Diner-lounge 37000

[frj1983]

So it is quite obvious that salary comparisons limp.

None-the-less, I agree with the many who have brought up the issue of Amtrak staff who spend many days away from home and have to sleep, eat, and work, in a rocking and rolling passenger coach, lounge, diner. That many do it and are good at it...I say God bless 'em and thanks for doing a job I would never want to do!

I just wish that Amtrak would look more at it's management and administration side. Why keep cutting your On-Board Staff when one could make Administration much more lean and save money there as well? Just my 2 cents.

 

[had8ley]

So it is quite obvious that salary comparisons limp.
None-the-less, I agree with the many who have brought up the issue of Amtrak staff who spend many days away from home and have to sleep, eat, and work, in a rocking and rolling passenger coach, lounge, diner. That many do it and are good at it...I say God bless 'em and thanks for doing a job I would never want to do!

I just wish that Amtrak would look more at it's management and administration side. Why keep cutting your On-Board Staff when one could make Administration much more lean and save money there as well? Just my 2 cents.

Well I guess I'll open a can of worms but here we go. IF some of the on board crews were grossly under paid do you not think that they would try and hustle for tips? A good example is rolling as I write. The Downeaster has a contracted caterer in the cafe car and the lady comes to your seat asking the business class people what they would like to have BEFORE leaving Portland or North Station Boston. Yes, I'm not being overly nice about some Amtrak crews but to deny that there are slouchers would be a distinct lie and anyone who denies their existence is legally blind. I have stood at cafe counters waiting in excess of five minutes while the Amtrak employee wrapped up a cell phone call. (Yes, I know what some will say; "Maybe they were ordering supplies." but I don't think they tell the commissary "I love you and I'll see you tonight.") The contract worker on the Downeaster is working for way less than any Amtrak employee. (Yes, I did ask her as I am a union member.) Just wishing there was a better way of accountability for the actions, or lack thereof, of the people who have to make 2 or 3 day journeys without being home. The LA based Sunset crew used to be on the train for a full week when they went all the way to Orlando. If you left on a Sunday evening you got back the following Sunday morning. Not the ideal way of life. Why not make the best of it and make the journey enjoyable for all including yourself ???

 

[haolerider]

So it is quite obvious that salary comparisons limp.
None-the-less, I agree with the many who have brought up the issue of Amtrak staff who spend many days away from home and have to sleep, eat, and work, in a rocking and rolling passenger coach, lounge, diner. That many do it and are good at it...I say God bless 'em and thanks for doing a job I would never want to do!

I just wish that Amtrak would look more at it's management and administration side. Why keep cutting your On-Board Staff when one could make Administration much more lean and save money there as well? Just my 2 cents.

Despite some claims on other boards, Amtrak has, in fact, cut management substantially over the past several years. Even the recent senior level staff cuts have resulted in savings, since all the positions have not been filled and departments have been merged. As far as I can see, the ratio of Amtrak management to agreement workers is on par with most major companies with nationwide operations. I know someone will bring up one particular location or department that they think needs to be cut, but that is prevelant in all major companies. Almost everyone has an axe to grind.

 

[AlanB]

Despite efforts by some in government to blame the losses in food service on the high paid workers, one simply cannot compare your average waiter/waitress to a worker in a dining car on Amtrak.

So really, an Amtrak food service worker is much like a flight attendant, in terms of schedule, job requirements, etc. According to salary figures I've seen, flight attendants start in the upper teens, but easily get to $30-$40000 after 6+ years.

That might be a slightly more favorable comparison, but even then most flight attendants go to sleep in a hotel room, not a roomette. And most flight attendants aren't basically on duty for 3 days straight.

So it is quite obvious that salary comparisons limp.

Forgive me for rearanging some of the past posts, but as I've been saying all along, there really is no favorable comparison to an Amtrak food service worker. This despite my statement that if the flight attendant salaries are what Rick reported, that the Amtrak cook is underpaid. That statement was simply made because of the huge disparity between the potential salaries.

Being an Amtrak food service worker, or for that matter a sleeping car attendant is a rather unique job. Yes, there are certain similarities between those jobs and other occupations (like a maid who makes up the beds), but there are also far too many differences to achieve any kind of a fair comparison.

Yes there are places where Amtrak can cut things, places where Amtrak wastes money, things that could be done more efficiantly. That is true of almost any large organization in today's world I believe. But it is also a proven fact that one can't cut one's way to profit. The first rule of business is that you must spend money to make money.

