The fare included a "roomette," the smallest private compartment on offer.
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Even in a roomette, you're afforded more space than on a plane.
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I would have a sleeper cabin or roomette of my own on the 48-hour trip.
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If you shell out $325, you can get a "Superliner Roomette" with one or two beds.
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All meals are included when you book a "roomette" or bedroom on a long-distance Amtrak train.
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Last summer, I reserved a sleeper car and roomette (a closet-size room with two seats that fold down to beds) on Amtrak's California Zephyr.
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We checked out our new digs, the closet-size roomette that my son and father would share, and the bedroom with its pullout couch where my husband and I would just fit, with a pull-down mini-bed for our daughter.
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Tune in to watch Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher grill a list of tech dignitaries that includes Elon Musk of SpaceX and Tesla Motors; Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon; Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google; Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter and Square; Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook; Ginni Roomette, CEO of IBM; and Bill and Melinda Gates.
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Superliner roomette in daytime configuration. The term "roomette" dates from 1937, when the first sleeping cars with such accommodations were constructed by the Pullman Company. The roomette was an innovation for its day, providing a relatively economical, fully enclosed sleeping accommodation for the individual traveler, a marked change from the open-berth sleeping accommodations that were the standard of the era. Roomette and other private-room sleeping accommodations quickly gained popularity, and became the standard in the United States after World War II. Similar equipment later became commonplace in Canada and Mexico, as well.
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Single-passenger Slumbercoach accommodations are a particularly spartan form of roomette; Slumbercoaches also included a few two- passenger units.
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1945 ad by the Budd Company for its "Budgette" cars. A roomette is a type of sleeping car compartment in a railroad passenger train. The term was first used in North America, and was later carried over into Australia and New Zealand. Roomette rooms are relatively small, and were originally generally intended for use by a single person; contemporary roomettes on Amtrak, however, include two sleeping berths.
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The basic roomette design pioneered by Pullman remained standard in North America until well after the advent of Amtrak in 1971. The roomette section of a sleeping car included a central corridor with rooms on either side. At night, each room contained a small single bed, placed longitudinally, which occupied nearly the entire area of the room. The bed could be folded away when not in use, exposing a padded bench seat at one end of the room and a toilet at the other.
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The Winnipeg Limited carried neither an observation car nor a dome car but it did have a club car. A typical consist of the period used streamlined head end cars, 48-revenue seat leg-rest coaches handed down from the Western Star, a Pass-series 6-roomette, 5-double bedroom, 2-compartment sleeping car, a Glacier-series 16-duplex roomette, 4-double bedroom sleeping car both handed down from the Western Star. A Canadian National Railway Green-series 6-section, 6-roomette, 4-double bedroom sleeping car was carried between St. Paul and Winnipeg nightly in the summer season that continued on to Vancouver, British Columbia, in the Super Continental west of Winnipeg. The only two cars exclusive to the Winnipeg Limited were the two Club-series cars rebuilt by Pullman in February, 1956, from Glacier-series sleeping cars.
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When the Viewliner sleeping cars were built, the accommodations were patterned after the Superliner accommodations, except that the Economy Bedrooms (or "Viewliner Roomettes") include Roomette-style washbasins and toilets, as well as windows for the upper berths.
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The connecting Cannonball arrived at Norfolk at 7:30 am. The Cavalier carried three sleeping cars, but not all at the same time. A Norfolk to Roanoke 10-roomette-6-double-bedroom car was carried in trains 27 and 22 from Norfolk to Petersburg and in The Cavalier from Peterburg to Roanoke. Also at Roanoke, sleeping cars were switched with The Pelican – a Petersburg to Bristol, Virginia 10-section-1-compartment-2-double-bedroom car would be exchanged for a Washington, D.C. to Williamson, West Virginia 10-roomette-6-double-bedroom car.
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A second bed is folded down from the ceiling. Bedrooms measure × . Like the roomette, there are two berths; during the day the lower berth acts as a sofa. The room also contains a chair which faces the beds.
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A Roomette, in the historically correct sense of the word, is a private room for a single passenger, containing a single seat, a folding bed, a toilet (not in a private cubicle of its own), and a washbasin. When a traditional Roomette is in night mode, the bed blocks access to the toilet. Like open sections, Roomettes are placed on both sides of the car, with a corridor down the center. Duplex Roomettes, a Pullman-produced precursor to the Slumbercoach, are staggered vertically, with every second accommodation raised a few feet above the car's floor level, in order to make slightly more efficient use of the space.
