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Re:CZ vs. DZ diner & coffee shop

To: BRHSlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re:CZ vs. DZ diner & coffee shop
From: "Stephen J. Levine" <sjl@p...>
Date: Tue, 05 Jun 2001 19:12:57 -0000
In-reply-to: <9fjaoo+ddem@e...>
User-agent: eGroups-EW/0.82
In the first paragraph, that should have read "Colorado Springs cars". 
These were at least a dome coach, a slumbercoach and a 10-6 sleeper.

Ironically, my return trip on December 31, 1966 was the first trip 
where the Colorado Springs cars did not operate beyond Denver. As 
my brother and I boarded the train in Chicago, a cheerful note awaited 
us in our slumbercoach rooms telling us that the Burlington was 
"pleased" to have substituted connecting bus service to Colorado 
Springs.

sjl

--- In BRHSlist@y..., "Stephen J. Levine" <sjl@p...> wrote:
> On the trains I rode, both #10 and #1, the Chuckwagon and the 
regular 
> diner were in the section I rode, although separated by the Colorado 
> Springs car.
> 
> Nevertheless, unlike the CZ dome-lounge-buffet cars, the DZ 
chuckwagon 
> cars had a full kitchen located just behind the dome and occupying 
> half of the A end, the other half being dormitory space for the crew 
> and a single bedroom for the dining car steward. In contrast, the 
CZ 
> cars just had sleeping space in the A end, with dormitory space for 
> the crew and bedrooms for both the dining car steward and the 
> zephyrette.
> 
> The door to the kitchen was in the alcove leading to the dome, 
> although, I believe, there was an entrance to the kitchen from 
> behind the under-dome lunch counter.
> 
> It is my personal belief that the Chuckwagon cars were intended to 
> replace the dinette-coach on the 1936 Denver Zephyr. This dinette 
> seated 16 and also had a separate kitchen.
> 
> The fact that the Chuckwagon cars were able to offer complete food 
> service allowed them to be used as the Denver-Chicago food service 
car 
> for the remnant of the California Zephyr that operated between 
Chicago 
> and Ogden from after the CZ was discontinued to the start of Amtrak.
> 
> sjl
> 
> --- In BRHSlist@y..., Denny Anspach <danspach@m...> wrote:
> > The interesting post on the DZ two section operations in January 
> > 1956 caught my interest, especially that the diner and coffee shop 
> > cars were split.
> > 
> > I have presumed, and probably incorrectly, that the CZ and DZ 
> diners, 
> > and coffee shop cars respectively were essentially laid out in 
> > similar fashion insofar as the food service functions were 
> concerned. 
> > The CZ diners and coffee shop cars were designed specifically to 
> work 
> > with other back-to-back, especially when it came to pantry and 
> > storage space. Specifically and essentially, the CZ diner had by 
> > design very little pantry space, relying on such space in the 
coffee 
> > shop car.
> > 
> > For this reason, the CZ diners did not do well when unconnected to 
> > the coffee shops. When in early Amtrak service on the SFZ, part of 
> > the problem was solved by routinely situating the former SP Domes 
> > ahead of the diner, the vast empty space below the dome floor 
> > substituting in a fashion for the otherwise absent former coffee 
> shop 
> > space.
> > 
> > I do not have specific information at hand at how long the CZ 
diners 
> > lasted in Amtrak service, but I understood that they were not 
> popular 
> > because of the poor storage.
> > 
> > I would presume that the DZ diners might have been able to "make 
do" 
> > in this regard (absent the coffee shop) because they only had to 
> > serve evening and morning meals between terminal commissary 
visits.
> > 
> > Curious: how did the DZ diners do in Amtrak service?
> > 
> > Denny
> > -- 
> > Denny S. Anspach, MD
> > Sacramento, CA


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