I for one don't believe that Amtrak will ever be able to make a profit no matter what it does. At best it could hope to cover operating expenses, but it will always need help with the capital expenses from Congress. However the only way that Amtrak has a hope of ever covering operating expenses isn't by cutting service. It needs the money and the permissions to increase service, all forms of service. That means more corridor services and more long distance services, including multiple frequencies on many of the current routes. But that means Amtrak needs the bucks right now for new equipment to replace the aging fleet and to expand the size of the fleet.

And to return to the original topic of this thread, I for one don't believe that Diner Lite is the correct answer for Amtrak. Yes there might be a few routes where Diner Lite makes sense, especially in off peak times. I could potentially see running the cars on the Cardinal, the Palmetto, and the Pennsylvanian full time, and perhaps even the Carolinian. And while I'd like to see some real numbers first, with what info I do have at hand I could perhaps see the City of NOL and the Eagle running with Diner Lite during off peaks times. But for any other route I believe that this is the wrong move.

It is interesting to note that the route that reduced it's FRA contribution the most for last fiscal year was the Empire Builder, the only route to not impliment SDS other than the Auto Train.

 

[AlanB]

Well I guess I'll open a can of worms but here we go. IF some of the on board crews were grossly under paid do you not think that they would try and hustle for tips? A good example is rolling as I write. The Downeaster has a contracted caterer in the cafe car and the lady comes to your seat asking the business class people what they would like to have BEFORE leaving Portland or North Station Boston. Yes, I'm not being overly nice about some Amtrak crews but to deny that there are slouchers would be a distinct lie and anyone who denies their existence is legally blind. I have stood at cafe counters waiting in excess of five minutes while the Amtrak employee wrapped up a cell phone call. (Yes, I know what some will say; "Maybe they were ordering supplies." but I don't think they tell the commissary "I love you and I'll see you tonight.") The contract worker on the Downeaster is working for way less than any Amtrak employee. (Yes, I did ask her as I am a union member.) Just wishing there was a better way of accountability for the actions, or lack thereof, of the people who have to make 2 or 3 day journeys without being home. The LA based Sunset crew used to be on the train for a full week when they went all the way to Orlando. If you left on a Sunday evening you got back the following Sunday morning. Not the ideal way of life. Why not make the best of it and make the journey enjoyable for all including yourself ???

I'm not sure that anyone here is denying that there are slouchers within the Amtrak organization, just like any major corporation in America. Alas there are workers out there who seen to think that they should be allowed to stand in the corner talking to their friends and get paid for it. :blink:

On the other hand, working for tips doesn't guarentee hard workers either. I've seen resturants where a waiter just didn't seem to care if he took care of me or not. Then I've seen resturants where I can even ask a waiter who's not my waiter for something and they bring it with a smile knowing full well that they won't get anything for it. It all comes down to finding the right people and properly managing those people.

Now I'll admit that the company that runs the Downeaster's service seems to have done a much better job with finding those "right" people and properly managing them. But I have seen one worker there who could use a bit of retraining, and failing that needs to be dumped off the train. On the other hand, it's a whole lot easier to achieve those goals when you have such a small organization covering such a small area. Those Downeaster employees are much easier to manage because it's a small work force and because you don't have to pay a manager to overnight someplace just to check up on them.

In closing, do I think that Amtrak can do better? Absolutely, and resoundingly YES. Will Amtrak ever be able to weed out all of the bad apples? Alas, no. But we can hope that things will continue to improve. And personally I do think that they have improved in the past few years. While I still hear reports of bad workers today, I think that I'm hearing/seeing less reports than I was 5 years ago.

 

[had8ley]

Well I guess I'll open a can of worms but here we go. IF some of the on board crews were grossly under paid do you not think that they would try and hustle for tips? A good example is rolling as I write. The Downeaster has a contracted caterer in the cafe car and the lady comes to your seat asking the business class people what they would like to have BEFORE leaving Portland or North Station Boston. Yes, I'm not being overly nice about some Amtrak crews but to deny that there are slouchers would be a distinct lie and anyone who denies their existence is legally blind. I have stood at cafe counters waiting in excess of five minutes while the Amtrak employee wrapped up a cell phone call. (Yes, I know what some will say; "Maybe they were ordering supplies." but I don't think they tell the commissary "I love you and I'll see you tonight.") The contract worker on the Downeaster is working for way less than any Amtrak employee. (Yes, I did ask her as I am a union member.) Just wishing there was a better way of accountability for the actions, or lack thereof, of the people who have to make 2 or 3 day journeys without being home. The LA based Sunset crew used to be on the train for a full week when they went all the way to Orlando. If you left on a Sunday evening you got back the following Sunday morning. Not the ideal way of life. Why not make the best of it and make the journey enjoyable for all including yourself ???