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These included 68-seat coaches, 31-seat parlor cars, and four 4-section 8-roomette 1-compartment 3-double bedroom sleeping cars. Originally ALCO DL-105s (styled by Otto Kuhler) handled the Gulf Coast Rebel. Later motive power included the ALCO PA-1 and the uncommon Baldwin DR-6.
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Western railways (and some Eastern lines) chose to redesign the coach seat for greater width and comfort, with the result that by the time U.S. passenger rail transport was nationalized, railway coach seats provided, at a basic price, comfort available only in first-class on airlines. Amtrak used these popular cars well into the 1990s. In 1980, Slumbercoaches were operated on Amtrak's Montrealer, Lake Shore Limited, Night Owl, Broadway Limited, and Silver Meteor. At the time, the cost of a Slumbercoach ticket was $16.50 a night extra on the New York-Montreal train, as compared to $39.50 for a full-size roomette, and $24 versus $71 for the roomette on the New York-St.
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In 1971, roomette cars Allambi and Tantini and twinette cars Dorai and WeroniAllambi Chris' Commonwealth Railways PagesTantini Chris' Commonwealth Railways PagesDorai Chris' Commonwealth Railways PagesWeroni Chris' Commonwealth Railways Pages were sold to the Victorian Railways for use on The Vinelander to Mildura, and replaced with new carriages.Comrails: Steel V&SAR; Joint Stock Carriages Chris' Commonwealth Railways Pages They were repainted dark blue and their names removed; these names were then applied to the same type of new cars built to replace them. The interiors of these new cars were of a more modern design than the older cars. The roomette cars had a zigzag corridor instead of a straight one, and the compartments had the shape of a trapezium.
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Unlike the roomette, a bedroom includes a private combination toilet/shower, and a private sink. The family bedroom is located at one end of the car's lower level and measures × . It can hold up to two adults and two children in four berths. During the day the berths form a sofa and two seats.
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In the late 1970s Amtrak converted two Amfleet I coaches into sleepers ( 22900 and 22901). Two prototype Superliner roomette modules were installed, displacing twelve seats. The cars were used on the Washington, D.C.—Cincinnati, Ohio Shenandoah. Regular sleepers returned to the Shenandoah in 1979 and the two coaches were returned to a standard configuration.
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The carriages used featured fluted sides and consisted of roomette and twinette sleepers, lounge cars and diners, with the Southern Aurora carriages being owned when new jointly by the New South Wales Government Railways and Victorian Railways, and both the Brisbane Express and Gold Coast Motorail carriages being owned by the New South Wales Government Railways.
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For a brief period in the late 1950s two leased Pennsylvania Railroad 21-roomette sleeping cars operated on the City of Denver to compete with the slumbercoaches on the Denver Zephyr. After the discontinuance of the Chicago–Pacific Northwest Olympian Hiawatha in 1961, the Milwaukee Road's Super Dome dome lounges could be found on the City of Denver as well.
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During 1976–1977 when the Lone Star combined with the Southwest Chief between Chicago and Kansas City, the Lone Star consisted of two baggage cars, two Hi-Level coaches, a dormitory bar-lounge, an ex-Santa Fe dining car, two 10-roomette/6-bedroom Pine-series sleeping cars, and a 48-seat single-level coach. One baggage car, one sleeping car, and the single-level coach operated through to Dallas.
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The sleeping cars were of two types. Twinette cars had two- berth compartments (as had the E and Mann cars before them), but each compartment had an adjoining toilet and shower room; roomette cars had single- berth compartments either side of a central aisle, and a shower room at the end of the car.Commonwealth Railways had showers in some sleeping cars from 1919 The maroon sleeping cars from 1949 onwards were 16 in number, later 18, and were given Aboriginal names that were painted on the sides of the cars. The eight roomette cars were Allambi, Chalaki, Juki, Mururi, Nankuri, Purpawi, Tantini, and Tarkinji; the ten twinette cars Dorai, Kuldalai, Malkari, Mokai, Nomuldi, Paiti, Tawarri, Weroni, Yankai, and Yanni. From 1949 the train moved into the modern era, with new air-conditioned Corten steel carriages gradually entering service, in maroon with a fluted stainless steel panel on each side and a black roof.
