Parlour Cars In and Out of Service.
OK, I will concede that you may be tired of reading about the Pacific Parlour Cars on Amtrak’s Coast Starlight. I suppose part of the reason I write about them is because I really do go out of my way to ride the Coast Starlight—at several hundred dollars of extra expense—just to spend a dozen hours luxuriating in the Parlour Car. Furthermore, I know that I’m not alone.
But I’m also concerned that Amtrak is going to come up with some pretext to take these cars out of service when it’s really just another effort to cut costs by a few measly dollars. In fact, the last I heard, the Parlour Cars were sort of in and out of service … sometimes part of the consist, sometimes not.
There may indeed be nothing nefarious to this, but during a time when the railroad is under tremendous pressure from Congress to break even, no cuts or changes could be announced that would surprise me.
By the way, if you’re traveling on the Coast Starlight, spend the extra money book a roomette even though you may be traveling a relatively short distance. Typically, because I’m into the American Airlines frequent flyer program, I fly home to Maui out of Los Angeles. When coming from Chicago, I take the Zephyr to Davis, California, then catch the Coast Starlight to Los Angeles the next morning. It’s about a 14-hour ride, but I pay an extra $100 for a roomette. For that additional expense, I get privacy when I want it; I get three meals in the dining car included in that extra fare; and I get access to the Pacific Parlour Car, which is available only to sleeping car passengers. To me, that makes spending the extra hundred bucks an absolute no-brainer.
Your initial reaction is correct. Those windows were glazed long ago in the Parlours. Consistently cutting these feature cars out of the consist just makes it easier to slide them out altogether. Just wonder if this is a joint effort between FRA and Amtrak to bring a standard of mediocrity to its last train..?
With any vision, these Parlours could have paved the way for differentiation, providing upgraded food service and bar. Indeed, how many vineyards between Washington, Oregon, and California would have jumped at the opportunity to provide free cases of wine to be sampled at the former afternoon wine hour? I’ll bet “Rocky Mountaineer” is just licking its chops to get authority to run south from Seattle to LA.