I'm not sure that anyone here is denying that there are slouchers within the Amtrak organization, just like any major corporation in America. Alas there are workers out there who seen to think that they should be allowed to stand in the corner talking to their friends and get paid for it. :blink:

On the other hand, working for tips doesn't guarentee hard workers either. I've seen resturants where a waiter just didn't seem to care if he took care of me or not. Then I've seen resturants where I can even ask a waiter who's not my waiter for something and they bring it with a smile knowing full well that they won't get anything for it. It all comes down to finding the right people and properly managing those people.

Now I'll admit that the company that runs the Downeaster's service seems to have done a much better job with finding those "right" people and properly managing them. But I have seen one worker there who could use a bit of retraining, and failing that needs to be dumped off the train. On the other hand, it's a whole lot easier to achieve those goals when you have such a small organization covering such a small area. Those Downeaster employees are much easier to manage because it's a small work force and because you don't have to pay a manager to overnight someplace just to check up on them.

In closing, do I think that Amtrak can do better? Absolutely, and resoundingly YES. Will Amtrak ever be able to weed out all of the bad apples? Alas, no. But we can hope that things will continue to improve. And personally I do think that they have improved in the past few years. While I still hear reports of bad workers today, I think that I'm hearing/seeing less reports than I was 5 years ago.

I only wish that someone at Amtrak might take a closer look at what the Downeaster company is doing right. As previously posted the short haul cafes seem to be the financial drain in Amtrak's pocket book. If they employed some of the contractor's ideas (locally made clam chowder, a wide variety of different food choices) then perhaps Amtrak could stop the needless negative flow of funds. With just four short haul round trips a day they are certainly doing something a whole lot different (and better) than Amtrak has in the past 35 years. Sure beats watching the crowd that invades the cafe car tables on Empire Service with no one to serve and no food behind the counter.

 

[Guest]

I only wish that someone at Amtrak might take a closer look at what the Downeaster company is doing right. As previously posted the short haul cafes seem to be the financial drain in Amtrak's pocket book. If they employed some of the contractor's ideas (locally made clam chowder, a wide variety of different food choices) then perhaps Amtrak could stop the needless negative flow of funds. With just four short haul round trips a day they are certainly doing something a whole lot different (and better) than Amtrak has in the past 35 years. Sure beats watching the crowd that invades the cafe car tables on Empire Service with no one to serve and no food behind the counter.

Maybe you're on to something here - outsourcing. Look how many organizations - for example, many college food services - have outsourced their food preparation. I'm not talking about having a McDiner, but maybe a nationwide table-service restaurant could figure out how to make food service profitable.

 

[had8ley]

I only wish that someone at Amtrak might take a closer look at what the Downeaster company is doing right. As previously posted the short haul cafes seem to be the financial drain in Amtrak's pocket book. If they employed some of the contractor's ideas (locally made clam chowder, a wide variety of different food choices) then perhaps Amtrak could stop the needless negative flow of funds. With just four short haul round trips a day they are certainly doing something a whole lot different (and better) than Amtrak has in the past 35 years. Sure beats watching the crowd that invades the cafe car tables on Empire Service with no one to serve and no food behind the counter.

Maybe you're on to something here - outsourcing. Look how many organizations - for example, many college food services - have outsourced their food preparation. I'm not talking about having a McDiner, but maybe a nationwide table-service restaurant could figure out how to make food service profitable.

Fred Harvey did a very succesful run at station restaurants. So much so there are actually a few left.

 

[Railbender]

All I know is that there just has to be a way to do foodservice well at reasonable prices. It can't be as difficult as it is made out to be, can it? Good restauranteurs know how to make it work...its usually either high volume at value prices or high prices for low volume, right?

Long Distance trains have follow some of the best-practices of the EB here.

 

[Guest]

All I know is that there just has to be a way to do foodservice well at reasonable prices. It can't be as difficult as it is made out to be, can it? Good restauranteurs know how to make it work...its usually either high volume at value prices or high prices for low volume, right?
Long Distance trains have follow some of the best-practices of the EB here.

