Best night's sleep you've had pre or post Amtrak

[CarterB]

What route/train do you consider the "best night's sleep" you have had?
Considering type of accommodation, track condition, noise level, lack of stops, etc.

[Ocala Mike]

Omaha, Nebraska to eastern Colorado on the present-day CZ. Nothing to see outside (after all, it's Nebraska), and a nice BNSF ride. Slept like a baby last November on my way to SLC.

[John_Perkowski]

Moderator's Note:

This will be going to Mr Benton's Rail Travel and Trip Reports forum in a day or so.

Speaking as a Member:

Absolute best: July, 1967, upper berth in a section on the City of Saint Louis, enroute Lawrence, KS to LAUPT.

Close second: February, 1985, lower berth of a Trans Euro Nacht Type U (12 BR) enroute with my then-bride (literally, we'd been married about 4 months) Frankfurt-Copenhagen.

Third: March 1999, CZ Westbound. Son was in the upper, we took the lower.

[NellieBly]

Hands down, the southbound Montreal Limited on D&H in the summer of 1970. I was in a roomette right in the center of a former NYC Pullman-Standard (smooth side) sleeper, and it was one of the best-riding cars I've ever been on. It felt like we were floating over the railroad, especially at the modest D&H speed limits.

Next best: roomette on the NB Florida Special, winter 1970. CSX hadn't been invented yet, so the former Seaboard and ACL were smooth as silk.

[hsr_fan]

My only overnight train trip thus far was aboard Amtrak's Crescent between New York and Atlanta. I can tell you that in the middle of the night, through North Carolina and South Carolina, there are a lot of grade crossings! The constant two longs, short, and a long on the horn can make sleeping tough. Maybe if they put the Viewliners in back it'd be better.

[EastCleveland]

I haven't had a truly great night's sleep since I was small enough to curl up on two empty New York Central coach seats for an overnight trip to Chicago.

However, for reasons unknown, I did enjoy my "best train sleep as an adult" in the upper berth of a Viewliner roomette during a trip on the Cardinal last year. Was it thanks to the track condition? Diesel fumes? I have no idea.

------------------------------------------

[LI Loco]

My last trip in a slumbercoach on the Lake Shore Ltd. in 1992, probably was the best. I woke up with the train at a stop and opened the shade to see where we were. There was a giant Cleveland Indian logo staring at me. After a few seconds my grogginess wore off and I remembered that in those days Municipal Stadium, where the Indians played, was next to the Amtrak station.

[R Paul Carey]

Of many fine overnight roomette trips aboard Amtrak, a ride on #48 in the Spring of 1980 from Chicago to New York comes to mind, when at Utica (shortly after having had breakfast), I noticed a connection for Lake Placid with an RS-3 and several green heavyweight coaches (P-70's?) awaiting on an adjacent platform.

The "Water-Level Route" was smooth as glass, and the lengthwise bed in the roomette made for a perfectly restful trip!

BTW, we were RIGHT ON TIME, which - back then - was considered "normal"!!!

[Gilbert B Norman]

My memories are all before A-Day:

1) Super #18; June 1962
2) Century #25 Jan 1963 (light snow always muffles noise)
3) Panama #6 Memphis to Chi Sep 1963 (center Roomette in pick up car)

[CNJ]

Hands down, the southbound Montreal Limited on D&H in the summer of 1970. I was in a roomette right in the center of a former NYC Pullman-Standard (smooth side) sleeper, and it was one of the best-riding cars I've ever been on. It felt like we were floating over the railroad, especially at the modest D&H speed limits.

Next best: roomette on the NB Florida Special, winter 1970. CSX hadn't been invented yet, so the former Seaboard and ACL were smooth as silk.

I've also ridden the D&H Montreal Limited and I can concur with the observations of NellieBly.

I've also had great/restful rides on the Montrealer of the Mid-70's, as well as the Southern Railroads, "Southern Crescent".

[MadManMoon]

Tie for me...

1. CHI-WAS on the Cardinal in February of this year. Upper berth in a Viewliner roomette, center of the car.

2. CHI-NYP on the Lake Shore Limited 2 weeks ago. Lower berth in a Viewliner roomette, fell asleep an hour outside Chicago, woke up in Erie, PA. Those Viewliners ride pretty darned smooth!

[truman]

My only overnight train trip thus far was aboard Amtrak's Crescent between New York and Atlanta. I can tell you that in the middle of the night, through North Carolina and South Carolina, there are a lot of grade crossings! The constant two longs, short, and a long on the horn can make sleeping tough. Maybe if they put the Viewliners in back it'd be better.

That goes for the Silver Meteor too, in 2005, running 2.5 hours late due to an on board fire in Pa. We made up all but 16 minutes getting to Jacksonville Fla, but man are there a lot of grade crossings!

[John Laubenheimer]

Of those that I can recall:

Pre-Amtrak
AT&SF #20/2 (Chief - 2nd section) in August 1967 - sleeper REGAL HOUSE (as a teenager) ... 1 hour late @ Kansas City/15 mins early into Dearborn Station (left to the imagination how fast we went)
UP #104 (City of Los Angeles) in August 1969 - sleeper OCEAN SUNSET (as a teenager) ... 2:35 late out of Cheyenne/1:25 late into Omaha (7 E-9s and 16 cars on the UP east of Cheyenne) clocked (from mileposts) @112 mph

Post-Amtrak
#40 (Broadway Limited) in August 1993 (?) in one of the many ex-UP Pacific-series 10-6s ... ex-B&O west of Pittsburgh/ex-PRR east (I was really tired after a week of conferences)

In my experience, PS sleepers beat out BUDD sleepers for quiet (and not by a close margin); ACF sleepers close to (but not equal to) PS. Ride quality depended on track and equipment maintenance; both could be really awful.

[John_Perkowski]

Mr Laubenheimer,

If you go to the Illinois Transit website (www.iltransit.com), they concur with you that P-S had the better ride and comfort; Budd though has the advantage of stainless steel.

P-S used Cor-Ten (tm), and that was a steel that should never have been used for railcars. In structural applications it was designed to give a single layer of corrosion and then stop, using the corrosion for a patina.

In railroading, flake, flake, flake went the structural members...