Train Expert

[kevin_standlee]

In the last 24 hours, two people, one of whom reads this LJ (waves at redneckotaku) have asked me for advice about traveling in Amtrak sleeping cars. Fortunately for me, because of how the trip to Montreal worked out last year, I have now traveled on all four major types of Amtrak sleeping accomodation: Viewliner roomette, Viewliner bedroom, Superliner roomette, and Superliner bedroom. (The other "outlier" types are the Superliner family bedroom and the respective two families' handicapped accomodations.)

(Viewliners are the single-level cars used on most routes east of Chicago, while Superliners are the double-deck cars used on the rest of the system. Viewliners operate on those routes where Superliners don't fit due to bridge and tunnel clearnce restrictions. See Amtrak's sleeping accomodations page for details, maps, and 3D tours of the equipment.)

My opinion overall: bedrooms are always better than roomettes (more room), and Superliner rooms are better than their Viewliner equivalents (less headroom but more usable space). The fact that Viewliner roomettes have a toilet and sink so you don't have to use the toilet down the hall is, in my opinion a bug, not a feature, because it uses up precious floor space in the compartment. On the other hand, the "attic" on the Viewliner cars (the area near the top of the higher-ceiling single-level Viewliner bedrooms) is quite handy if you don't have a problem hefting luggage over your head.

Any sleeping compartment of any size or configuration is superior to a coach seat. Oh, and any Amtrak coach seat is superior to any airline coach seat, while most airline first/international business class seats are comparable to a Superliner coach seat.

Comments

[jcbemis.livejournal.com]

we've only done the viewliner roomettes and handicapped room on the east coast; the HC room was lovely though

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

The H room on a Viewliner appears to be more or less a Bedroom with special fittings to allow someone in a wheelchair to use the toilet-shower. The extra room is indeed very nice. Try coming out to Renovation via Chicago and the California Zephyr in a bedroom, if you can swing the time and money. (I know they aren't cheap.)

[fla-sunshine.livejournal.com]

That is basically correct, but as we were redeeming Guest Reward points, the charge was the same as for a roomette. The drawback for me versus a roomette was that on the top bunk, it was more difficult to sleep with the stops and starts causing my body to roll in the bed against the safety webbing. In the roomette, the beds are aligned parallel to the train, so the only body roll is from the gentler and more constant side-to-side swaying of the cars.

[redneckotaku.livejournal.com]

I would love to do a Bedroom, but I don't want to spend $300 plus bucks on a sleeper for a single overnight trip. Thank you again for the thoughs on Roomette's versus Coach today.

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

I don't blame you. Under the circumstances described (one traveler, one night), a roommette is a better choice, and I'd do the same thing. When you get up to two passengers and multiple nights, the bedroom starts looking more attractive.

That is, unless you end up with one of the shower/toilet modules that squeaks like the one we had on one leg of the trip last year. *wince*

[howeird]

I'd disagree slightly about the seats - for me the coach seat is a lot more comfortable than the smallest Superliner sleeper seat, especially traveling with a friend. In the non-bed mode, the small sleeper seats are a little hard and they don't recline, and if you are with a friend, unless you are much smaller than me you'll be sitting facing each other, which can become a leg room issue. The coach seats are tall, well padded, recline, and are all facing forward, so you can sit side by side. Lots of leg room, too. Of course it's nicer to sleep in the sleeper bed than in the coach seats, especially since all the sleepers have an outlet to charge your electronics and not all coach seats do.

[petrea-mitchell.livejournal.com]

Also the coach seats have footrests, which the sleeper seats don't. (When travelling in a roomette, my SO and I wind up with our feet on each others' seats.)

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

That's a good point about the compartments' day configurations. In those cases, you might want to spend more time in the lounge car. Coast Starlight passengers in particular will want to do that, thanks to the extra lounge -- the Pacific Parlor Car.

But that may not last, as there are, I think, only three PPCs in service, and there may not be money to keep them running the next time they come up for refurbishment; they're actually rebuilt Santa Fe "highliner" cars, which is why their ceilings are slightly lower than the adjacent Superliners. And yes, I've hit my head on that low door more than once.

[trinsf.livejournal.com]

No, they've got 4 or I think 5 in service now; they just got funding to refurb them all. When was the last time you were in a PPC? I don't remember you mentioning it.