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National Railway Museum – Port Adelaide: 930-class Twinette cars Tawarri and Yankai were added in 1967,Tawarri – V&SAR; Joint Stock Steel Sleeping Car Chris' Commonwealth Railways PagesYankai – V&SAR; Joint Stock Steel Sleeping Car Chris' Commonwealth Railways Pages and these also followed the newer style of interior. Thus from the early 1970s onwards in the newer style there were two roomette cars, Allambi and Tantini, four twinette cars, Dorai, Tawarri, Weroni, and Yankai.
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Upper berths were slightly larger than lower berths, and the former had berths that folded out of the wall while the latter had pull-out sliding berths that were stored under the adjacent upper roomette. At the end of the car were two lockers that held clean linen and soiled linen as well as folding chairs and tables. After being constructed, Dream Cloud was taken to Altoona, Pennsylvania, and subjected to jacking, load, and squeeze testing.
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Hank Williams' 1956 single "California Zephyr" is likely Hank's take on the traditional "Wabash Cannonball," made famous by his hero Roy Acuff; the melody and references to American cities and towns are strikingly similar.California Zephyr (Hank Williams song) Jack Kerouac's 1962 novel Big Sur opens with a trip to California on the train: > ...I had sneaked into San Francisco as I say, coming 3,000 miles from my > home in Long Island (Northport) in a pleasant roomette on the California > Zephyr train watching American roll by outside my private picture window, > really happy for the first time in three years, staying in the roomette all > three days and three nights with my instant coffee and sandwiches... Ben Gibbard and Jay Farrar’s 2009 music album One Fast Move or I'm Gone and the associated documentary of the same name are based on Kerouac's novel Big Sur. The record opens with a song called “California Zephyr.” Grant Hart (of Hüsker Dü fame) wrote a song called "California Zephyr" for his 2009 album Hot Wax.
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On the George Washington the C&O; used the new Pullman 10-roomette/6-bedroom 85’ sleepers built in the "City of" series, and 56 were built. Some C&O; cars were used on the Pere Marquette; these cars were unusual in that the bedrooms were in the middle rather than on one end. See photos on page 107 of "Some Classic Trains", page 189 of "More Classic Trains", or page 9 of "Chesapeake and Ohio color guide to freight" and passenger equipment.
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The dining cars, numbered 68000–68024, are named alphabetically after the first 25 state capitals east of the Mississippi River, with Indianapolis being the name of the Viewliner I which was rebuilt as a prototype. The sleeping cars (62500–62524) are alphabetically named after major rivers east of the Mississippi, continued from the renaming of the Viewliner I sleepers. Unlike the original Viewliners, Roomettes do not include toilets; instead, passengers will share two restrooms at the expense of one Roomette. The bag-dorms are numbered 69000-69009.
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The Budd Company manufactured six ten-car trainsets; three went to the Burlington, two to the Western Pacific and one to the Rio Grande. In line with the train's sightseeing schedule, each set included five of the new "Vista-Domes" (three coaches, a dormitory-lounge, and a sleeper-observation car). The California Zephyr was the first long-distance train to carry domes in regular service. In addition, each consist included to a baggage car, a dining car, a 16-section sleeping car and three 10-roomette 6-double bedroom sleeping cars.
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After World War II the 10-roomette 6-double bedroom (colloquially the "10-6 sleeper") design proved popular in the United States, with 682 such cars manufactured. All fifty Pacific series cars were built on Budd lot number 9660.039, and allocated Pullman Plan 9522. In this design the ten roomettes were numbered 1-10 and split down the middle by a hallway, while all six double bedrooms (designated A-F) were off to one side. A bathroom and porter's room were located across from each other at the vestibule end of the car.
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Here & There Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin issue 522 April 1981 page 35 Sitting carriages provided by Australian National with Commonwealth Railways carbon steel carriage stock became part of the full through service from Sydney to Perth in 1988. The train formerly had four classes, branded as Platinum, Gold Service, Red Service Sleeper and Red Service Daynighter. The Platinum Service was introduced in 2008 as a premium class of travel. The Gold Service, the former first-class service, features either roomette or twinette sleeper cabins, with complimentary meals in the restaurant car.
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The Union Pacific finalized the consist on January 10, 1954. Each of the two new consists included the following: a baggage car, a coach-lounge (the "Pub", replacing the "Frontier Shack"), two 44-seat coaches, a twin-unit dining car, four sleeping cars, and a buffet-lounge. The cars were drawn from both the Union Pacific and the Chicago and North Western. The sleeping cars included two 10-roomette 6-double bedroom Pacific-series cars, a 12-section car, and a 4-compartment 4-double bedroom 1-compartment car.
