Iowa Pacific Pullman Service

[JBHUNTFAN]

(World Train Federation) WTF I am sitting next to a hot chick in first class and I cant cuddle up? Whats up with the birth control panels? Thats why I have my BBW ladyfreinds for long train trips..

[Tadman]

We have to keep this PG-rated around here...

That said, Singapore Air has been quite firm that they do not allow "knocking boots" in their double-bed suites. The rooms are not soundproofed and the door is partly solid, partly mesh netting. That means anything loud- music, crunching doritos, video games (who plays video games in a $14k/roundtrip suite?) can be heard, too.

The same goes for railroad Sleeper - on my recent CZ trip, I noticed there is a 1" gap below the door which would allow any odd sounds to enter/exit a private cabin, in addition to the velcro shades which do an ok job of sealing off the public's view of your cabin. It's best to keep your train ride PG-rated and use headphones for music or games as well. Whether you drop an extra $200 on Amtrak sleeper or $1000+ on private sleeper, nobody wants to be disturbed or annoyed when they drop that kind of coin.

[JBHUNTFAN]

Lehigh Valleys Black Diamond Express was also known as the Honeymoon Express to Niagara Falls (NY-BUF-NF). I assume they had private sleeper service to consummate the marriage.

[Gilbert B Norman]

The trial for this service is listed on the RGS website. https://www.riograndescenicrailroad.com ... llman.html

Train on 2/17-2/19 will be operating from CUS on 3-hr RT dining trains. I'm curious what the route is, although they mention the "King's Dinner" which was the hallmark offering of IC's Panama Limited. My first guess, then, is up/over the SCAL to CNIC thence to Homewood and back. That's not very scenic, though. And really, there's nothing other than that even hinting at routes - it could be out of CUS-North for that matter. I hope to nail down CUS-North or CUS-South so I can grab a few pics.

From Marriott Downtown Key Center Cleveland--

Mr. Dunville, any knowledge regarding success (or otherwise) of this planned operation.

As you can see from the Dateline, I'm out of town (no folks, I did not use Lake Shore to get here).

[lstone19]

Arghhh! I completely forgot to check the Great Hall when heading to my 5:05 MILW-W train last night. However, at 5:00, there was no sign of the equipment on the north side although I'm not surprised since if they really were going north, I expect it would have been from Track 1 or 3 and the last Metra departure from 1 is 5:15 and from 3 is my 5:05.

[lstone19]

Interestingly, Arizona Eastern 6070, the E8 used to pull this special, was sitting near the west end of CP's Bensenville (IL) yard yesterday. No sign of the passenger equipment.

[CHTT1]

Interestingly, Arizona Eastern 6070, the E8 used to pull this special, was sitting near the west end of CP's Bensenville (IL) yard yesterday. No sign of the passenger equipment.

Iowa Pacific operates a switching line in Bensonville and I believe they plan to store their passenger equipment on that property between runs.

[jhdeasy]

Yesterday, the people at Colorado Zephyrs Inc. announced that they have just sold their private car COLORADO PINE in response to an unsolicited purchase offer.

http://www.cozx.com/copine.html

I wonder if this smooth sided x- L&N Pullman sleeper is the latest acquisition by Mr. Ellis' business holdings? If it is, then we will have to picture the car in Illinois Central colors.

I'd love to see them provide Pullman sleeper service on trains 66/67, at least between Boston and Washington, in each direction.

[Tadman]

That car is a beaut, I always thought the L&N look was under-celebrated. That said, the IC look is one of my favorites. Win-win to us home gamers...

[ThirdRail7]

The trial for this service is listed on the RGS website. https://www.riograndescenicrailroad.com ... llman.html

Train on 2/17-2/19 will be operating from CUS on 3-hr RT dining trains. I'm curious what the route is, although they mention the "King's Dinner" which was the hallmark offering of IC's Panama Limited. My first guess, then, is up/over the SCAL to CNIC thence to Homewood and back. That's not very scenic, though. And really, there's nothing other than that even hinting at routes - it could be out of CUS-North for that matter. I hope to nail down CUS-North or CUS-South so I can grab a few pics.

This might be off topic, but I'll ask: Does anyone know how this trip went?

[PRRGuy]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nictd1000/6816704332/


http://www.flickr.com/photos/nictd1000/6816714022/

[jp1822]

If overnight sleepers were to return to the NEC, I would say the current 66/67 schedule would be ideal, as opposed to the Twilight Shoreliner schedule that was more oriented around the M&E traffic. Currently NE Regional trains 66/67 have good calling times at Boston and Washington DC (most important). But I think it would definitely be beneficial to the tidewater region to have the added overnight sleeper car service to/from Boston/New England.

There's certainly been a buzz about Iowa Pacific Pullman Service - attaching the cars behind current Amtrak trains. The ultimate land cruise experience would likely be tacking cars behind the Capitol Limited and CA Zephyr. Course at present, there would be merrit in tacking "pullman service" behind the Cardinal - spectacular scenery on a route that is constantly sold out in sleeper class.

Course a reincarnation of the Broadway Limited, using the Pennsylvanian and Capitol Limited, would be ideal as well.

Definitely curious to see what becomes of such a plan. There's definitely a demand for Amtrak sleeper space. The new Viewliner Sleeper II's are still a couple years away of being fully deployed into the system. And then there's the issue of whether Amtrak will haul the present Viewliners into the shops for an overhaul so as to match the new Viewliner II's!

[afiggatt]

I
Definitely curious to see what becomes of such a plan. There's definitely a demand for Amtrak sleeper space. The new Viewliner Sleeper II's are still a couple years away of being fully deployed into the system. And then there's the issue of whether Amtrak will haul the present Viewliners into the shops for an overhaul so as to match the new Viewliner II's!

The reports from recent presentations by Amtrak management at NARP and other associations meetings is that the plan is to indeed rebuild the 50 Viewliner 1s to match the Viewliner II configuration with no toilets in the roomettes and 125 mph capability. How quickly the Viewliner Is get rebuilt is obviously going to depend on funding, but it would not unreasonable to expect a few of the Vw Is to be rotated out of service for rebuild for a period of several years.

[Gilbert B Norman]

While I remain skeptical about any success of this Iowa Pacific proposal, they likely would enjoy better acceptance from both the public as well as Amtrak employee relations if they were to select routes over which no Sleeping Car service is presently offered.

As Mr. JP notes, CHI-30-PGH-42-NYP and vv would be just such a route. Iowa Pacific would simply have to build into their rates the cost of switching at PGH, which would likely have to be done by an NS engine. BOS-67-WAS and vv would also be another route, for as Mr. Figgatt notes, Amtrak intends to withdraw existing Viewliners so that they be rebuilt to match interior configuration and running gear of the new CAF cars (may or may not be named Viewliners),so there may not be additional cars available for new routes.

I note employee relations, as I have to question how "it would go down' amongst the ASWC bretheren, if Amtrak "contracted out" work to presumably "non-union" IP employees. It is one thing to have a "PV" on a train, or even a specialized "luxoservice" like AOE was and where the railroad transportation was one part of a tour package, with "non-union" attendants; it is quite something else to have another company openly selling to the public single ride Sleeping Car (and apparently Diner) service using Amtrak trains as a vehicle - and "non-union" help.

I can only hope that Mr. Ellis has considered potential labor issues both on Amtrak and on his charter cars.

[JimBoylan]

The Pennsylvanian's locomotive might be available as a switch engine at Pittsburgh, but I don't know how crew utilization would work out.