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Last week I saw the Sunset Limited for the first time in awhile since it now runs ontime or cloer to schedule thanks to the padded schedule. I was disappointed to see that both Superliner II sleepers had their state names removed when the cars were given that terrible Acela wave logo decal job. If anyone at Amtrak is listening, please put the car names back and finally name the Super I sleepers as once was planned. Car names are a railroad tradition for sleepers and make it easier for passengers to distinguish their car from the one next to it. Think of acruise line with a nameless cruise ship...that is how I feel about this. The decals used to spell the state names have to cost next to nothing.
North American Railroader Member # 3398
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I know exactly what you mean. I really feel sorry for a friend of mine that has kept tally of the "State" superliner sleepers he had seen/ridden. Fairly recently he saw the infamous "Texas" (the last on his list, which took him several years to see), but now he will not be able to ride in all of them. It's a shame, the names added a nice little touch to the cars.
sbalax Member # 2801
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I agree. That has always been a nice touch at the railroads. And, although I'd never thought of it, having the names as you go from car to car is easier to remember for most of us than a number.
I've noticed that many of the Surfliner cars, especially the Cafe/Coaches have "Canyon" names. Most recently I saw Tecolote Canyon.
There was a tradition at the airlines of naming planes, as well. Pan Am, of course, had the Clippers including many that were named after real Clipper ships like the Clipper Flying Cloud. Some airlines, especially foreign carriers, continue the tradition. Domestically, Continental has two named 777's. Ship #006 is the Robert F. Six after the airline's founder and another was recently named the Gordon Bethune to honor the man who led the turnaround "From Worst to First".
Frank in Sunny SBA
SilverStar092 Member # 2652
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National Airlines named its jets with the first names of its flight attendants then featured some in ads such as "I'm Janet, Fly Me!" It was a bit of a come-on but was effective. Hey, we are talking about National and Pan Am...I hope Amtrak doesn't follow their course into bankruptcy.
sbalax Member # 2801
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Ah, yes. I had forgotten about the "Fly Me" campaign. I doubt that the forces for political correctness would let that one happen now. Nor would they like Continental's old "We really move our Tail ("The Proud Bird with the Golden Tail") for you!" campaign.
Hopefully I'll have a "named" sleeper on tomorrow's Southwest Chief.
By the way, is the "George Pullman" still around?
Frank in dark but still warm SBA
JoeR Member # 2633
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I remember riding a Viewliner sleeper once that was named "Sylvan View". Does anyone know where you can view a sylvan?
stlboomer Member # 2028
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A halfway serious thought:
If car names are honorary and not essential to inventory management (like reporting numbers), why couldn't Amtrak offer to name a car after each Representative or Senator voting in support of full funding? Or would some not find this a positive inducement?
SilverStar092 Member # 2652
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Sylvan is synonymous with Forest so the name fits the style. But it's odd as they already have a Forest View. There are other good View names they could have used. At least the View names remain.
I hope they don't name cars for politicians, etc. Even Mr. Claytor's name is not a good car name as most people have no idea who he was. Stick to places.
SilverStar092 Member # 2652
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One possible idea would be to use town and city names on passenger cars. For a small fee, towns along Amtrak routes could have a car named after them. In addition, to promote that place as a destination, a few photos or a small description of the town could be placed in the entrance. This would promote tourism in this locale, and give Amtrak a few spare bucks, while making railfans happy. It sounds like a win-win situation. Who knows? Maybe if this was effective enough, Amtrak could even talk some of these cities into sponsoring the car (paying for the up keep and all). It would be worth a shot, and a similar thing could be done for the State cars. Another interesting idea would be naming cars after colleges and universities. I think it would be pretty cool to ride in "Allengheny College" or "Vanderbilt" or "Flagler College". The interriors could even be in the school's livery. Amtrak could definitely get top dollar for a promotional stunt like that, do you know how much colleges would pay to 'advertise' to students who are travelling, maybe even on college visits? Anyways, three suggestions, hopefully good ones.
Mr. Toy Member # 311
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SilverStar, I don't know if the college sponsorships would work, but the city one might have some potential.
At this point I'd even accept corporate sponsors for cars, if it would help keep Amtrak afloat.
sbalax Member # 2801
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The sleepers on my SW Chief trip last weekend were nameless. I believe they were Superliner I's since they had what an Aussie on board called "a loo with a view" meaning that the upper level lav had a window and was larger than the others.
Frank, currently in IAH and soon to be in JAX.
rY Member # 3528
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AFAIK, they have not removed the state names from the END DOORS of the cars. Which means, you can't see the state names from the outside, but if you're lucky enough to be traveling in one of the Sleeper Classes, you can walk through the train and take note of the names from that vantage point!
Does anyone know why the state names were removed or, for that matter, why the large S U P E R L I N E R logo is being removed from the cars during the repainting process?
George Harris Member # 2077
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The though that comes to my mind is that this is a similar to what Frisco did as their passenger service was coming to an end.
When Frisc dieselized, they gave names of racehorses to all their E-units. 22 in all, if I recall correctly. In 1965 or 6, they proposed to discontinue all remaining passenger service. (2 trains St. Louis to Oklahoma City, 2 trains Kansas City to Birmingham, 1 St. Louis to Memphis and 1 Springfield MO to Ft. Smith Arkansas. The ICC said, keep one each on the main lines and try harder. So they kept a St. Louis to Oklahoma City day train and a Kansas City to Birmingham, with the Memphis to Birmingham being overnight. They repainted and cleaned up everything, but when they repainted, they painted over the racehorse names. To many of the Frisco people, that came off as being symbolic that they had decided to quit trying. The schedules were slowed down and lots of terminal slack was added. Sound familiar?
George
SilverStar092 Member # 2652
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I think somebody decided to use up the useless Acela logos as they stuck them where the state names had been. It may be a low end manager's idea and it is time to complain. Some of us find car names interesting as it gives the cars personality and costs next to nothing for decals. Through the years a few car names came off the old heritage cars but it never became predominant. Thus maybe it is somebody's hairbrained idea.
notelvis Member # 3071
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quote:Originally posted by George Harris: The though that comes to my mind is that this is a similar to what Frisco did as their passenger service was coming to an end.
When Frisc dieselized, they gave names of racehorses to all their E-units. 22 in all, if I recall correctly. In 1965 or 6, they proposed to discontinue all remaining passenger service. (2 trains St. Louis to Oklahoma City, 2 trains Kansas City to Birmingham, 1 St. Louis to Memphis and 1 Springfield MO to Ft. Smith Arkansas. The ICC said, keep one each on the main lines and try harder. So they kept a St. Louis to Oklahoma City day train and a Kansas City to Birmingham, with the Memphis to Birmingham being overnight. They repainted and cleaned up everything, but when they repainted, they painted over the racehorse names. To many of the Frisco people, that came off as being symbolic that they had decided to quit trying. The schedules were slowed down and lots of terminal slack was added. Sound familiar?
George
Way too familiar.
The late Dale Roberts (who was most respected as an authority on Southern Railway steam locomotion) noted in the late 60's that a battered E-8 and two coaches did not constitute what he considered to be a real passenger train and that for any railroad unable to operate matching consists, the end was near.
Of course since Amtrak for most of the country represents an 'operating entity' and not a 'railroad' I'm hoping that Dale might have been wrong on this one.
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