Iowa Pacific Pullman Service

Mr. O'Keefe, I pray that you know I wholly respect the knowledge and insight you bring to the several forums around here at which we both participate, but part of my eleven year railroad career was within Labor Relations.

I can as good as guarantee this Forum that if any initiative to contract out (and that is what it would be) Sleeping Car service, be it Iowa Pacific or any other party, would be met with the same resistance as was when Amtrak and Doctor's Associates, dba Subway, entered into a contract to provide food service aboard Empire Service trains. Amtrak simply will not be bothered with "pressing" the issue. The result from that noted initiative is that the local ALB-NYP trains no longer have Food and Beverage service.

I realize that most of the railfans here think first and foremost about the quality of service, and dismiss that Amtrak pure and simple is a "Union Shop". But you and I are beyond such youthful and idealistic thinking.

Chicago-Boston(448), Boston-Washington(67),Washington-Chicago(29), service 2 or 3 times a week could give some quite attractive options for tourist/ leisure travel.
Aren't 66/67 the only trains available for PV's on the NEC? Are Amtrak under any obligation to provide this service?

Gilbert B Norman wrote:I realize that most of the railfans here think first and foremost about the quality of service, and dismiss that Amtrak pure and simple is a "Union Shop". But you and I are beyond such youthful and idealistic thinking.

Thank you Mr. Norman. My question to you then is, "What about the current service model on the City of New Orleans?" Could IP's "sleeper as private varnish" model be extended elsewhere?

Really and truly on the most basic level this is a resumption as it were of the "company owned" model as executed prior to the divestiture in 1944 required under United States v. Pullman Co.. IP owns the cars, employs all onboard staff including both service and transportation personnel and they handle all of the logistics of the car from the coupler back.

It is a strange twist of history indeed to see this model reemerge and I would even speculate whether or not PRIIA 2008 §216 could someday be interpreted by a court as having indirectly rendered moot the rulings of U.S. v. Pullman Co..

Mr. O'Keefe, note that Iowa Pacific does not handle passengers other than from CHI to NOL and v.v. This is the long standing exception affording private cars to operate as they do. American European/Orient/Grand Luxe did not handle any passengers to and from intermediate stops.

In the case of The Pullman Company, both pre and post 1947, their employees were covered by Agreement. Lest we forget, "George M" had differing ideas about "who needs a Union?" and the result were extremely bitter, and violent, strikes

That's interesting. Private cars handle passengers at intermediate stops all the time. But I guess I never stopped and thought about the fact that I've never seen such activity codified on the train manifest (which of course would make it "official"). It is simply done as a courtesy.

A fine example is the Milwaukee/261 cars. While the steam engine was being rebuilt, Railroad Heritage/Friends of the 261 ran numerous fundraising excursions on the rear end of nos. 7/8. Fares and accommodations were advertised and sold to the public by RHMA, and an option to travel to/from Milwaukee - an enroute stop - was almost always advertised and even had its own lower rate. We used to let folks on and off those cars at just about all of the other stops too. If they asked for it, we just did it. The traveling "car managers" were always good about letting us know. They never just went ahead and let people off without telling us first. (that can sometimes be a problem with some other private car operators, let me tell you...)

So, technically, should we have not been doing this? Does that particular outfit's status as a non-profit corporation figure into the legal equation at all?

Gilbert B Norman wrote:Mr. O'Keefe, note that Iowa Pacific does not handle passengers other than from CHI to NOL and v.v. This is the long standing exception affording private cars to operate as they do. American European/Orient/Grand Luxe did not handle any passengers to and from intermediate stops.

Granted. But at least initially it seems to me that there's tremendous growth potential for "end point" services, e.g. WAS-CHI, NYP-CHI. I think NYP to Florida (and return) is where that starts to become a problem.

Gilbert B Norman wrote:In the case of The Pullman Company, both pre and post 1947, their employees were covered by Agreement. Lest we forget, "George M" had differing ideas about "who needs a Union?" and the result were extremely bitter, and violent, strikes

A very worthy note and I think it is important to acknowledge Mr. A Philip Randolph, PMOF (As memorialized on AMTK 32503) and the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters for their long struggle for dignity in the workplace, fair wages and the desegregation of the nation.

There's also a statue of Randolph in Washington, DC, Union Station.

Has Iowa Pacific considered running trains to cities presently not served by Amtrak like Las Vegas?

Tom6921 wrote:Has Iowa Pacific considered running trains to cities presently not served by Amtrak like Las Vegas?

Not Las Vegas, but they have considered starting a rail service to Tulsa.

electricron wrote:

Tom6921 wrote:Has Iowa Pacific considered running trains to cities presently not served by Amtrak like Las Vegas?

Not Las Vegas, but they have considered starting a rail service to Tulsa.

And Oklahoma City; well, almost.

And there's a excellent statue of Phillip Randolph in Boston's Back Bay Station.

Rockingham Racer wrote:And Oklahoma City; well, almost.

OKC has been serviced by Amtrak's Heartland Flyer for over a decade now.

Therefore, OKC doesn't fit the initial question I was answering....
"Has Iowa Pacific considered running trains to cities presently not served by Amtrak like Las Vegas?"

Has Iowa Pacific finished restoring former Milwaukee Road Skytop "Coffee Creek" yet? If so, are there any pictures of it in the Iowa Pacific scheme?

Nothing I've found.