Gerald:
I seldom rode #10, but rode #1 probably 10 times in the late 60's (as late as
Thanksgiving 1969) from either Galesburg or Burlington to Lincoln, or between
Lincoln and Denver. I also had an excellent view of the mainline at 14th
Street in Lincoln from my dorm room at UNL. I studied late into the night, so
I saw #10 practically every night (about midnight) and probably saw #1 an
average of two nights a week (a little after 2 AM).
I could be wrong, but from my recollection of those observations, I don't
remember Silver Cup/Kettle being out of the train. When riding the train east
of Lincoln, I remember ordering late-night snacks at the counter as late as the
fall of 1968. I do remember starting sometime in 1968, I think, that there was
a sleeper behind Parlor/Observation Silver Veranda/Chateau, but I want to say
it was a slumbercoach. I believe the statement on the movement of "the
parlor-bar cars from the rear of the train up to behind the diner" is in error
if it is referring to the Parlor-Observation. Silver Veranda/Chateau was
always at the rear, or just ahead of the single sleeper previously referred to.
The length of these two trains was still at least 8 cars in 1968-69, perhaps
10 to 12 on weekends or near holidays, and still contained 3 dome cars. Unless
Silver Garden/Patio was substituted, these would have to have been the dome
coach, the dome chuck-wagon, and the dome parlor-obs.
One other thing I remember from 1968 on, because I was 21 by then. Drinks were
served in the lounge section of what had to be Observation #483, from the North
Coast Limited. On Sunday nights, this car would not serve liquor in Iowa, but
would open back up when we crossed into Nebraska. The two times I remember
sitting in this car, it was near the head-end and the observation was forward.
I'm sure this car was used only during periods of heavy business (like the
holidays when students were returning to school), because I never saw it
regularly in the train.
Sorry, I can't help with #11/#12. I never rode these trains after the
articulated sets were retired.
Glen Haug
To: CBQ@yahoogroups.com
From: vje68@hotmail.com
Date: Sat, 6 Aug 2011 20:56:11 +0000
Subject: [CBQ] Food service on 1&10/11&12 late 60's
A RR friend of mind posed these two questions for me to share with the group:
In the late 1960's the "Q" removed the Chuck Wagon cars (Silver Cup & Silver
Kettle) from #1 and #10. They moved up the parlor-bar cars from the rear of the
train up to behind the diner. The timetable shows a buffet/coach seating 44
passengers. I believe this to be the Silver Parlor and Silver Chair cars after
Aurora Shops had removed the parlor seats and put in coach seats and remade the
Drawing Room into a buffet and cut a hole in the wall to make a serving area
for the food/beverage service. This meant that the "Q" had to replace the one
type of car (Chuck Wagon) with a seperate food car (Silver Parlor or Silver
Chair) AND put a dorm car on the train for the crews to use. Someone here in
MSP suggests that probably a Silver Bird type of car with section space was run
on the rear of the train. This is a period when (probably) the mixing of crews
with regular passengers was frowned upon, unlike now with Amtrak doing so. Why
remove 1 car to replace it with 2 cars. The savings in crew costs for the Chuck
Wagon type car would probably only be a couple of men at most.?
Next question...At this same time in the timetables the consist for #11 and #12
shows a dinette/coach for food and beverage service. This was after the
Nebraska Zephyr sets of equipment were removed from $11-12 and the consists
were merged at Galesburg with the West Quincy service. We already know where
the Silver Parlor and Silver Chair cars are operating (#1 and #10) so what cars
are operating on #11-12. Did the "Q" bring up some former FW&D/C&S cars for
this service?
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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