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When did the showers begin on the Silver Service trains in the viewliner cars?
Gilbert B Norman Member # 1541
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With the introduction of the Viewliner Sleepers circa 1997.
Showers are simply the greatest innovation that Amtrak has made to overnight rail travel. To date, this is one Amtrak service that with me is "batting a thousand', or expressed differently, I have never been confronted with a bad order shower stall and had to do without.
Pojon Member # 3080
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A real pleasure---I agree! Made the last trips on viewliner cars a great pleasure, especially for my wife who just has to have her shower on time each morning! Makes a long trip a true pleasure!
rY Member # 3528
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quote:Showers are simply the greatest innovation that Amtrak has made to overnight rail travel.
Interesting. Were there no showers on long distance trains in the pre-Amtrak era, or were they just limited to certain luxury trains?
Gilbert B Norman Member # 1541
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The pre-Amtrak showers were limited only to deluxe accomodations on luxury trains. Circa 1960, the only sleeper lines out there offering showere were as follows:
Broadway Lmited Master Room (Harbor--) Crescent Master Room (Crescent--) California Zephyr Drawing Room (Silver--) Canadian Drawing Room (--Park)
That was all, folks
Capltd29 Member # 3292
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I've only had to deal with a cold shower one time.
it was in a superliner,
I might have just not known how to use the shower!!
royaltrain Member # 622
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A slight correction to Mr. Norman's list of showers on deluxe trains. The drawing rooms on The Canadian never contained a shower even after the renovations of the early 1990's. I know the drawing room in The Canadian's Park car is similar to the California Zephyr's drawing room but unlike the Zephyr, the Park Car's drawing room does not have a shower. In fact there is no shower at all in the Park series sleeper/lounge cars. Only Manor and Chateau cars have public showers.
ds555 Member # 3785
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One correction to Mr. Norman's May 12 post: The Viewliner sleepers were actually put into service in late 1995, although they didn't become widespread until 1996, which for some reason Amtrak seems to regard as their true inaugural year. (For a while, Viewliner sleeper passengers were routinely being given commemorative Viewliner inaugural mugs, whose inscription included the date "1996".)
I've often been surprised to see how few Viewliner sleeping car passengers take advantage of the shower room. Is it because they don't know it's there? Is it because they think it will be inconvenient, or unclean? The attendants often feel so confident that few or no people will be interested in showering that they use the room as a linen storage closet. (Regrettably, the Viewliner sleeping cars are short on linen storage space, just as they are short on luggage storage space and entirely lacking in public restroom space.) Sometimes, in order to enter the shower room and use the stall, you have to wrestle large bags of linens out of the way. I even remember one attendant a few years ago trying to tell me that the shower was simply not available for use because the room was being used for storage; I had to press him to temporarily remove many of the things he had put in there so that I could use it. (I regarded this as a matter of principle, above and beyond the fact that forgoing my morning shower is almost never acceptable to me.)
CHATTER Member # 1185
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I think a few do not know about the shower, while many others do not feel like trotting down the hall, or are concerned about using shared facilities. I have occasionally seen the shower room loaded with linen bags or luggage (though not lately); in each instance, I simply asked the attendant to be sure the area was clear in the morning. This has never ceased to work.
I expect to have my shower and would also expect that I would be able to use the shower in the next sleeper car (where there was one), if the shower in my car were not available, just as is done when the coffeee maker is out of order. An attendant would not wish to have the attendant in the next car be annoyed by more people unnecessarily trotting through to use the shower, so a simple request to clear the shower area should work.
dilly Member # 1427
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quote:Originally posted by ds555: I've often been surprised to see how few Viewliner sleeping car passengers take advantage of the shower room. Is it because they don't know it's there? Is it because they think it will be inconvenient, or unclean?
From what I've observed, a solid majority of Amtrak sleeping car passengers (Viewliner or Superliner) never use the public shower, even when they're on board the train for several nights. And it's generally not because they're unaware the shower is there or consider it unclean. Millions of people, after all, regularly shower at school gyms, health clubs, fairly skeevy "family" motels, and questionably hygienic public pools.
Nonetheless, the American rail-riding public, in general, seems to have bizarre notions about privacy. They'll happily sleep through the night -- socks and shoes off, mouths wide open, snoring loudly -- in a wide-open coach seat surrounded by a carful of total strangers. They'll even walk barefoot into a foul-smelling rest room at the end of the car, without a second thought.
Yet they seem to find the mere idea of spending the night lying horizontal, in either a far more private "section" (where the coach seats convert into curtained berths) or a European-style couchette (where you share a four-berth room with a random selection of fellow travelers), so distastefully creepy that no Amtrak executive would dare suggest it.
My guess is that the showers fall into the same category. Many people will stroll into a packed dining car dressed as slovenly (and skimpily) as the law allows. But ask them to walk to and from a sleeping car shower? In full view of the one or two strangers they might pass along the way? That seems to be more than many Americans' sense of privacy and modesty can handle. They'd rather stink for two days.
Go figure.
CHANGEATJAMAICA Member # 3737
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Our first sleeping car adventure was on a Viewliner. The bride fell in love with the shower, it is so small there's no chance of falling over no matter how the train rocks. Rodger
SilverStar092 Member # 2652
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Showers were the greatest addition to rail travel I can think of. My first experience was years ago on the CZ when the car attndant told me I could go to the (ex-Santa Fe) transition dorm-coach for a shower. In those days the Superliners did not have showers...they were retrofitted on Superliner I cars but were standard on Super IIs. The Viewliner sleepers' showers are fine by me. Many people may not like them because they are at the end of the car, often near the diner door. The less people who use them, the better for me as I love to stay clean.
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