Pacific Parlour Car Temporary Withdrawal

[Ryan]

 

[PRR 60]

I chose not to play. As everyone knows from a certain member's signature, I have no sense of humor.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

I chose not to play. As everyone know from a certain member's signature, I have no sense of humor.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

If using your brain is asking to much, then don't play along. No soup for you!

Nobody actually deciphered TR's half-baked riddle. You simply edited the post you quoted to make it seem like someone had reached an educated conclusion as what you were rambling on about. Maybe if you put some actual effort into a real brain teaser it would be worth the effort.

If given the choice between no information and coded information I will choose the latter every time. I rather enjoy the riddles and discussion anyway, what is a forum for if not talking? If I wanted it spelled out I'd wait for the press release.

This information was already spelled out and spoon fed to us in a press release. Nothing new was disseminated in this latest charade from a self-flattering insider.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

If using your brain is asking to much, then don't play along. No soup for you!

Nobody actually deciphered TR's half-baked riddle. You simply edited the post you quoted to make it seem like someone had reached an educated conclusion as what you were rambling on about. Maybe if you put some actual effort into a real brain teaser it would be worth the effort.

If given the choice between no information and coded information I will choose the latter every time. I rather enjoy the riddles and discussion anyway, what is a forum for if not talking? If I wanted it spelled out I'd wait for the press release.

This information was already spelled out and spoon fed to us in a press release. Nothing new was disseminated in this latest charade from a self-flattering insider.

I think many of us knew what TR7 was saying, at least I did. Just because we didn't post doesn't mean we didn't know.I enjoy the way s/he informs us of upcoming happenings.

Reason for the riddles? Probably because s/he knows of plans that are in the works but also knows those plans may get pushed out by unanticipated happenings.

 

[keelhauled]

This information was already spelled out and spoon fed to us in a press release. Nothing new was disseminated in this latest charade from a self-flattering insider.

Was it? Perhaps you could have linked to it and saved us all this fuss, because all I see is a Facebook group post that said mid-March...a private Facebook post is hardly what I would call a press release, and given Amtrak's history of missing similar deadlines I don't know why anyone would take the date as gospel more than four months after it was posted.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I think many of us knew what TR7 was saying, at least I did. Just because we didn't post doesn't mean we didn't know.

In that case please walk me through the process of decoding "Beware the Ides of March" into "All's well on the Pacific Front."

This information was already spelled out and spoon fed to us in a press release.

Was it? Perhaps you could have linked to it and saved us all this fuss, because all I see is a Facebook group post that said mid-March...a private Facebook post is hardly what I would call a press release, and given Amtrak's history of missing similar deadlines I don't know why anyone would take the date as gospel more than four months after it was posted.

Link: https://www.amtrak.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=am/AM_Snippet_C/IBRoutes&Route=Coast%20Starlight

From January 6, 2017 to mid-March 2017, the Pacific Parlour Car will be available only on Friday departures from Los Angeles (Train 14) and on Sunday departures only from Seattle (Train 11).

Although it is not written in the affirmative I interpreted this statement to mean all available cars would be returning on or around mid-March. In other words, the exception proves the rule.

 

[Tennessee Traveler]

Quite simply, the PPC's are expected to return to normal service ANY DAY NOW!

 

[KnightRail]

If using your brain is asking to much, then don't play along. No soup for you!

Nobody actually deciphered TR's half-baked riddle. You simply edited the post you quoted to make it seem like someone had reached an educated conclusion as what you were rambling on about. Maybe if you put some actual effort into a real brain teaser it would be worth the effort.
This information was already spelled out and spoon fed to us in a press release. Nothing new was disseminated in this latest charade from a self-flattering insider.

Thanks for providing your Alternative Facts.

Timeline:

Press Release indicating the cars would return Mid-March, no specific date was given.

A post was made indicating that an important date would be the "Ides of March" in a thread about Parlour Car withdrawal. Fairly common knowledge to some people what that is probably from high school Literature. If that wasn't familiar to a reader taking five seconds to plug "Ides of March" into a search engine would reveal that is March 15. 'Bing' even gives a countdown of how many days till then as the top hit.

The post immediately following got it and asked "Does this mean full Parlour service will return on March 15?"

A post was made to affirmin this and stop any further unnecessary guessing or speculation.

Mixed in there were posts indirectly and directly labeling members as "attention seeking" and "self-flattering".

Instead of labeling people maybe you should get yourself a label maker. Printing labels would be much more productive then spreading hate.