The problem is that A) by the constraints of being in an 80X10 foot box you can only serve so many people at a time, and there is a limited number of people. and B) that this box requires diesel fuel to be successful, as well as staff being away from home.

Food service on a train will never, and has never, been profitable. You have little control over who you can serve to. My experience is, assuming coach riders know they can use the dining car, it is usually full or close to. The only control railroads have is over service and quality. That is what they are adjusting. Personally, I disagree with what congress and Amtrak are doing. I guess we do have to give them credit for trying though.

 

[AmtrakWPK]

Consider that running the food service in the diner on a train is the equivalent of running the food service in a regular restaurant through a continuous earthquake of between magnitude 3 and magnitude 6 with occasional jolts to magnitude 8. That's probably a rough equivalent. Next, your water supply is very limited because you carry it with you, and the electrical power supply can be tenuous. You are also more limited in space for food prep than in many if not most restaurants, and your seating area is small by most restaurant standards. Next, the restaurant staff has to live on premises at the restaurant, during the continuing earthquake conditions, and they frequently have to work much longer hours than a "40 hour week". If you are requiring your restaurant staff to be basically on duty plus on call for 48-72 hours at a time (or more, depending on the sort of turnaround you may be requiring them to make to the next train going the other direction), you're not going to be allowed to pay minimum wage, and anybody that WOULD work for that would not be able to do the job. They also have to be trained in the mechanics of this very unusual combination transportation device and food service device called a diner-on-a-train, i.e., what happens in an emergency situation, where the staff also are the "first responders" in case of a serious accident. Finally, you can't call the food supply company and arrange a delivery on an hour's notice, because the restaurant has no fixed address.

And, beyond the issue of food service and staff entirely, you also have to pay for the upkeep for all the moving parts, and for the fuel to move the diner, and for maintenance and repair on the engine that uses that fuel to move the diner. If all you had to worry about was selling and serving food, it could indeed be a whole lot cheaper.

What really gets me is that we keep having this same argument. YOU CAN'T SAY "This is just a restaurant, why is it so expensive, why can't it make money?" BECAUSE IT IS NOT "JUST A RESTAURANT". Maybe we should just ask KFC or Wendy's or McD's to build some specialized drive-through, with a really, really long pickup window every couple of hundred miles, and make coach windows that you could open.

Meals for astronauts on the orbiting space station probably cost many hundreds of thousands of dollars (if not millions) for each meal, if you consider all the costs from the original farm where the raw materials were grown/produced, to research to develop the foods, then research to develop packaging, manufacturing costs, testing for stability and shelf life, testing for safety, testing and modification for aesthetics and taste, testing for nutrition, testing and quality control costs, transportation and delivery costs (a biggie), to finally you are consuming the food on the space station. But at the point where they are actually eating it, "it's just a restaurant, why is it so expensive?".

 

[TransAtlantic]

So it is quite obvious that salary comparisons limp.

None-the-less, I agree with the many who have brought up the issue of Amtrak staff who spend many days away from home and have to sleep, eat, and work, in a rocking and rolling passenger coach, lounge, diner. That many do it and are good at it...I say God bless 'em and thanks for doing a job I would never want to do!

I just wish that Amtrak would look more at it's management and administration side. Why keep cutting your On-Board Staff when one could make Administration much more lean and save money there as well? Just my 2 cents.

Despite some claims on other boards, Amtrak has, in fact, cut management substantially over the past several years. Even the recent senior level staff cuts have resulted in savings, since all the positions have not been filled and departments have been merged. As far as I can see, the ratio of Amtrak management to agreement workers is on par with most major companies with nationwide operations. I know someone will bring up one particular location or department that they think needs to be cut, but that is prevelant in all major companies. Almost everyone has an axe to grind.

Sorry to disappoint you, but at least in the Southwest region, there has been an INCREASE in management level - a whole group totaling some two dozen individuals whose job is supposedly quality assurance, including one very "memorable" former LSA who was notorious for NEVER getting off his cellphone to help either diner staff (anyone ever have to wait 20 minutes to pay for your meal?) or passengers (likewise with the seating). Total OBS jobs have been cut, T and E jobs have increased only marginally (despite major increases in train service, even taking into account the loss of Metrolink and Coaster contracts - which, by the way, have since been resold to other organizations, as the buyers discovered what Amtrak already knew, that commuter rail does NOT produce profit); but managment level jobs in the SW Div. (especially at the LA crew base) have nearly doubled....

