Passenger Cars

[ripvanwnkl]

Thanks for the clarification, Ken S.  I stand corrected.  During the Amtrak Rainbow Era, apparently it was anything goes if it was available and "goable". 

[Doneldon]

The El Cap was all high-level, the Super Chief was all conventional level cars.  For this reason, each train carried its own diner and lounge.

Les-

This not strictly true. There were transition coaches on each end of the Cap (It was never referred to as the "El Cap" except when Walthers released their new set last year) so there was no difficulty whatsoever involved in moving between the two parts of the joined #17 and #18. However, the Santa Fe prohibited passengers moving from one part of the train to another because it made it easier to keep track of them and to keep the sleeper passengers from having to come into contact with the riff-raff from the coaches. Also, the train operated with a single conductor. I know all of this because my father was one of the first Stewards when the hi-level equipment was introduced and I worked the train myself as a college summer job.

In regards to that, let me say that it was by far the toughest job I ever had, rather like walking from Chicago to Los Angeles and back while remaining balanced on a moving train. My job was quite a bit more physically demanding than was my Dad's, but I was doing it on a young man's legs and he was in his 50s. I came to respect him a lot more after my own experience on the trains.
                                               -- D

[wjstix]

Remember too there would multiple engines on an inter-city train. Perhaps 3-4 F units and 12-14 cars.

[Desertdweller]

Doneldon,

That's right.  There were transition coaches, but the coach and first-class passengers were kept separate.  Each group effectively had their own train.

WJS,

There would be multiple locomotives, for several reasons.  Considering that AMTRAK meant the demise of over half the long-distance trains, the survivors had the combined passenger traffic of the eliminated trains to carry (if the route itself survived).

Also, AMTRAK had to make do with many well-worn locomotives that were not the most dependable.  New replacement passenger power purchased by the railroads was retained by them and converted to freight use.

I recall seeing in Minnesota AMTRAK E-8A's converted to steam generator units, with steam generators installed in the cabs and the windshields blanked!

Meanwhile, railroad-owned passenger units were re-geared for freight use or used in commuter service.

Les

[Johnson Bar Jeff]

This not strictly true. There were transition coaches on each end of the Cap (It was never referred to as the "El Cap" except when Walthers released their new set last year) so there was no difficulty whatsoever involved in moving between the two parts of the joined #17 and #18. However, the Santa Fe prohibited passengers moving from one part of the train to another because it made it easier to keep track of them and to keep the sleeper passengers from having to come into contact with the riff-raff from the coaches. Also, the train operated with a single conductor. I know all of this because my father was one of the first Stewards when the hi-level equipment was introduced and I worked the train myself as a college summer job.

In regards to that, let me say that it was by far the toughest job I ever had, rather like walking from Chicago to Los Angeles and back while remaining balanced on a moving train. My job was quite a bit more physically demanding than was my Dad's, but I was doing it on a young man's legs and he was in his 50s. I came to respect him a lot more after my own experience on the trains.
                                               -- D

I imagine it can still be very demanding. When I traveled on the Empire Builder three summers' ago, I was deeply impressed by the young fellow who was the attendant on my sleeper. He was working constantly. He had two completely filled sleepers to care for by himself, yet he was always friendly and cheerful, and we had fresh flowers by the coffee station (which I suspect he may have provided on his own because I've never seen them on other trains where I've traveled in sleeper) and deodorizers in the rest rooms.

[Doneldon]

I imagine it can still be very demanding. When I traveled on the Empire Builder three summers' ago, I was deeply impressed by the young fellow who was the attendant on my sleeper. He was working constantly. He had two completely filled sleepers to care for by himself, yet he was always friendly and cheerful, and we had fresh flowers by the coffee station (which I suspect he may have provided on his own because I've never seen them on other trains where I've traveled in sleeper) and deodorizers in the rest rooms.

