Something I noticed on the TE Safety Card...

[RobertF]

On the safety card of the TE I noticed that they had a two level "Deluxe Sleepe"r car listed. The diagram was of a sleeper car with an upper level and lower level with ONLY bedrooms (no roomettes). Does Amtrak actually have cars like this, or did they at one time? I should have lifted the card so I could scan it at home and post the picture...

 

[AlanB]

Amtrak actually has cars like that, 6 to be exact. Sadly one sits in Beech Grove badly damaged from the Auto Train wreck a few years back. The cars are used exclusively on the Auto Train and no where else in the system.

 

[Ryan]

There's a diagram in this thread:

http://discuss.amtraktrains.com/index.php?...e+sleeper\

I just came across it last week when I upgraded to a sleeper for my trip to FL over Christmas, and got assigned bedroom J - I was quite perturbed for a while, since I couldn't find anything about a bedroom over the letter "E" for the longest time.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

I wonder why they don't have deluxe Viewliners. Especially since the normal ones have but 2 bedrooms.

 

[RTOlson]

Wasn't the original Viewliner order for 50 cars? Perhaps it was thought there wasn't a sufficient demand for a "deluxe" Viewliner, given how the entire project was cut back.

 

[AlanB]

I wonder why they don't have deluxe Viewliners. Especially since the normal ones have but 2 bedrooms.

Wasn't the original Viewliner order for 50 cars? Perhaps it was thought there wasn't a sufficient demand for a "deluxe" Viewliner, given how the entire project was cut back.

Frankly I don't think that Amtrak ever considered "deluxe" Viewliners when they designed them. They don't want multiple variations of cars since it reduced flexibility. Amtrak learned this leason when the first started and had multiple types of sleepers thanks to the freight RR hand me downs.

The only reason that they purchased 6 Deluxe Bedroom Superliner sleepers was because of the Auto Train where they knew two important things. One, they could sell those extra bedrooms to the snobirds. Two, they knew that the would be operating in a confined environment. By that I mean that the AT doesn't really co-exist with the rest of Amtrak. Yes, they share regular sleepers and coaches as needed, but each days equipment doesn't come from some general pool of equipment. Instead the AT maintains its own pool of operating cars and engines, not to mention that it has the facilities to do most repairs on said equipment.

Because of that, with 6 Deluxe Sleepers that allowed them to have 4 on the road, one spare, and one in the shop at any given time. That plan has been hurt a bit with the loss of the Palm Beach #32501 in the wreck of the Auto Train back in April of 2002, as that car was badly damaged and still sits in Beech Grove at present. It's unkown if Amtrak eventually hopes to fix this car and return it to service or if it's just being held for other reasons and eventually will be scrapped.