 

[Railbender]

Consider that running the food service in the diner on a train is the equivalent of running the food service in a regular restaurant through a continuous earthquake of between magnitude 3 and magnitude 6 with occasional jolts to magnitude 8. That's probably a rough equivalent. Next, your water supply is very limited because you carry it with you, and the electrical power supply can be tenuous. You are also more limited in space for food prep than in many if not most restaurants, and your seating area is small by most restaurant standards. Next, the restaurant staff has to live on premises at the restaurant, during the continuing earthquake conditions, and they frequently have to work much longer hours than a "40 hour week". If you are requiring your restaurant staff to be basically on duty plus on call for 48-72 hours at a time (or more, depending on the sort of turnaround you may be requiring them to make to the next train going the other direction), you're not going to be allowed to pay minimum wage, and anybody that WOULD work for that would not be able to do the job. They also have to be trained in the mechanics of this very unusual combination transportation device and food service device called a diner-on-a-train, i.e., what happens in an emergency situation, where the staff also are the "first responders" in case of a serious accident. Finally, you can't call the food supply company and arrange a delivery on an hour's notice, because the restaurant has no fixed address. And, beyond the issue of food service and staff entirely, you also have to pay for the upkeep for all the moving parts, and for the fuel to move the diner, and for maintenance and repair on the engine that uses that fuel to move the diner. If all you had to worry about was selling and serving food, it could indeed be a whole lot cheaper.

What really gets me is that we keep having this same argument. YOU CAN'T SAY "This is just a restaurant, why is it so expensive, why can't it make money?" BECAUSE IT IS NOT "JUST A RESTAURANT". Maybe we should just ask KFC or Wendy's or McD's to build some specialized drive-through, with a really, really long pickup window every couple of hundred miles, and make coach windows that you could open.

Meals for astronauts on the orbiting space station probably cost many hundreds of thousands of dollars (if not millions) for each meal, if you consider all the costs from the original farm where the raw materials were grown/produced, to research to develop the foods, then research to develop packaging, manufacturing costs, testing for stability and shelf life, testing for safety, testing and modification for aesthetics and taste, testing for nutrition, testing and quality control costs, transportation and delivery costs (a biggie), to finally you are consuming the food on the space station. But at the point where they are actually eating it, "it's just a restaurant, why is it so expensive?".

I guess I want to assure you that I am not asserting that the diner has to MAKE money. It should, however, be a draw for LD trains, not a detrement. ("I hate those diners with their cranky staff, their mediocre food, the high prices for the value, etc.") If the diners aren't packed on every run (assuming the food and service are good) I will never understand why. A $20.00 meal in the diner beats at $15.00 a la carte, platic-wrapped meal in the cafe any day. Folks don't get that. Are there commissions offered to dining car staffs based on how many meals they serve?

I want to hear more folks reason like me...

Hey, I can drive to Florida with my fighting kids, hotel stays, meals, gas, tolls, see nothing by endless interstate and billboards, etc. and wear-and-tear OR

I can fly at full price for the four of us (no kids discounts), show up at the airport 2 hours early, switch planes somewhere that may or may not happen, have no food on-flight, have flights overbooked or canceled, wait in line in the airport for expensive food OR

I can take the train, move around while moving, enjoy a beer or a glass of wine while moving, have a relaxing delicious meal while moving...see the country I am traveling through at ground level

The bottom line seems to be that if travelers feel well-cared for and see the value in their money spent they will continue to do it and tell others! Amtrak should totally be this. I can't prove it, but it seems that the Empire Builder is doing this, right?

 

[D.P. Roberts]

The bottom line seems to be that if travelers feel well-cared for and see the value in their money spent they will continue to do it and tell others! Amtrak should totally be this. I can't prove it, but it seems that the Empire Builder is doing this, right?

Part of the problem is that while the Empire Builder is doing better than other LD trains, it's still losing money - just not as quickly as the other trains.

If it's just an increase in ridership they're after, adding more LD trains on popular summer routes - or more cars to the existing trains - would do it. However, when specifically talking about the dining cars, even the EB is losing money. Railfans may point to the EB as a success story, but it still may not be the success that the people in Washington want it to be. That's what many in Congress can't stand, and why dining is specifically an area they attach strings to.

