A Real Parlor Car

It has occurred to me that many of our younger Members, kikely age 40 and under, only know of a Parlor Car as Amtrak's "Pacific Parlour Car" that is assigned to the Seattle-LA "Starlight".

While many a photo of an interior of a heavyweight Parlor Car exist in both publications and on the web, here is one I came upon that may especially appeal toBeatles fans

Mr. Norman,
What is the differnce between a Club Car and a Parlor Car? I only knew what a Parlor Car was from the Pacific Parlor Car I've ridden in it.

John

During "railroad days", Club Car was a term often used in place of Lounge Car. It also was a term adopted first by Canadian National during the "mid sixties' passenger service initiative for First Class seating, then by the Pennsylvania Railroad for Meytoliner First Class - Metroclub. Amtrak also followed suit for Amfleet First Class service cars - Amclub.

Gilbert B Norman wrote:During "railroad days", Club Car was a term often used in place of Lounge Car. It also was a term adopted first by Canadian National during the "mid sixties' passenger service initiative for First Class seating, then by the Pennsylvania Railroad for Meytoliner First Class - Metroclub. Amtrak also followed suit for Amfleet First Class service cars - Amclub.

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

must be something about been a mega popstar that lets you get away with behaviour that would otherwise be frowned upon !
Referring to John Lennons seating arrangement which , I presume , was not your ordinary parlor cars patron stance .

Thanks for sharing the picture. I have had the good fortune to have riden in a parlor car and yes I was a Beatles fan.

Considering the public conduct of all too many an entertainer (includes athletes, after all, what else are they?), the Beatles were downright "tame'.

During the Super Bowl XXXIX halftime performance, anyone else note the average age of those in the "moshing pit' surroundig Sir Paul as he performed?

Guarantee you, as one who did have occasion to ride heavyweight Parlor Cars (they were regularly assigned in the PRR Corridor well into "the sixties" when the photo of John was taken as were P-70 Coaches even AFTERl A-Day), had I been so inclined, I would have been "addressed'. But then, I'm "uh, not exactly' a "pop icon" in this life, even though I have on enough occasions been told (especially on visits to the "Mother Country") my appearance resembles Sir Elton John (well, that is before his foicle 'transplant').

I have the AAR definitions at home. I will post the tech differences between a buffet lounge, a lounge, and a parlor car tonight.

John Perkowski

For those who may be interested, I own and maintain a web site focused on the three generations of LIRR Parlor Cars in the 1960-2000 era.

A section of the web page covers the LIRR's heavyweight parlor cars. I have exterior photos of most of the cars; only a few interior photos.

Caution: I freely admit some of the information in my roster of heavyweight parlor cars, as it pertains to their history prior to acquisition by LIRR, is suspect ... I am working on validation as time allows.

http://www/mindspring.com/~jhdeasy/lirr

Unfortunately, Mr. Deasy, all I get when attempting to open the link is a 404 Error; possibly you can perfect such.

But the Long Island Parlors on the all-Parlor CannonBall circa 1963 complete with an open platform obs was a sight to behold; also an experience to ride.

Unfortunately, I did not to get to ride to end of track in Montauk; my Father was kind of thought "Amagansett is where the boat is; that is where we meet you, period'.

It is hard to believe, with "The Hamptons being The Hamptons" that some kind of "luxotrain' did not survive. I guess the A-List is pretty much doing the TBO-FOK "thing" in the Gulfstream (are landing slots at FOK needed Fri PM???). The Bennie and Land Rover are already "out there'. If not, the "personal assistant' that "drives 'em out' can jolly go home on the LIRR in a bi-level or whatever they operate today.

In the 1970s, some Amtrak Washington, DC trains (such as the Merchant's Limited) still had a parlor car. It was the first passenger car in the consist, followed by a diner, and then the coachs. I took it a few times back from meetings at the then Federal Power Commission. Each side of the car had a single row of individual swiveling seats and the car had an attendant. When it was time for dinner, the dining car steward seated those from the parlor car immediately, even if coach passengers had queued sooner at the other end.

Gilbert B Norman wrote:Unfortunately, Mr. Deasy, all I get when attempting to open the link is a 404 Error; possibly you can perfect such.

Operator error on my part. The correct URL is

http://www.mindspring.com/~jhdeasy/lirr

Expanding upon club car vs parlor car for a bit, as Mr. Norman said, Club car was sometimes used in place of lounge. Some other terms were club-lounge, tavern lounge and if it had an observation at the end, observation lounge. There were quite a variety of beverage and food service cars with a number of different names, some peculiar to a particular train.

It was really under Amtrak,it being a national company, that we began to have some sort of agreement on such terminology.

Another whole category was the coffee-shop lounge, or grill lounge type of equipment , all sorts of names.

Back to parlor car, I am sure some people referred to the parlor cars as "pullmans", inasmuch as the pullman company operated most of them. For most people, pullman referred to sleeping cars.

For those who've never experienced a pre-Amfleet / pre-Superliner lounge:

At San Francisco's Golden Gate Railroad Museum, you can still take a stroll through one of the most massive "relaxation" cars ever built: the 'Cascade Club,' an articulated, three-unit, 204 foot diner-lounge built for the Southern Pacific in 1949.

Take a look if you're ever out that way.

www.ggrm.org

In a base generic sense, the parlour car's main distinguishing feature was single (plush) seats on either side of the aisle vs. the double seats found in "coach" i.e it was just a fancy, costly, roomier, coach car. Where as, club cars and lounge cars had a dukes mixture of seating/table arrangements and bar/food service.
The Coast Starlight's Pacific Parlour Car is probably named such for the alliteration, more than design, however, it's great nevertheless.