NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Superliner (railcar)

The Superliner is a largely disabled-accessible double decker passenger car used by Amtrak, mainly on its western routes. They come in coach, baggage coach, diner, lounge, coach cafe, sleeper, and transition car/dorm configurations. Trains using Superliners include the Capitol Limited, Auto Train, Sunset Limited, Texas Eagle, California Zephyr, City of New Orleans, Southwest Chief, Empire Builder, Heartland Flyer and Coast Starlight. On the west Coast, Caltrans' Amtrak-operated Pacific Surfliner, San Joaquin and Capitol Corridor trains use a similar type of car called the California Car. Image File history File linksMetadata Auto_Train_lounge. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Auto_Train_lounge. ... The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) is the short title of United States Public Law 101-336, 104 Stat. ... A double decker is a bus, airplane, train, tram, ferry, or any public transit vehicle that has two levels for passengers, one deck above the other. ... Restored passenger cars on display at the Mid-Continent Railway Museum in North Freedom, WI. A passenger car is a piece of railroad rolling stock that is designed to carry passengers. ... Acela Express in West Windsor, NJ Amtrak Cascades service with tilting Talgo trainsets in Seattle, Washington Amtrak train in downtown Orlando, Florida For other uses, see Amtrak (disambiguation). ... An interior view of a modern Finnish bilevel intercity coach. ... Categories: Stub | Passenger equipment ... A typical restaurant in uptown Manhattan A restaurant is an establishment that serves prepared food and beverages to be consumed on the premises. ... The interior of a Pullman car on the Chicago and Alton Railroad circa 1900. ... A typical American college dorm room A dormitory or dorm is a place to sleep. ... Amtraks Capitol Limited is one of the two routes connecting Washington, DC to Chicago, running via Cleveland, Ohio (the other is the Cardinal via Cincinnati). ... Auto Train is a scheduled public rail transportation service for both passengers and their personal transportation vehicles operated by Amtrak between Lorton, Virginia (near Washington, D.C.) and Sanford, Florida, near Orlando. ... Sunset Limited (eastbound) at the Houston train station. ... The Texas Eagle is a 1306-mile (2102 km) passenger train route operated by Amtrak in the central and western United States. ... The California Zephyr is a 2438-mile (3924 km) passenger train route operated by Amtrak in the Midwestern and Southwestern United States. ... Amtraks City of New Orleans at the Memphis, Tennessee station. ... The Southwest Chief snaking through Apache Canyon, NM The Southwest Chief (formerly the Southwest Limited) is a passenger train operated by Amtrak along a 2256-mile (3631-km) route through the Midwestern and Southwestern United States. ... Empire Builder is a train route operated by Amtrak in the Midwestern and Northwestern United States. ... Amtraks Heartland Flyer is a relatively new 206-mile (332 km) route between Fort Worth, Texas and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. ... The Coast Starlight at San Luis Obispo, California. ... Caltrans logo The soaring ramps in the stack interchanges favored by Caltrans often provide stunning views. ... // Northbound Pacific Surfliner Cab Car crosses Carlsbad Village Dr. in Carlsbad, Ca. ... The San Joaquins refers to a train route operated by Amtrak California in Californias Central Valley. ... Amtrak California system map, with Capitol Corridor in Red The Capitol Corridor is a 172-mile (275 km) passenger train route operated by Amtrak in California. ... Map of the three Amtrak California routes - the Capitol Corridor (red), Pacific Surfliner (green) and San Joaquins (blue) - and other Amtrak routes in California (black) An Amtrak California train at San Jose Diridon Station An Amtrak California Express Thruway Motorcoach in Sacramento provides passengers with dedicated, guaranteed connections to and...

1 Design
2 See also
3 External links

Design

Top: German-designed truck from Superliner I car. Bottom: General Steel Castings truck from Superliner II car.

