No More "Sleepers" ... now "Private Rooms"

....now Private Rooms.

The terms Bedroom and Roomette remain active. For better or worse, those did not become "Standard" and "Deluxe" (or how about Brightlinese - Smart and Select).

Gilbert B Norman wrote: ↑Mon Jun 26, 2023 1:56 pm ....now Private Rooms.

The terms Bedroom and Roomette remain active. For better or worse, those did not become "Standard" and "Deluxe" (or how about Brightlinese - Smart and Select).

Well, you got to admit, "sleeper" wasn't a good marketing term for the actual rooms themselves.

Totally agree Mr. Wolf.

But the term Sleeper is as old as railroads; well, at least as old as George M Pullman.

Well even before Mr.Pullman, but they were just bunks two or three high and were 'hard'.

What the term sleeping car doesn't make it or what?
Of course, Amtrak is running at least one train we know of without sleeping car[s] though 52+ years ago the private railroads were being vilified for running some overnight trains without sleeping cars.

urr304 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 26, 2023 7:23 pm Well even before Mr.Pullman, but they were just bunks two or three high and were 'hard'.

What the term sleeping car doesn't make it or what?
Of course, Amtrak is running at least one train we know of without sleeping car[s] though 52+ years ago the private railroads were being vilified for running some overnight trains without sleeping cars.

Sleeping car is probably the best term out there. We can't truly call it a dorm car as that's more reserved for staff and would be chock full of roomettes.

Lest we forget, young people can somehow still catch "a few winks" in a Coach (how, I don't know, but they do). So therefore, a Coach is a "sleeper".

The change in the term was long overdue, and probably should have been made on A-Day when open Sections were "finito".

Sleeper is a venerable term in passenger rail history as well as in general public use.

"To Niag'ra in a sleeper, there's no honeymoon that's cheaper." From the song "Shuffle off to Buffalo" featured in the 1933 motion picture "42nd Street".

Times have changed and sleepers can no longer be considered cheap, but no matter what Amtrak calls them they will always be sleepers to me.

A lot of sleepers in the old days offered sections, which were not private rooms. Amtrak got rid of those.

I should check my March 71 Guide before making this statement, but I THINK the final train to offer Open Sections was the UP Butte Special.

True, the NH (--Beach) and L&N (-- Pine) acquired Open Section cars configured 6S-4BR-6RM "late in the game", but those were gone before "The End".

The Late Bill Haithcoat could have answered that "off the top of his head".

addendum: I've now checked my March '71 Guide; both the Butte Special and the L&N Gulf Wind offered Open Sections. There is a possibility that the PC "Federal" also offered them, but the Guide only shows "Sleeping Cars".

I believe that open sections are still offered by VIA on The Canadian and The Ocean. On The Ocean it depends on whether the venerable Budd cars are in the consist.

I rode PennCentral's Federal out of Boston on the night of Apr. 4, 1971 in a tuscan red Pennsylvania RR Roomette & Bedroom Sleeper. There was no New Haven RR Sleeper in that particular train.
A fellow passenger explained to this youngster that the shiny metal insulated bottle on a shelf was for drinking water, the concoction in the water tank was for sanitary purposes only.
Sone of the Via Rail Canada cars built with 4 sections have 1 of them replaced with a communal shower.

Somewhere I read that Amtrak at its startup used some Sleeping Cars with a few Sections, and reserved those spaces for crew use only, instead of providing a Dormitory car.

Concur, Mr. Boylan--

The Q acquired some six 6-4-6 "Silver (flower)" cars that they sold to Amtrak.
To my knowledge, they never were HEP'd and the Open Sections were never sold as revenue space.

BAR wrote: ↑Tue Jun 27, 2023 7:39 am I believe that open sections are still offered by VIA on The Canadian

They are indeed and it was probably the best night's sleep I've had aboard a train other than a few nights aboard the Caledonian that involved a few scotches as sleep aid. Certainly the best night aboard completely sober.

Any more now I'll have a beer or two aboard a superliner before nodding off. I find it helps a lot.

Tadman thanks for confirming. I checked out the VIA website and open sections are called "berths" and roomettes are called "cabins". Sounds rather nautical to me.