(rshsdepot) FWD: Amtrak Shoreliner losing sleeper

["Kenyon Karl" <kenyon3_@_earthlink.net>]

I am disappointed by this move, just because it removes the ongoing
opportunity to prove the existence of a market for overnight sleeper
service as a complement to riding the Acela Express for the full length of
its run. Indeed, overnight sleeper service might even be viable for even
longer distances than daytime HSR service.

The Night Owl (as I remember the previous incarnation of this train in the
early 1980's), must have been the slowest train on the Northeast Corridor.
Indeed, an important part of its particularly long schedule were the long
stops at major intermediate stations for the purpose of handling great
volumes of mail. 

The Night Owl, as well as previous and subsequent incarnations of this
historic sleeper train was the 'tortoise' in the classic 'tortoise & hare'
race. But its leisuerly schedule really didn't matter, as long as its
passengers were able to board the train between Boston & Providence at a
reasonable hour of the evening and get off the train at a reasonably early
hour of the morning between Baltimore and Washington, and still get a good
night's sleep in between. As a complement to the sheer speed of the Acela
Express, the Night Owl, Twilight Shoreliner, or Federal should be time
competitive for those business travelers that would otherwise take an
evening flight, then spend the rest of the night in a downtown hotel for
the purpose of participating in an important business meeting.

Yes, I understand that we have totally lost the last of the many
generations of 'road warriers' that were able and willing to sleep soundly
as their bed twisted and turned and otherwise moved 457 miles between
Boston and Washington. Instead, I imagine that there are very few business
travelers that even KNEW about this historic sleeper service, let alone
willing to 'give it a try'!         

Even more fascinating was the sleeper cars that were once switched in and
out of the train at New York City, because it allowed some passengers to
literally get into bed at a reasonable hour of the night at Pennsylvania
Station, then wake up the next morning at Providence-Boston or
Baltimore-Washington, or vice-versa.

In parting, it is my hope that the Sierra Club will do its best to conduct
a study of the energy cost required to move one Viewliner sleeper by train
from Boston to Washington, and compare it to the energy cost of an air
shuttle and hotel accommodations for an equivalent number of business
travelers. Even better yet, this energy study should study the energy cost
of handling many truckloads of mail, parcels, and magazins enroute in the
same train, as compared to the energy cost of trucking that same quantity
of mail.

A supplement to this study should look at the energy cost of the almost
forgotten 'slumbercoach' (low frills sleeper service at a cost that
approached coach fares), or the totally forgotten (except in Canada) open
section sleeper (upper & lower berths) that must have accommodated the
maximum practical number of sleeping passengers in a full-length railroad
car. 
  
Kenyon F. Karl
Kenyon_Karl_@_mail.com 

Webmaster - Sierra Club - NERCC - High Speed Rail Task Force
http://www.sierraclub.org/rcc/northeast/transit/hsr/index.htm

[original message]
Message: 1
Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2003 12:29:00 -0800
From: Gene Poon <sheehans_@_ap.net>
Subject: CONFIRMED: Shoreliner losing sleeper
 
The new, post-schedule change, BOS-WAS version of Train 66/67 (currently
the Twilight Shoreliner and reported to be renamed "Federal") is now
loaded in ARROW. It does NOT have a Sleeping Car.
 
The other revised NEC schedules appear to have been loaded, too.
 
- -Gene Poon
 


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End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #621
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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org