome to patronize the diner as well.

During the era when the Amtrak CZ carried two diners, there was no designation as a coach diner or a sleeping car diner. They were both open to all passengers. The crew refered to them as the "Chicago Diner", which ran from Chicago to or from Oakland, and the "L A Diner" which ran from Chicago to or from Los Angeles and the Desert Wind.

The Pioneer's diner or lounge-diner did not go thru to Chicago, but only from Denver or Salt Lake City, depending where the train was switched out.

 

[MrMattyMatt]

All I remember is that as a sleeping car passenger, I was told to use the Caboose diner. I guess it wasn't exclusive, I made an assumption.

 

[railiner]

All I remember is that as a sleeping car passenger, I was told to use the Caboose diner. I guess it wasn't exclusive, I made an assumption.

I never heard of the Desert Wind diner refered to as the "Caboose Diner", but since the "Chicago Diner" and "L A Diner" names were not 'official' either, but rather refered to which crew base happened to staff them, I suppose different staff had different ways to differentiate them to passengers.

 

[jphjaxfl]

The original California Zephyr had a dome lounge car known as the "Cable Car Lounge". It was toward the front of the train and served mainly coach passengers. It was a straight 24 seat dome similar to the dome coaches but was a lounge that served sandwiches and snacks. The carpet looked like cable car tracks in San Francisco. I think Amtrak bought some of these cars, but believe they were modified so they weren't cable car theme anymore. The Denver Zephyr also had a dome lounge known as the "Chuckwagon Lounge". These two cars were very similar to the "Cable Car Lounges" except they were built 8 years later and had a western theme. They were toward the front of the train and served light meals to coach passengers. These cars did operate on Amtrak for a while, but onlty operated on single level trains.

 

[railiner]

The original California Zephyr had a dome lounge car known as the "Cable Car Lounge". It was toward the front of the train and served mainly coach passengers. It was a straight 24 seat dome similar to the dome coaches but was a lounge that served sandwiches and snacks. The carpet looked like cable car tracks in San Francisco. I think Amtrak bought some of these cars, but believe they were modified so they weren't cable car theme anymore. The Denver Zephyr also had a dome lounge known as the "Chuckwagon Lounge". These two cars were very similar to the "Cable Car Lounges" except they were built 8 years later and had a western theme. They were toward the front of the train and served light meals to coach passengers. These cars did operate on Amtrak for a while, but onlty operated on single level trains.

Yes....those were the cars I had meant, when I described them as "coffee shop cars"....