Open Vestibule windows / dutch doors

Not part of Amtrak or even VIA but the Rocky Mountaineer has an open section near the vestibule. Is that part of the car or an actual part of the vestibule?

Kinda of like how on the Shoreline East . When your East of New Haven you will get chewed out and yelled at for opening a door. But when you get West of new haven you have to open your own door

Miss Chief, that is the way to see Alaska. A significant part of the view is side and downward - moose in the field, river canyon below, etc... If anybody gets the chance to ride ARR, go for it.

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Indeed! Beautiful pictures you got there. Bring back memories of my Alaska trip a few years ago. I had the privilege of riding a small segment of ARR between Anchorage and Seward and hope one day to ride the full length to Denali and Fairbanks.

I only wish the Alaska rail road routes were more extensive and covered more ground. The abandoned segment into the Kennecott valley copper mine and the heart of the Wrangell - St Elias is particularly interesting.

cobra30689 wrote:As a kid I vividly remember the NJDOT/NJT open door policy on the NEC. Arrow set out of NY, the crew would leave the traps down and doors open from Newark Penn to Linden (N. Elizabeth and Elizabeth were still low level at the time). I believe it was the 4:10 Matawan local out of NYP to N. Elizabeth, standing in the vestibule the whole way. No one fell out......it was just business as usual. Certainly didn't mind being jam packed in the summer with the doors open. Too bad this litigious society and lack of common sense we have now prohibits this.

I grew up on the NJCL in the 70's and regularly traveled to Elizabeth and NYC. I dont even know if the doors could have closed half the time they were open, i always assumed they were broken. I rode the vestibules all the time with the doors open.There were times when there was just no place else to be, my sister and i would be in the vestibule packed with a pile of people didn't matter if there was a closed door or not, maybe i was 10 so usually a grownup would swap with us so they were between us an an open door. For years they'd even let me stand in the vestibule when stopped at South Amboy for the engine change to watch them make the connections. It was only when i got older did some of the employees attempt to chase me back into the car.

I think i read a story in the star ledger the other day someone complaining along the lines of -GASP- seeing a door stuck open and the train kept running. These people would have stroked out in the 70's.

I too rode the North Jersey Coast line in the 70s and remember the trains routinely running with the doors open. I think that with many stations only a mile apart, the crews found it just too much trouble to continually open and close the doors and traps. I could look down at the Raritan River while waiting to get off at Perth Amboy. I never heard of anyone getting hurt. Passengers in the vestibules knew enough to hold on to the railings.

hmmmmm, "i never heard of anyone getting hurt"- maybe it's my uncles fault.

He enjoyed a beverage or two. He was the kind of guy that would run to the bar in south amboy during the engine change. Anyway one night traveling between Matawan and NYC he somehow woke up when the train started moving again in either Elizabeth or North Elizabeth. Freaked out and thought he missed his stop so he ran to the open door and jumped off when the train had just started. I remember a late night trip with my mother to a Hospital in Elizabeth to pick him up and he kept saying "it didn't look to be moving that fast".

But seriously to put it in to perspective there was no suing and I feel like he even got a ticket from the police for something akin to being a moron. Wouldn't happen that way today.

Jenny on a M2 wrote:I think I have a better chance of riding into work on a M2 tomorrow - and one with a bar car no less - than we have of seeing Mr. Phillips being shown the door. For some reason the publisher seems to like his poorly constructed rants.

I sincerely hope no one has issue with Mr. Phillips' column appearing in July TRAINS.

All I know is that, albeit many, MANY, a moon ago, as an active "kid railfan", I lived to read DPM's words each month.

He certainly had the gift. I think "Fallen Flags" was his coinage.

Getting OT, and for which there are consequences around here for so doing (just as there were when I was at the throttle), but DPM's "finest hour" was during fall1967 "Chico Calls It Quits" and shortly thereafter "Excuse The First Person".

I was serving in 'Nam when those magnificent pieces were penned. I was to rotate July '68 and all I could think was "What will there be left when I get back?"

I haven't seen it yet. Although I got an advance copy at a conference, I'm around the world in Argentina for a few weeks and don't have access to my reading material. DPM was, indeed, the dean of railroad writing.