Jeff-

I think you're right. My wife, two grandsons and I made a great circling train trip from Minneapolis to Chicago to Los Angeles to Portland to Glacier to Minneapolis a couple of years ago, with an intergenerational ElderHostel in the middle, and the whole crew seemed to be working pretty hard while remaining laudably cheerful. I suppose everybody understands that railroad construction crews work very hard but I don't think they understand that the hard work and danger apply to operating personnel, too. The cab of a steam locomotive which seems so romantic today was really a horrible and dangerous place to work. Walking a train, performing switch duties and just riding on the outside of a train were all awful work and dangerous to boot. Throw in separation from home and family and it starts to become a mystery that anyone would do such work. My Dad was away for five days at a time and could count on being doubled out the same day or the next day during the summers and holiday rush times. I can't remember a single Christmas when he was home and the only way we ever saw him in the summer was to move to Los Angeles from late May until early September so he could work a special W-Su train which ran from LA to the race track at Del Mar. There were some good parts of that: touring a lot of the west and missing some school at the beginnings and ends of each year.
                                                                                                                                                                                                     -- D

[Johnson Bar Jeff]

Jeff-

I think you're right. My wife, two grandsons and I made a great circling train trip from Minneapolis to Chicago to Los Angeles to Portland to Glacier to Minneapolis a couple of years ago, with an intergenerational ElderHostel in the middle, and the whole crew seemed to be working pretty hard while remaining laudably cheerful. I suppose everybody understands that railroad construction crews work very hard but I don't think they understand that the hard work and danger apply to operating personnel, too. The cab of a steam locomotive which seems so romantic today was really a horrible and dangerous place to work. Walking a train, performing switch duties and just riding on the outside of a train were all awful work and dangerous to boot. Throw in separation from home and family and it starts to become a mystery that anyone would do such work. My Dad was away for five days at a time and could count on being doubled out the same day or the next day during the summers and holiday rush times. I can't remember a single Christmas when he was home and the only way we ever saw him in the summer was to move to Los Angeles from late May until early September so he could work a special W-Su train which ran from LA to the race track at Del Mar. There were some good parts of that: touring a lot of the west and missing some school at the beginnings and ends of each year.
                                                                                                                                                                                                     -- D

Don,

It must have been tough on your mother, having your father away that much, and it must have been hard on you as a kid, too.

The trip you took with your wife and grandsons sounds like lots of fun. I know I've mentioned elsewhere on this forum that in the summer of '09 I went from Philadelphia to Washington to Chicago to Seattle to San Francisco to Chicago to Pittsburgh to Lancaster to Philadelphia, and it was quite an experience. I'd like to do it, or something similar, again some day. I like the idea of taking the train to Glacier Park.

Jeff

[captain1313]

Taking the California Zephyr to Reno next Thursday.

Kevin

[Doneldon]

Jeff-

Yes, I think it was hard for both of my parents but they found a way to make it work. My Mother was fully in charge when Dad was gone. There was no wait-'til-your-father-gets-home stuff. If something needed doing, she did it. Then, when my Father returned, he took care of everything, including all of the cooking, the house and the yard. My Mother worked nearly full time in Chicago, which was pretty unconventional. All-in-all, they had a marriage which was much more like marriage today than it was like the 1950s version. I'm grateful for that.

And, yes, it was hard on my brother and me. I remember crying every time he left when I was a pre-schooler, and feeling elated when he came home.

                                                                                                                                                                                Doneldon

[jward]

yes, the railroad is and always will be a dangerous place to work. that's why there are so many rules in the rule book. that said, most crews aren't away for a week at a time. overnights at the away terminal are common, with a return trip the next day. most railroads are unionized, which helps some. there are provisions in the contracts that crews stuck at an away terminal with no trains back within a certain amount of time must be provided transportation to their home terminal. another provision which makes things safer is the requirement on norfolk southern that helper crews have two people. conrail tried single person helper crews, with alot more damage to equipment.    ever try to hook up to the back of a train from the engine cab, by yourself? it ain't easy.........