BNSF: From "The Tiffany" to "Problematic"

Only article I could find so far. Apparently this derailment damaged the station canopy on the south platform.

https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2018/11/26 ... ra-delays/

Edit: Photos are shown from this Sun Times article.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/inbou ... lment/amp/

Aboard BNSF 1245(7) --

I'm seated in Car #7458, which is configured with "contemporary" fixed seating.

Both end's seats face center of car. There are two sets of "foursome" seating each end.

The biggest "plus" is center arm rests that can be raised or lowered as passengers desire (Amtrak; are you listening?). Another plus; METRA seems "not about" to try 3-2 seating.

Biggest negative is of course the loss of forward riding seats.

Didn't that contemporary seating get sacked after a short time? I thought I heard new management wasn't that thrilled with it and decided to bag it after like a year or so.

I don't have the definitive, but the "new configuration" remains rare in my experience (on UP-N). I haven't seen any major influx of such cars.

I certainly prefer to ride facing forward. Then again, I also prefer windows that you can see through. What's up with the older Metra cars (the orange seats) with windows so dust-etched (I assume it's dust/grit doing that) that you can't see through them? How much would it cost to replace the windows? Last night, I had trouble identifying that we were approaching my stop the window was so opaque.

The green tint doesn't exactly help. That's one of those Metra oddities like the mars light that clearly isn't necessary as no other carriers use such trim.