 

[ScouseAndy]

I saw Ides of march linked with PPC and immediately thought **** they are retiring them permanently from the 15th but then I've always linked bad news to the ides of March not good news

 

[jis]

Maybe it is time for this entire Ides of March subthread to move over to Random Discussion?

 

[PRR 60]

If using your brain is asking to much, then don't play along. No soup for you!

Nobody actually deciphered TR's half-baked riddle. You simply edited the post you quoted to make it seem like someone had reached an educated conclusion as what you were rambling on about. Maybe if you put some actual effort into a real brain teaser it would be worth the effort.
This information was already spelled out and spoon fed to us in a press release. Nothing new was disseminated in this latest charade from a self-flattering insider.

Thanks for providing your Alternative Facts.

Timeline:

Press Release indicating the cars would return Mid-March, no specific date was given.

A post was made indicating that an important date would be the "Ides of March" in a thread about Parlour Car withdrawal. Fairly common knowledge to some people what that is probably from high school Literature. If that wasn't familiar to a reader taking five seconds to plug "Ides of March" into a search engine would reveal that is March 15. 'Bing' even gives a countdown of how many days till then as the top hit.

The post immediately following got it and asked "Does this mean full Parlour service will return on March 15?"

A post was made to affirmin this and stop any further unnecessary guessing or speculation.

Mixed in there were posts indirectly and directly labeling members as "attention seeking" and "self-flattering".

Instead of labeling people maybe you should get yourself a label maker. Printing labels would be much more productive then spreading hate.

The comment had nothing to do with whether some people "got it." The issue is the entertainment value, or lack of same, of using some unrelated reference as a means of communicating a fact rather than just stating the fact, and the reasons for doing that.. For those who think it is fun to present facts in the form of a puzzle that needs to be deciphered: good for them. For those would rather have simple facts presented as simple facts: join the club.

 

[SanDiegan]

Just saw four PPC sitting at 8th Street yard on my way to work in L.A. this morning. Hope they are on trains by the time I'm on 14 a week from today !

 

[Seaboard92]

Sometimes certain members have to use a coding to put a message out. So that our jobs aren't at risk. Even me personally I have posted in code about certain items.

 

[jis]

da dit da dit dit da da dit dit da da da dit dit da dit da da da da dit dit dit da?

Morse code OK?

 

[PaulM]

I always thought "Ides of March" symbolized betrayal.

 

[PVD]

Only because of the line "Beware the ides of March" in Shakespeare's Julius Caeser

 

[jis]

Beware the Ides of March!

 

[Ryan]

The comment had nothing to do with whether some people "got it."

Literally the first sentence of Chris' comment was about if some people "got it".

Despite your seeming personal opposition to it, I'm glad that you allow this forum continues to be different than the various other overly-serious overly-moderated forums on the planet. This place is unique in it's balance between levity and on-topic-ness (I'm pretty sure that's not a word), and I hope that it will continue on this path in the future.

 

[chakk]

da dit da dit dit da da dit dit da da da dit dit da dit da da da da dit dit dit da?

Morse code OK?

Morse code is fine with me. Learned it from my father more than 60 years ago. He gave me a quarter as a performance reward when I could successfully receive and transmit 5 words per minute.

Spent many an evening transcribing 5-character strings transmited via shortwave to our basement radio receiver from the govt weather buoys he designed and tethered in the Gulf of Mexico for hurricane tracking at the ocean surface in the days before NOAA satellites

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Sometimes certain members have to use a coding to put a message out. So that our jobs aren't at risk. Even me personally I have posted in code about certain items.

What part of "The PPC is coming back as previously described." is a risk to anyone's job? You're just repeating what has already been disseminated through official channels. The only change was that mid-March was clarified to be March 15. Big whoop.

 

[Thirdrail7]

Wow.

Well, we may was well go back in time for a brief history.

As previously stated, it is tough to straddle the fence. Active railroaders are in a terrible position. They are usually trying to correct and/or provide accurate information without violating any potential code of conduct rules and/or compromising their identities.

That being said, you'll notice a lot of people with direct knowledge have vanished over time as it becomes a tight balancing act. This is particularly true since the previous regime made it clear that dissemination of information for certain sources would lead to dismissal.

However, people tend to want information and in a lot of ways I agree. So, how can information be presented without danger? Contrary to belief, I do not crave attention nor am I here to play the "I know something I won't tell game." I am aware of many things, but start very few threads. I am also aware that there are people that have absolutely no horse in the game and will not hesitate to post information from inside sources or documents. As such, one of my things is doing exactly what I did above and that is to drop a hint to nudge people in the right direction. A perfect example has occurred in this very thread.

