The Time When Sleeping Cars were Just a Little More $ Than Coach
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- čas přidán 24. 02. 2022
- When it became apparent that railroads were losing their once-dominant market share in the travel industry the railroads tried to reverse the trend by introducing the slumbercoach. While it was great it was too little too late to save the dying passenger rail industry. But the cars were a success operating with Amtrak into the 90s for almost 40 years.
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Would love if they brought something like this back. On longer trips I would appreciate a room, but the 1000% cost increase just doesn’t make sense for me.
Especially for people who just want to see the country, if they did a rail pass for double the price but you got to ride in something like this I think a lot of people would go for it
@@nyrailfan202 I think Amtrak still does the USA Rail Pass. I need to consult my friends who are conductors to be sure.
One thing to notice too is that in Japan, there are super low cost alternatives to provide a lay flat sleeping experience. These trains have individual sleeping pods and public showers. They're affordable and are a great alternative to flying. Hopefully amtrak adopts sleeping pods in the future
Exactly, I wish we had them here.
In 1992, my family took the Cardinal to Chicago and the Broadway Limited back to Newark. My dad had won some money in a radio station contest, believe it or not, so we got to ride in the heritage sleepers both trains still used. But the Broadway Limited also had at least one slumbercoach, and I remember walking through it to get some food and being amazed by how the rooms fit together like Tetris pieces.
Tetris pieces are a good way to put it
Great video, always wondered what a slumber coach looked like from the inside and what they were like
They were definitely interesting
Rode in a Slumbercoach once. Nice overnight ride. Coach fare + a small surcharge. If I remember correctly, there were "single" and "double" rooms. Were not handicap accessible. Wish they had done a redesign and kept the concept going.
You remember exactly right, it is a shame it doesn’t exist anymore
There are some beautiful trains in this video.
Awesome rail facts especially about the sleeper on Amtrak superliner.
Thank you
Siemens is currently manufacturing "Couchette" sleeper coaches for ÖBB's NightJet overnight network which have 40 beds per coach (vs 20-25 for a conventional sleeper coach), by using a stacked set of capsule-style mini-cabins. The Siemens Viaggio coaches they are using as the basis for those sleeper coaches are closely related to the Siemens Venture coaches used in North America, so it's possible Siemens could manufacture a new form of slumbercoach for the North American market.
Maybe amtrak can buy them and call them viewliner 3
They are unique rail cars. I had the fortunate pleasure of riding one on Amtrak in the early 90s as a toddler. It was an amazing experience and one I'd do again.
Exactly, Amtrak should bring these back
The sleeper fare today Chicago-DC is around $1000, which is outrageous. A return of the Slumbercoach would be great
A better alternative is for Amtrak to put their bad order cars back into service, increase capacity, and lower fares.
I loved the Slumbercoaches and I miss them. Such a clever design. Rode them on the old Night Owl overnight train to Boston, once on the Crescent and I think to Niagara Falls or something like that. The real reasons they had to be retired rather than refurbished were (1) not ADA compliant, and (2) all the toilets emptied their waste onto the track (hence the sign in each compartment that said not to flush while the train was standing in a station), which was no longer permitted. Unbelievably, in the newest generation of Amtrak sleepers, they have taken out the en-suite toilets in roomettes, so you have to use a communal bathroom down the hall. Supposedly some customers actually prefer that. I don't get it. Maybe it's just because I am of a certain age where I need to make at least one visit to the toilet during the night. Why do I want to have to put on a robe and slippers and leave my compartment in the middle of the night?
As a man who's just shy of 6 feet, I don't think I could've slept in a Slumbercoach. I doubt I could even sleep in a roomette. And there's no way in hell I'm going to go coach on a long-distance Amtrak train ever again. I got so uncomfortable trying to sleep in the chairs I actually slept on the floor!
I feel like if they brought back slumbercoaches people wouldn't be complaining about Amtrak too much.
Could also help them boat revenue
@@nyrailfan202 Yep!
Nah. The complainers have made a sport about complaining about Amtrak since it began. They'll always find something to gripe about.
@@toddinde I agree
Amtrak lost a damned good customer when it junked the Slumbercoaches. I rode them all over the east in the 1980s. You mentioned Montreal. Well, now you can't get to Canada from Washington DC by rail, period.
And it was nothing but laziness on the part of Amtrak management. The Slumbercoaches were built by the Budd Company using their shot-welded stainless steel construction. VIA Rail Canada is still running Budd products delivered to Canadian Pacific in 1955.
Viewliner sleeper rooms are ridiculously expensive, so I either drive or stay home. Thanks for nothing, Amtrak
I loved the Slumbercoaches, but those are some teeny, weeny rooms. I don’t think there’s any market for those itty bitty rooms. A European couchette probably makes more sense.
I respectfully disagree. These rooms weren't much smaller than today's Superliner roomettes for two. Just having the privacy--not to mention your own sink and toilet--and a horizontal bed, was a giant upgrade from coach, for only a bit more money.
@@dejordyball I get it. My view is that they were much smaller, but I never compared the dimensions. I'm a coach guy anyway. I sleep fine in coach and rather like it anyway.
Oh to sleep upon a train as the romans did. Se la vi
This is your best comment so far
Sounds like something they should bring back, but unfortunately Amtrak management has managed to turn Amtrak into the rail equivalent of an airline that isn't interested in providing affordable service except on an occasional gimmick basis. I remember back in the 1980s when coach service on the Northeast Corridor was affordable, and none of this nonsense of forcing reserved seats or raising the price as you got closer to your departure time -- just walk up to the ticket window at South Station, get a ticket, and go, like a souped-up commuter rail service. Now they have made it a hassle and a ripoff, and so I don't take the train any more, instead using the subsidized (through your road tax dollars) bus service to go to New York. And Amtrak sometimes even manages to be more expensive than air fare, depending upon who is playing what fare gimmick games at what time. So I don't see any prospect of them bringing anything like a slumbercoach back unless they have a complete change of management to get away from this airline-style philosophy that they have.
The fares going up as it gets closer to departure really does anger me
@@nyrailfan202 . . . Just like an airline, which is basically what Congress mandated, since they insist that Amtrak become a profitable company (or actually, eventually fail).