I haven't been on an LD train in Europe for many years. For those of you who have, is the dining experience similar to the EB (china, service, etc.) on most European trains? I'm just curious as to whether the Congresscritters' expectations are way off. For example, I've heard that most European countries subsidize their trains without all the fuss that goes on in our country (similar to the way we pour billions into new freeways without batting an eyelash). If their dining car costs, etc. are similar to ours, you would expect to achieve similar results here (all things being equal). In other words, maybe our government should be looking at areas of France, Germany, England, etc. that have similar population densities and rail needs, and see if we could achieve similar levels of service for similar costs, instead of blanket and arbitrary cuts.

 

[AlanB]

The bottom line seems to be that if travelers feel well-cared for and see the value in their money spent they will continue to do it and tell others! Amtrak should totally be this. I can't prove it, but it seems that the Empire Builder is doing this, right?

Part of the problem is that while the Empire Builder is doing better than other LD trains, it's still losing money - just not as quickly as the other trains.

If it's just an increase in ridership they're after, adding more LD trains on popular summer routes - or more cars to the existing trains - would do it. However, when specifically talking about the dining cars, even the EB is losing money. Railfans may point to the EB as a success story, but it still may not be the success that the people in Washington want it to be. That's what many in Congress can't stand, and why dining is specifically an area they attach strings to.

You are correct that the EB is indeed still loosing money, at least based upon the numbers provided by Amtrak. I say it that way as there are many who believe that Amtrak is sticking the LD's with extra costs that really shouldn't be allocated to the LD's. This however is not a discussion about that aspect of things.

What I do want to point out though, is that while the EB is loosing money and it is loosing less than most other routes, the most important thing to note is that since it's make over the amount of loss dropped substantially. Put another way, by not cutting services but instead improving them, the Empire Builder now looses $2.7 million dollars less than it used to. In a year where only 2 other LD's lost less than the year before (and their improvement was minor in comparison) and 11 lost more than the year before, the EB is a shining example of how to improve the LD system in such a way as to help cut the Federal subsidy required each year. The EB's revenue shot up by $6.5 Million last fiscal year, more than double the increase of the next best train the SW Chief.

For an example that shows the opposite side of things one only need to look at the Coast Starlight. Yes, upfront I'll admit that part of the CS's problems are the horrible time keeping last year, which no doubt hurt ridership. But that alone can't account for the huge increase in the annual loss that this train suffered. It's loss increased last fiscal year by $9.3 Million to $26.6 Million annually. An increase of that magnatude is without a doubt at least partly due to the cutting of service on the CS. Parlour cars that were out of service for months on end, the reduction of service in the dining car thanks to SDS. Both of these I'm sure played a role, coupled with the delay factor, to create such a tremendous increase in the loss this train now suffers from.

Yet Congress and because of it, Amtrak, are instead looking for ways to cut service which clearly based upon the EB's example, is not the correct way to cut the subsidy. According to the Amtrak official quoted in that recent ABC News Story, Amtrak has saved $15 M by going to SDS. But at what cost? The Coast Starlight now looses $9.3 Million dollars more in revenue than it used to. Yes, again, SDS isn't to blame for all of that loss. But on the other hand, the EB which did not convert to SDS, now bring in $6.5 Million revenue dollars per year more than it used to. While not quite half of that $15M, one can clearly see what the correct answer is.

But, oh wait! I'm expecting common sense and logic from those in Congress, most of whom probably never actually look at the individual numbers and only look at Amtrak's bottom line. My bad.

 

[Guest]

just to bring up an old topic, the second superliner diner/lounge, car number 37001, should be arriving on the rear of the capitol limited into washington union station in about twenty minutes. while i'm up in new york at the moment, if anyone happens to be around -- or better yet, knows of someone detraining off of #30(14) today -- please let us know if you see it.

i'm especially curious to see if anyone knows of any interior changes made from car 37000.

-- eliyahu

waterbury, ct

 

[Guest]

just to bring up an old topic, the second superliner diner/lounge, car number 37001, should be arriving on the rear of the capitol limited into washington union station in about twenty minutes. while i'm up in new york at the moment, if anyone happens to be around -- or better yet, knows of someone detraining off of #30(14) today -- please let us know if you see it.
i'm especially curious to see if anyone knows of any interior changes made from car 37000.

just to follow up, you can see a few early photos of the conversion of this car in one of chris guenzler's reports over at trainweb.com.

LINK

-- eliyahu

waterbury, ct

 

[AmtrakFan]

It came in on the Hoosier State on Sunday, I did see it, sorry no pics.