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Loch Arkaig, still in Amtrak livery, at the Southeastern Railway Museum. The Slumbercoach, in economic terms, was part of the American railways’ attempt, in the 1950s, to recapture market share lost to airlines, buses and the automobile by providing upgraded accommodations for non-first class passengers. Demand for private accommodation (bedrooms and roomettes) remained high, while demand for the traditional Pullman open section was declining. Other types of economy sleeping car did not have the capacity of the Slumbercoach: sixteen roomette-four double bedroom car slept only 24, while the traditional sixteen section tourist Pullman slept 32.
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This enabled the NP to expand Slumbercoaches to their secondary transcontinental passenger train the Mainstreeter, and to discontinue the pooling of Slumbercoaches between the North Coast Limited and Burlington's Denver Zephyr. A total of eighteen Slumbercoaches were built by Budd, with an additional ten rebuilt from Budd 22 roomette sleepers by the New York Central. (On the Central these were known as Sleepercoaches.) Unlike the original eighteen, the rebuilds had ten duplex and sixteen single rooms, giving a maximum capacity of 36. Amtrak operated all of these cars, save for three previously wrecked and scrapped by the New York Central.
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Pullman's roomettes, however, were designed with a single traveller in mind. The roomette featured a large picture window, a privacy door, a single fold-away bed, a sink and a small toilet. The roomette's floor space was barely larger than the space taken up by the bed, but it allowed the traveller to ride in luxury compared to the multilevel semiprivate berths of old. Now that passenger cars were lighter, they were able to carry heavier loads, but the size of the average passenger that rode in them didn't increase to match the cars' new capacities.
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A twinette is a sleeping-berth compartment for two persons in a train. The term "twinette" is in common use only in Australia and New Zealand (unlike "roomette", which originated in North America and is more widespread); thus the double-berth compartments described here are those found in trains in Australia or New Zealand. The width of each twinette compartment is typically almost as great as the width of the sleeping car it is in, with a corridor (occupying the remaining width) running down one side of the car. The number of twinettes in a sleeping car can vary slightly, but it is commonly 8, 9, or 10.
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The two beds in a twinette are one on top of the other in double-bunk arrangement, and both fold into the front or rear wall of the compartment when not in use, and two seats fold into position in the same area as the berths. Thus the beds are perpendicular to the side of the train, in contrast to roomette berths, which are parallel to it. Twinettes often have their own shower and toilet compartment adjoining, and this includes a wash basin and hot and cold taps. This small compartment opens off the opposite wall of the compartment from the berths and seats.
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The 31 cars were manufactured by Hitachi and Nippon Sharyo and hauled by diesel-electric locomotives (initially two DA class, and later one DX class) for a six-night-per-week service. All passengers were accommodated in sleeping cars, with 12 of these cars being designated "Twinette" (8 x two-berth cabins incorporating separate bathrooms/showers for each cabin) and 12 being "Roomette" cars (16 x single- berth cabins with toilet and basin facilities). Passengers could purchase dinner, breakfast and other refreshments during the night, including alcoholic beverages and souvenirs in the buffet car, of which three were built, with 42 alcove-style tables. Four power and baggage vans completed the fleet.
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Occasionally twinettes are about the size of a roomette, with both bunks, one on top of the other, filling most of the floor space of the compartment, replacing two seats facing each other. In this case, the overall floor-plan of the sleeping car is similar to roomettes, not the twinettes described earlier, which are more commonly found only in first class. This much more cramped arrangement is more likely to be found in economy-class sleepers on very long-distance trains requiring more than one night's travel. These twinettes do not have their own shower or toilet, and passengers use a communal shower and toilet at the end of the car.
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In late 1954 tenders were called for by the Department of Railways for 24 air conditioned carbon steel bodied cars for the Brisbane Limited similar in construction the HUB and RUB sets. The trains would have been marshalled into two 9-carriage sets, plus one of each type spare. The contract was awarded to Commonwealth Engineering, Granville in August 1955. Commonwealth Engineering had put an option in their tender application for these cars to be constructed from stainless steel instead of the carbon steel specified and they were successful with this option. However reduced available funds lead to extended delays and the renegotiation of the contract and with the contract being changed and by 1959 the cars actually ordered had changed to only 5 LAN roomette sleepers (2323-2327) and 5 NAM twinette sleepers (2328-2332).