The original El Capitan Hi-Level cars were built by Budd in 1956. The Superliner I fleet was built in 1979 by Pullman Standard, (with the last car of the order, a sleeper, also the last car built by Pullman was named in honor of the Company's founder, George Mortimer Pullman.) The Superliner II fleet was built in 1995 by Bombardier. The Superliner I and Superliner II differ somewhat in interior fittings, primarily in color- the newer cars tend toward gray, aquamarine, and salmon rather than the shades of brown and orange favored on the earlier cars. Externally, the two classes differ in a number of subtle respects, but they can be readily distinguished by the type of truck (bogie) used to support the car- Superliner I cars use a German design originally fitted with an air bag suspension (but soon retrofitted with springs), while the Superliner II uses a General Steel Castings truck of the same type used under Horizon, Viewliner, and the original self-propelled Metroliner cars. See photo at right for a comparison of the two types. Image File history File linksMetadata Superliner_trucks. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Superliner_trucks. ... George Pullman (March 3, 1831 - October 19, 1897) was an American inventor and industrialist. ... The Viewliner is a single-level sleeping car used by Amtrak on eastern routes. ... Budd Pennsylvania Railroad Metroliner multiple-unit car circa 1968. ...

The Southwest Chief is one of many Superliner-equipped trains

The end of a Superliner I coach-baggage car.

The overall design of the Superliner cars was based on (and fully compatible with) cars designed and owned by the Santa Fe railroad, for their El Capitan all-coach train. For some years, while much of the Superliner fleet was still under construction, refurbished El Capitan coaches were included in many Superliner consists; in recent years, five El Capitan lounge cars were pulled out of storage and refurbished as the Coast Starlight's "Pacific Parlour" first-class lounge cars. These refurbished cars have a service bar, booths, and chairs on the upper level, and were recently upgraded to have a theatre on the lower level. A small fleet of coaches built for that train are used on the Heartland Flyer. Image File history File linksMetadata Southwest_Chief_Fort_Madison_7_2005. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Southwest_Chief_Fort_Madison_7_2005. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (528x800, 72 KB) The end of a coach-baggage Superliner on display at Railfair 91 at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento, California, May 10, 1991. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (528x800, 72 KB) The end of a coach-baggage Superliner on display at Railfair 91 at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento, California, May 10, 1991. ... The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (AAR reporting mark ATSF), often abbreviated as Santa Fe, was one of the largest railroads in the United States. ... A 1948 print advertisement touts the many benefits of riding El Capitan. ... Amtraks Heartland Flyer is a relatively new 206-mile (332 km) route between Fort Worth, Texas and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. ...

Sleeping car

Two configurations exist for Superliner sleeping cars. Of the 125 sleeping cars, 119 are configured as below, and the remaining 6 cars are configured with all Bedrooms on the upper level.

Upper level:
- 5 Bedrooms (formerly known as "Deluxe Bedrooms")
- 10 Roomettes (formerly known as "Superliner Standard Bedrooms" and "Economy Bedrooms")
- 1 shared toilet for Roomette passengers
- Car-to-car passage
Lower level:
- 1 Family Bedroom (entire width of the car)
- 1 Accessible Bedroom (entire width of the car)
- 4 Roomettes
- 3 shared toilets for Roomette passengers
- 1 shared shower
- luggage racks
- vestibule (unlike single-level passenger cars with a vestibule at each end of the car, a Superliner's single lower-level vestibule is in the center of the car)

Dining car

Superliner dining cars have almost the entire upper level available for seating, while the kitchen fills the entire lower level. Amtrak owns 69 Superliner dining cars. A kitchen is a room used for food preparation. ...

Lounge

Interior of Superliner I Lounge Café/Sightseer Lounge

When originally delivered in the 1970s, Superliner I lounges were referred to as "Lounge Café" cars. These were fitted with enormous windows that wrapped upward into the ceiling, providing views of scenery along the train's route. With the arrival of Superliner II cars in the 1990s, the nomenclature for all Superliner lounges with large windows became "Sightseer Lounge." Superliner lounge cars once had an operating wet-bar on the upper level. This function has been consolidated with that of the snack bar on the lower level, but the abandoned upper-level bars have not yet been removed. Recently, this space has been reactivated during peak periods on the Empire Builder route, but only to serve light snacks like pretzels and soda. On other routes, the bar may be used as a speaking podium for volunteer National Park Service rangers from the Trails and Rails program, and at least one dining car steward has been observed using the bar as a desk for making dinner reservations for coach passengers. The rest of the upper level is filled with a mixture of swivelling chairs and love seats facing the windows. In addition to the 55 Sightseer Lounges, five lounge cars were converted from Superliner I dining cars for Auto Train service; these cars, which are only found in that train, lack the larger windows of the Sightseer Lounge cars. Image File history File linksMetadata Superliner_I_Lounge_upper. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Superliner_I_Lounge_upper. ... Empire Builder is a train route operated by Amtrak in the Midwestern and Northwestern United States. ...

