My experiences with slumbercoaches were mostly positive, though I would not want them to be the ONLY option.There were single rooms and double rooms. In each case considerably smaller than corresponding "heritage" roometes and double bedrooms.
One thing to be said of a single slumbercoach over a rooomette--you could definately put the "bed" up(such as it was) and use the toilet at night without any trouble
You had to keep from bumping your head in the lower level single rooms because the single rooms were staggered, duplex style. People like me who fancy themselves as being at home in a sleeping car room even at night in the dark had to be extra careful.
One thing I finally figured out-----the best way for me to travel as a single and somewhat heavy passenger was to use a double room. It was all I needed and more. And well worth the price difference, as the prices were still WAY below standard sleeper. You saved more on prices than you lost in amenities is what I am trying to say.
Slumbercoach design meant you could cram a larger number of people into the car than in a standard sleeper, thus contributing to the lower cost.
The cost of the slumbercoaches was it's big draw. No meals were included. But do keep in mind that meals did not even begin to be included in standard sleepers until 1986......that is not something from the"good old days"...........so, go further back in time when there were both standard sleepers(not only with roomettes and bedrooms but also compartments, drawing rooms, master rooms, etc) and slumbercoaches, you had to pay for your meals regardless so that was not part of the buy out, that is, until 1986. From 1986 forward, of course, it was a legtimate difference.
I don't think they shined your shoes either. They probably did not volunteer to serve you in your room but I cannot imagine them turning down a handicapped person, surely not.
Of course there was no free provided coffee, tea etc but that, too , was a 1986 development, not something from standard sleepers in the "old days". Supposedly you did not get a wake-up call but I never knew that NOT to happen....they cheerily ignored that rule.
Slumbercoach interior furnishings were not as luxurious as standard sleeper rooms---a lot of exposed steel, counter tops, and other surfaces, low on cushions, etc.
TRUE slumbercoaches were a stainless steel Budd Company 1956 invention for the re-equipping of the Denver Zephyr, a train which did last into the Amtrak era but was eventualy discontinued, not to be confused with the CZ.
But pre-Amtrak, there were various other types and designs of "budget sleepers"(i.e. various names) . For example, some railroads took an old heavy weight sleeper out of the mothballs, put it on an otherwise streamlined light weight train , perhaps stripped if of an amenity or two and called it names like "thrify-T sleepers". Understand that these are just examples. There were a number of ploys. I recall the New York Central took some 22 roomette cars, stripped them down in some fashion(exactly what was striped away I do not remember, probably fewer sheets, fewer pillows, close off the shoeshine box, things like that) and charged a very small price for them. Don't remember what they called them....
One of the most interesting true slumbercoach operations was a through car in pre-Amtrak days which went from Baltimore to San Antonio. It was handled by the B&O's National Limited from Baltimore to St. Louis, then transferred to the Missouri Pacific Texas Eagle at St.Louis to to go San Antonio. Each of these trains were predominantly blue but this was an unpainted stainless steel car.
Many readers on this forum are well aware that there were a number of through sleeper sleeping cars across the country like that, but so far as I know this was the only slumbercoach operation of that sort.
Few trains which had slumbercoaches( or thrifty sleepers etc etc) had more than one in their consists. through
