What is the origin of the eastern Amtrak Heritage Diners? Are they true to the pre-1970 version or did Amtrak rebuild them to a common style and layout?
Original Post
Replies sorted oldest to newest
The Eastern Heritage diners were what Amtrak received from the private railroads when they exited the passenger rail business. The ones with tables and chairs were all refitted with booths, and the kitchen stoves and grills were all refitted with electric units. There is commonality in those diner cars but most have reached the end of their useful life and some are even permanently out of service right now. They will be replaced by new Amtrak Viewliner diners manufactured by CAF, ( that is if CAF ever ships them). Actually the entire Amtrak fleet of single level Viewliner cars are in bad shape and in need of replacement.
Yeah I am just curious which railroad some of the diners came from. They all now have similar fluting patterns on the external sheet-metal. So did Amtrak replace sheet-metal on the cars? This would explain it.
From what I can see on the Heritage diner webpage, most of the cars retain their basic exteriors of the original owners.
Rusty
Thanks. The link is very informative.
Dennis LaGrua posted:The Eastern Heritage diners were what Amtrak received from the private railroads when they exited the passenger rail business. The ones with tables and chairs were all refitted with booths, and the kitchen stoves and grills were all refitted with electric units. There is commonality in those diner cars but most have reached the end of their useful life and some are even permanently out of service right now. They will be replaced by new Amtrak Viewliner diners manufactured by CAF, ( that is if CAF ever ships them). Actually the entire Amtrak fleet of single level Viewliner cars are in bad shape and in need of replacement.
Did you not mean the single level Heritage Fleet?
The viewliner sleepers are very rattly....I hope the new ones improve on that. I recall the crescent having odd sleepers into the 1990's. One was a slumbercoach with the little offset beds and double windows. Did the day seat for the higher bed sit up off the floor? Also I recall bedrooms with nothing but curtains covering??? I don't recall the name though.
Unless you've got a compartment or stateroom, curtains are the method of privacy in a sleeper.
Rusty
Rusty Traque posted:Unless you've got a compartment or stateroom, curtains are the method of privacy in a sleeper.
Rusty
. . . on Amtrak.
However, before Amtrak, roller shades were the norm in sleepers.
So heritage roomettes didn't have doors? I vaguely recall doors on roomettes and slumber coach compartments. But then some had the curtains.
Viewliner sleepers of course have sliding doors. Most of the heritage equipment I traveled on also had doors. I do remember one slumber coarch (might have been pre-Amtrak) where the room did have a door but as the bed when folded down filed the room it had a curtain so you could open the door and stand next to the bed behind the curtain.
Only once did I travel in a section sleeper, on my way to basic training in 1964. Like the car in Some Like it Hot.
Scotie
Thanks. Yeah I think the car on the Amtrak Crescent with the curtains was the slumber coach. It was a regular car on the train until the heritage fleet was phased out. I kinda of miss the ragged heritage fleet. Some of the coach seats were so worn they had tears mended with vinyl tape. The red and brown striped fabric with vinyl sections. I also recall a combo car with crew dorms. I guess the crew stayed on the train off duty? Why not just pick them up and drop them off with taxies? That would be like sleeping at work. Into the 90's the Crescent had a lot of cars and a big crew. Those days are gone.
