History[edit] 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 duplex roomette-four double bedroom car slept only 24, while the traditional sixteen section tourist Pullman slept 32. Thus, the Slumbercoach, sleeping 40, allowed railways to offer coach passengers private sleeping car accommodation at little more than coach fare. In its first year of using Slumbercoaches on the North Coast Limited, the Northern Pacific Railway averaged a 27 (out of 32 available) room occupancy rate, and a 34 (out of 40 at full capacity) passenger occupancy rate. [1] In late 1964 and early 1965, the Northern Pacific bought eight Slumbercoaches second-hand. Four came from the New York Central, three from the Baltimore and Ohio, and the Missouri Pacifics lone car. 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 Burlingtons Denver Zephyr.[1] 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.[2] Amtrak operated all of these cars, save for three previously wrecked and scrapped by the New York Central. Two, built for the Baltimore and Ohios Columbian, were not acquired by Amtrak until the early 1980s.[2] The first Amtrak loss was on July 7, 1984, when the northbound Montrealer hit a washed-out culvert, destroying Slumbercoach 2083, originally owned by the New York Central Railroad.[3] About the same time, ex-Denver Zephyr Slumbercoach 2086, the Silver Siesta, was burned by vandals between runs at Sunnyside Yard in Queens, New York. Most of Amtraks remaining Slumbercoaches were retired in the 1990s with the last being put up for sale in 2001.[4]:178 Internationally, the Slumbercoach can be compared to second-class or hard sleeper facilities on Asian and European lines, but economically comparable facilities such as those provided on the Train Bleu between Paris and the south of France, which de-emphasized privacy, and in place of this provided multiple-occupant couchette compartments with fold-away beds. The development of midlevel accommodation like the Slumbercoach has ceased, due to changing demand in mass transit. Design and pricing[edit] Slumbercoaches contained a central aisle flanked on each side of the car by one-person and two-person rooms with one or two narrow, six-foot-long beds provided with basic sheets and blankets. Each room featured a fold-away wash basin and private toilet similar in design to contemporary standard Pullman, but on a smaller scale. To maximize the number of rooms per car, the designers chose a duplex or staggered design for the single rooms such that every other room was accessible by a small flight of steps. This allowed beds in the car to either overlay or underlay the room in front of it. 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. Nevertheless, the cars were popular and Amtrak used them well into the 1990s. In 1980, Slumbercoaches were operated on Amtraks 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, vs. $71 for the roomette, on the New York-St. Petersburg train. Those prices were exclusive of the price of a coach ticket. [5] Preservation[edit] Numerous Slumbercoaches have been preserved, including: Silver Repose — Built 1956 for Burlingtons Denver Zephyr, current location: Tennessee Central Railway Museum, Nashville, Tennessee.[6] Silver Slumber — Built 1956 for Burlingtons Denver Zephyr, current location: Gold Coast Railroad Museum, Miami, Florida.[7] Dreamland — Built 1956 for B&Os Columbian, current location: Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Museum, Baltimore, Maryland. Loch Sloy — Built 1959 for NP/CB&Q North Coast Limited, current location: Illinois Railway Museum, Union, Illinois.[8] Loch Arkaig — Built 1959 for the New York Centrals 20th Century Limited, later used by the Northern Pacific, current location: Southeastern Railway Museum, Duluth, Georgia. References[edit] 1.^ Jump up to: a b Stauss, John, F., Jr (2001). Northern Pacific Pictorial volume 5: Domes, RDCs, and Slumbercoaches. La Mirada, California: Four Ways West Publications. ISBN 1-885614-45-4. 2.^ Jump up to: a b Smith, Tom (Summer 2006). The Budd Slumbercoach Brings Economy to Pullman Passengers (pdf). NRHS Bulletin. National Railway Historical Society. pp. 4–14. Retrieved July 2, 2009. 3.Jump up ^ Burnett, Jim (Jan 15, 1986). Safety Recommendations (pdf). National Transportation Safety Board. Retrieved July 2, 2009. 4.Jump up ^ Simon, Elbert; Warner, David C. (2011). Amtrak by the numbers: a comprehensive passenger car and motive power roster, 1971-2011. Kansas City, MO: White River Productions. ISBN 978-1-932804-12-9. OCLC 837623640. 5.Jump up ^ Sleeping on a Train is Still News. The Milwaukee Journal. 28 September 1980. Retrieved 1 December 2013. 6.Jump up ^ TCRM Slumbercoach 2095. Tennessee Central Railway Museum. January 18, 2002. Retrieved July 2, 2009. 7.Jump up ^ Passenger Cars and Cars Used in Passenger Service. Gold Coast Railroad Museum. 2009. Retrieved July 2, 2009. 8.Jump up ^ NP Loch Sloy Budd 1959. Illinois Railway Museum. June 12, 2009. Retrieved July 2, 2009. External links[edit] Media related to Slumbercoaches at Wikimedia Commons [show] v· t· e Amtrak rolling stock · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · [show] v· t· e Rolling stock manufactured by the Budd Company · · · · California Zephyr Vista Dome Silver Scout 1949.JPG · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · Categories: Rail passenger cars of the United States Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad Northern Pacific Railway Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Missouri Pacific Railroad New York Central Railroad Amtrak rolling stock Budd Company Navigation menu Create account Log in Article Talk Read Edit View history Main page Contents Featured content Current events Random article Donate to Wikipedia Wikimedia Shop Interaction Help About Wikipedia Community portal Recent changes Contact page Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Wikidata item Cite this page Print/export Create a book Download as PDF Printable version Languages Edit links This page was last modified on 5 July 2014 at 01:19. 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