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The Pennsylvania Railroad owned a single 10-roomette 6-double bedroom sleeping car, the Silver Rapids, which was used for through service to New York City. Each car was named: all names began with "Silver…" with each type of car having a different theme; the baggage cars were named after animals, the dome coaches had a western theme, the lounge and dining cars had a catering theme, the 16-section cars were named after trees, the 10-6 cars carried names associated with the suffixes used for types of Pullman sleeping cars, while the observation cars' names emphasised their domes. The forward section of the first Vista-Dome car was partitioned off and reserved for women and children. A door was located in the corridor under the dome just behind the women's restroom to allow access to the reserved section.
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On 1 November 1997, the remaining passenger services operated by Australian National were sold to Great Southern Rail (GSR).Great Southern Railway Consortium completes acquisition of Australian National Railways Passenger Business Serco Group 31 October 1997 The sale included the standard gauge Overland passenger fleet - two roomette, four twinette sleepers; three first-class and six second-class sitting cars, three composite second-class sitting with buffet cars and two club cars. Power van PCO4 was also included in the sale, but at the time it was on broad gauge for the short-lived Explorer train, in a dark blue livery with wide yellow bands. It was converted to standard gauge in 1998 and given quick coat of grey paint. In 1999 the carriages were refurbished and repainted to a plain grey scheme at Keswick, and most of the cars had names applied, recycled from the sleeping carriages. Respectively, 5BJ through 10BJ became Mururu, Nankuri, Purpawi (sic), Chalaki and Tarkinji, and PCO 4 became Paite (sic).
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The train's reclining seat coaches were taken from a pool of 26 cars split between builders Pullman-Standard and American Car & Foundry (ACF). The dining cars and tavern-lounge-observation cars for the two Phoebe Snow consists were built by the Budd Company, while the through sleeping car in each consist was taken from a pool of nine 10-roomette, 6-double bedroom cars built for the Lackawanna by ACF. Motive power was provided initially by an A-B-A set of passenger-equipped EMD F3 diesels, but their steam generators provided insufficient heat to the train in winter, and were supplanted by a pair of EMD E8A diesel-electric locomotives. In 1958, as part of the consolidation of operations between the Erie and DL&W; railroads--the roads would merge formally in 1960 to form the EL--DL&W;'s mainline between Binghamton and Corning, New York, was severed and all trains traveling between those points were rerouted over the Erie mainline.
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In the most common Superliner sleeping car configuration, the upper level is divided into two halves, one half containing "Bedrooms" (formerly "Deluxe Bedrooms") for one, two, or three travelers, each Bedroom containing an enclosed toilet-and- shower facility; and the other half containing "Roomettes" (formerly "Economy Bedrooms" or "Standard Bedrooms") for one or two travelers; plus a beverage area and a toilet. The lower level contains more Roomettes; a Family Bedroom for as many as two adults and two children; and an "Accessible Bedroom" (formerly "Special Bedroom") for a wheelchair-using traveler and a companion; plus toilets and a shower. The Viewliner cars contain an Accessible Bedroom (formerly "Special Bedroom") for a wheelchair-using traveler and a companion, with an enclosed toilet-and-shower facility; two Bedrooms (formerly "Deluxe Bedrooms") for one, two, or three travelers, each Bedroom containing an enclosed toilet-and-shower facility; "Roomettes" (formerly "Economy Bedrooms", "Standard Bedrooms", or "Compartments") for one or two travelers, each Roomette containing its own unenclosed toilet and washing facilities; and a shower room at the end of the car.
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The Southern Aurora was an overnight express passenger train that operated between Australia's two largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne. First-class throughout, including the dining facilities, the Southern Aurora featured all- sleeper accommodation. The train first ran on 16 April 1962 after the opening of the North East standard gauge line from Melbourne to Albury, eliminating the break-of-gauge between the capital cities."Opening of the Through Standard-Gauge Passenger Services between Sydney and Melbourne" Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin issue 302 December 1962 pp181-188 A fleet of 34 stainless steel carriages were jointly purchased by the Department of Railways New South Wales and Victorian Railways featuring fluted sides and consisted of roomette and twinette sleepers, lounge cars and diners."New Trains for Melbourne-Sydney Through Service" Railway Gazette 29 July 1960 page 143"Luxury Trains for Sydney-Melbourne Service" Railway Gazette 21 October 1960 page 143 A motorail service was added from July 1973 which enabled passengers to travel and take their cars. On 7 February 1969 the train was involved in the Violet Town railway disaster, when the southbound Southern Aurora collided head on with a northbound freight train, resulting in eight deaths and the destruction of two S class locomotives and seven carriages.
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