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I haven't put much thought into them until I read this article in which it says that all passengers with a sleeping car ticket can use the lounge in the bottom of the car. I dont know if the person was talking about this Transition at the end of the Southwest Chief, but if it is always open to Sleeping car passengers I sure as heck didnt know it.
To get to the article: Go to trainweb.com, travel section, then accomadations,then go to Transition Sleepers.
Posts: 547 | From: St. Louis, MO, USA | Registered: Nov 2002
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I was traveling on the Empire Builder last October and the Portland sleeper was bad ordered out of Chicago. The transition sleeper was used to accomodate most of the passenger as far as Spokane and since I knew the Portland sleeper attendant he gave me a tour of the transition sleeper. The displaced passengers were all on the upper level but were allowed to use the lounge downstairs and the showers and toilets on the lower level. The transition sleeper when not in revenue service is restricted to crew members only.
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Yes....this was the case for a good deal of August on the CZ as they had sold Denver sleeper tickets, but gave us no Denver sleeper. We let several families have rooms in our trans. sleeper.
Posts: 92 | Registered: Nov 2002
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Good question. I was wondering it too, before I went to work on the train. The transition sleeper is a pretty cool car, actually. There is the one obvious difference, and that is that one end of the car goes to single-level fleet height for the vestibule. As for main sleeper differences....all the rooms are on the upper level, and they are all standard rooms...so one long narrow aisle. There are 2-3 bathrooms with showers upstairs, as well as a conductor's office, and a chief's office. Downstairs, there is the fairly standard bathroom configuration, but then on the other side of the door vestibule, instead of a family room and four standard rooms, there is a large lounge area, with two booth tables and four captains chairs. Usually the conductors spread their paperwork out on these booth tables, and kinda hang out in that lounge.
Posts: 92 | Registered: Nov 2002
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In peak season the long distance trains are often fully booked, but does it ever happen that a train is overbooked (either accidentally or deliberately)? What happens in that case? I accept that if you haven't reserved you take your chances but if you were at a remote station miles from anywhere with reservations would you be refused access to the train and be left behind if it was completely full? And if revenue passengers are using the transition sleeper what happens to the poor crew?!
Posts: 395 | From: england | Registered: Sep 2002
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Last May on an eastbound Empire Builder the sleeper from Portland had real bad plumbing problems. They dropped it in Spokane for repairs.
Guests were moved to empty rooms in the other sleeper and the overflow to the transition sleeper. Gave me a good chance to explore the ts. I asked about where does the crew sleep and was told they simply double up starting at the lowest seniority. The attendant said that because there are more rooms in that car they've never run out of space and the crew, although not too happy, does it with a smile. Good attitudes (like most I've seen on Amtrak).
I take that back ... I was on when they went to the National Menu and the chefs were in the dumps. They took pride in being able to have their own dishes and to act as if it was their own restaurant. They were not happy when everything became prescribed.
Posts: 363 | From: Southwest North Central Florida | Registered: Apr 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Kairho: Guests were moved to empty rooms in the other sleeper and the overflow to the transition sleeper. Gave me a good chance to explore the ts. I asked about where does the crew sleep and was told they simply double up starting at the lowest seniority. The attendant said that because there are more rooms in that car they've never run out of space and the crew, although not too happy, does it with a smile. Good attitudes (like most I've seen on Amtrak).
The doubling up was only true years ago. The union has gotten us the right to have our own room on the train, as well as on our layover. In fact, as long as the whole car is open (which it usually is) sometimes people take up several rooms so that they can spread their belongings out.
quote:Originally posted by mr williams: In peak season the long distance trains are often fully booked, but does it ever happen that a train is overbooked (either accidentally or deliberately)? What happens in that case? I accept that if you haven't reserved you take your chances but if you were at a remote station miles from anywhere with reservations would you be refused access to the train and be left behind if it was completely full? And if revenue passengers are using the transition sleeper what happens to the poor crew?!
First, I don't believe Amtrak EVER purposely overbooks like the airlines do. Second, even though if the train is "full" we aren't supposed to allow people on, especially if they don't have a reservation, I believe the unspoken policy is that you don't turn anyone down. I know that over the summer I typically had unreserved passengers going from Reno to Martinez, and the conductor always gave me the go ahead to board them. As for full sleepers...the crew does not get screwed. The one place that the employees come first is in the crew car. We each get our own room...otherwise the union would throw a fit. But yes, sometimes they use a few of the rooms in the TS for people if that happens. The crew usually doesn't like that, because we like having the privacy of that whole car....being able to talk about whatever we want to talk about...and so forth. It's our home away from home. But we put up with it....and try to smile . (Just don't like making beds in the TS for passengers....usually a coach attendant gets stuck with it, hehe)
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Just a quick comment -- on a late CZ a few years ago, I was looking for the crew to talk to them about my connection in Chicago, and didn't see any uniformed crew for several hours -- I finally found them -- sitting in the "lounge" area of the transition sleeper! While they weren't exactly thrilled that I had "found" them hiding away in the transition sleeper, they were nice to me, answered my questions, and I promptly left them to their peace and quiet after they had spoken to me..
Posts: 2428 | From: Grayling, MI | Registered: Mar 2002
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I was on a westbound Empire Builder two years ago that was said to be overbooked between Milwaukee and St Paul - Min. It certainly appeared to be - all coach seats were taken and the lounge car had most seats taken. However, by the following morning the train was virtually empty!
Geoff M.
Posts: 2426 | From: Apple Valley, CA | Registered: Sep 2000
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Hmmm...that's weird about the overbooking. I know once, there was a brownies group on the CZ that overfilled the train (but the conductor knew them) and we just put them in the sightseer lounge. They were only travelling for a couple hours. Maybe that's the same thing that happened on your Builder. You're right though, I guess what I said wasn't completely true. Either that, or there was a glitch.
As for the crew in the crew lounge. I agree...this is a problem. And I constantly saw it over the summer. That lounge should only be for downtime, breaktime, or very short periods of time for less than the whole crew. Passengers DO need to have access to us, at least when we're on the clock!
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. (Just don't like making beds in the TS for passengers....usually a coach attendant gets stuck with it, hehe)