Coach

Closeup of one end of a Superliner coach

102 Superliner I coaches were built, and 48 Superliner I coach-baggage combination cars with a secure baggage hold instead of lower-level seating. 38 Superliner II coaches were added to the roster. 30 of the coach-baggage combinations were later converted into "smoking coaches" with a smoking lounge replacing the baggage area and the outside baggage door in the side of the car sealed shut. Since all Amtrak trains are now non-smoking throughout (with the exception of Auto Train) it is possible that the combination cars will be resuscitated and put into service in place of the ancient baggage cars currently in use. At least one train, the Texas Eagle, already uses a coach-bag in lieu of a stand-alone baggage car. Another train, the Coast Starlight, used a converted coach-baggage as a special "children's car" for at least a short time in 1997, with the baggage space converted into a playroom for small children. The 15 or so remaining functional coach-bag cars are not enough to equip all of Amtrak's long-distance Superliner trainsets (some 28 or 30 in all). Of the 188 coaches of various types originally delivered, 159 are "in service" [late 2006], the remainder either wrecked and scrapped or wreck-damaged and awaiting either repairs or scrapping. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2048x1536, 1158 KB)personally taken photo File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2048x1536, 1158 KB)personally taken photo File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...

The "normal" Superliner coaches have some downstairs seating in addition to the sixty-odd seats upstairs. The lower level coach seating is handicapped accessible (with actual space for a wheelchair or two) and is a special reservations category (with no additional charge). The coach-bag combination coaches naturally have only upstairs seating. On the lower level in all coaches there are large luggage racks and, typically, four unisex toilets (one with a changing room), an accessible toilet, and a dedicated women's restroom.

Superliner coach seating is highly unlike airplane coach-class seating. Superliner coaches have wide two-and-two reclining seats, with foot-rests and retractable leg-rests. The 50-inch "pitch" (distance from one seat-back to the next) of the seats makes for very comfortable and commodious seating, but puts the foot-rests out of reach of many passengers. There are overhead open luggage racks but they are not suitable for bulky objects.

Transition Sleeper

A number of "transition sleeper" cars were built for use on Superliner-equipped trains. These cars, feature roomette accomodations for members of the train crew (although occasionally used for passengers) on the upper level, and a handicapped bedroom and crew lounge on the lower level. Sanitary facilities (toilets and showers)are on the upper and lower levels, along with the standard center vestibule. The "transition" in the name refers to the fact that these cars have a high-level end door and diaphragm only at one end; the other end has a short staircase from the upper level leading to an end door at the height of standard single-deck railcar end doors. Theoretically, this could be used to allow passengers passage from single-level to Superliner cars in a single train; in practice, it is only used to allow the crew on-the-road access to the older, single-level baggage cars used on many Superliner trains. A diaphragm is some sort of separating membrane. ... A restored CN baggage car in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. ...

External links

Amtrak Photo Archives

Categories: Amtrak | Passenger equipment

Results from FactBites:

Superliner (railcar) at AllExperts (515 words)
	The Superliner is a largely disabled-accessible double decker passenger car used by Amtrak, on mainly its western routes.
	Superliner lounge cars once had an operating wet-bar on the upper level; this function has been consolidated with that of the snack bar on the lower level, but the abandoned upper-level bars have not yet been removed.
	The Superliner 1 and Superliner 2 differ somewhat in interior fittings, primarily in color- the newer cars tend toward gray, aquamarine, and salmon rather than the shades of brown and orange favored on the earlier cars.

More results at FactBites »

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