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

The last time would have been northbound LAX-SLM on the last leg of the Montreal trip last August -- the trip where we came this close to having to be bused from Paso Robles to Sacramento due to a potential bridge problem south of San Jose but managed to luck out as UP lifted the restriction before we got to Paso Robles.

Southbound at the very start of that trip we had a little fun on the PPC when the air conditioning fan motor burnt out and filled the car with smoke -- very warm smoke, as it was a pretty hot day in the Willamette Valley. So they closed it down for the rest of the trip -- we could walk through, of course, as that's the only way to get to the dining car.

[trinsf.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's been a while. The AC has been fixed in that PPC, and the cars have been updated and tidied. ewhac talked to the PPC attendant on our last trip and has more of a scoop, I think. I'm happy with the changes; it's important to me that the little details be there -- I couldn't stand the plastic plates and simplified dining menu.

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the menu got a little old on the Worldcon trip, given that there was no regional variety at all. It was during one of the dining austerity swings. I'm glad to hear the pendulum is swinging back the other direction.

[howeird]

You would know this better than me, but I think there are four PPCs. Every Coast Starlight run has one, and with their schedule I think this means they run four trains on that route. Yes? No? Northbound and southbound, when they are running on time, meet up in SLO, and I saw PPCs on both trains Saturday and Sunday. They are nice cars, but very limited comfortable seating as half the car is that awful dining car seating and the bar. The lounge car is not that comfortable, the seats are small and too close to the windows - I'm always feeling cramped and I'm not tall at all. And again half the car is dining style seating.

But it sure beats airplane seating.

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

I'm happy to have been corrected on my PPC count. I was mis-remembering a table of Amtrak equipment I read a while back in Trains.

Good point about the PPC dining area -- the seats are too small! The comfy seating area is pretty nice, though.

[trinsf.livejournal.com]

Also, outlets. *nod*

[trinsf.livejournal.com]

The dining seating is useful these days, because they're serving a separate Parlour Car option for meals these days. There's a special entree only served there, or you can request a dining car entree and have it brought to the parlour car.

On the other hand, they also like to serve the wine tasting in those seats, too. Thankfully, they're been very nice in letting us have the wine and cheese either in the center cocktail seating or in round chairs.

I can't stand the regular lounge car configuration and seating, so I'm very happy we have almost certain PPC coverage these days. During the dark months when there was limited PPC coverage, I pretty much stopped taking the Starlight.

[petrea-mitchell.livejournal.com]

I've travelled in the Superliner family bedroom. It's neat in that it's got the most open space of all, and windows on both sides of the train, albeit on the lower level.

However, I note that once my little brother and I were deemed old enough to be let out of direct sight for extended periods, my parents seemed to prefer getting two roomettes (them in one, us in the other). :-)

[trinsf.livejournal.com]

I much prefer the family bedroom, in large part because of the privacy. On the one hand, it's got less of a pretty view, but because of the location -- at the end of the car -- no one passes. If you're taking the train to be romantic, it is hands down better than any of the other options. If you book it early enough, it can be reasonably priced compared to a bedroom, too.

[rono-60103.livejournal.com]

Hopefully I'll remember this advise getting ready for either July 2011 or 2012 when I'm hoping to take The Coast Starlight at least as far as San Jose and back, and with two of us I think a sleeper of some sort would be preferable (especially if we go all the way to Seattle).

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

If you go to Seattle, you definitely want the sleeper. If you're only going as far as San Jose, I'm not sure -- You leave LAUPT at 10:15 AM (connecting off of Pacific Surfliner 763, leaves SAN 6:10 AM) and arrive at SJC that evening, around 8:30 PM. So it's a (long) day trip to San Jose, but another 24 hours after that to Seattle.

[trinsf.livejournal.com]

But you get two meals, lunch and dinner. That offsets a good portion of the roomette cost, especially if you reserve early. Wine tasting is no longer free, but is a better deal than it is in coach, and the cheeses are much better these days.

[trinsf.livejournal.com]

By the way, I have a different preference in compartments. I like the family bedroom, then the roomette, and then the bedroom. I have a sensitive nose and don't care for the toilet facilities being in the compartment. I've had a couple of bad experiences with that just not being as clean as I would like, and it's even more an issue when you join a train for the second half of the trip, as we do when taking the Starlight from SJC. For short trips -- like SJC to LA -- I do a roommette, which we have made up as beds so that we can nap. For overnights, I pretty much insist on the family bedroom. It's just so much nicer to be able to sleep in the same bed, and to be able to nap while someone else enjoys the other seating in the compartment.