It was a quite a simple statement:

Posted 09 December 2016 - 12:34 AM

There is rumbling that more maintenance may occur this winter, which will bench part of the fleet.

The next post produced the "press release" that people keep referring to. Truthfully, I was well aware of the withdrawal. I knew it was being drawn up. However, something official came out...and it wasn't a press release.

That post regarding the removal is not a press release. It is a direct cut/paste from a post on the Amtrak internal intranet. Basically, it is not public information and doesn't really have business on Facebook. The only thing missing is a little information about the meals/attendant and the name of the person that issued the advisory. Now, I would never post something like that but clearly there are people that will (I've seen it many times) or have access to people that will. If there is something that I feel I can discuss without much of problem, I spit it out. Perhaps it is public knowledge. Perhaps it is something that is easily observed. Perhaps it is something that I can voice as an opinion. Examples of these actions exist in Runt Consist and the Capitol Limited - current consist? threads.

The passengers were understandably curious as to their consists and the answer may impact their trips. On a personal level, I think such information should be readily available because it is proper customer service. Some people are not interested in riding in a sleeper that is next to a diesel all night. Once the winter plan was published, it is not like it is a wise idea to just post the email detailing the changes (even though people have done it.) So, I waited until the changes were actually being made to nudge the people interested in the Capitol to take a harder look at their plans. Soon there after, AmtrakLK chimed in regarding the eastern trains even though I'd bet real money he or she new about it long before that.

Another example is the

There are times when I'm not comfortable stating something specific. When that occurs, I either say very little or nothing (an example being the LSL Michigan Reroute Rumors & Speculation thread) or I make what some people call a cryptic post. My intention is to alert interested parties that information or updates may be available so keep a watch. If I I'm able, I'll tell them to keep a watch on a specific area. Otherwise, interested parties can use their contacts or search other outlets (TO,RR.net,Facebook, Amtrak.com, Timetables, etc) for their information More time than not, the information appears and discussion ensues.

Sometimes certain members have to use a coding to put a message out. So that our jobs aren't at risk. Even me personally I have posted in code about certain items.

What part of "The PPC is coming back as previously described." is a risk to anyone's job? You're just repeating what has already been disseminated through official channels. The only change was that mid-March was clarified to be March 15. Big whoop.

As indicated, it was not a press release. It is an internal document that was published...and not through official channels. If it has been released through official channels, I haven't noticed it and it isn't on this board. If someone wishes to do so, they can post an update.

People use this board for different reasons. Some are trying to find information for their trips. Others are interested in operations while others may be interested in specific equipment. Indeed, there are probably people that just sort of "hang."

As for the big whoop, I've never been on the car. However, the absence has resulted in this thread and there have been posts from people indicating they prefer this car. Therefore, I was trying to let people know that they should start looking for the return soon since things are lining up correctly and it hasn't been previously stated. After all, haven't things not gone according to publications before? How many times have the LDSL cars been pushed back? How many times did the return of the BOS-ALB sleeping car get pushed back?

At the end of the day, if someone thinks my posts seem to contribute little, make people uncomfortable or make it seem like I'm playing games, that is something each person has to decide for themselves. If someone thinks my posts are helpful, insightful, thought provoking or funny, again that is something that each person has to decide for themselves. I do note that the last time someone whined about my laughter, I did offer to stop dropping hints. While most people did not comment one way or the other, the ones that did seemed to be cool with my delivery. It seems the same has occurred in this thread.

If someone want to start a poll, knock yourself out.

I will admit that this Ides of March post didn't have the impact I intended. I do agree that it was a turd of hint and it isn't the first time my attempts at humor have fallen flat :blink: . However, Babe Ruth didn't hit a home run every time he batted. ^_^

So, now that we've hijacked the thread, I'll get to the reason that I actually returned to the scene of the crime. Due to a slight change, I think this is an appropriate picture:

***ahem***

I hope people have a better understanding of my posts. Ummm, but in case it doesn't and there are still more complaints/comments coming from someone other than a moderator or administrator, allow me to make something crystal clear:

Carry on!

 

[Bob Dylan]

Well said Thirdrail7!!!

 

[ParanoidAndroid]

Thank you for rerailing the thread. I hope it returns soon.

 

[railiner]

I can well appreciate the dilemma of being in a position on the inside, privy to information that friends are pressuring me to reveal....I too, used judgement on what I could reveal, and what I could not. Of course my true friends would respect that, and if I told them I could not reveal, they would let it go.

That was throughout my various career's in transportation, be it Greyhound, Trailways, BN, Amtrak, and American Airlines....

Of all those, AA was the most rigorous in enforcing their confidentiality policies, with frequent requirements to read and sign same...