NEW in June 2012: I have a sequel to this video on RU-vid titled, "Superliner Roomette Tour 2.WMV"
I put this video together during a trip in October 2011 on the Empire Builder train from Chicago to Seattle. I have seen several good videos showing what a Superliner Roomette is like, but many are poorly lit or are washed out by too much light. Others don't have any other views of the Superliner car, or fail to differentiate between the roomettes in Superliner versus Viewliner cars. I hope my effort here might answer some questions that other videos miss. Sorry that my night-mode views of the roomette are still darker than I had hoped.
NOTE: This is a Superliner Sleeper car. Most long distance trains south and west of Chicago have this kind of car.
Most trains to the east of Chicago use the similarly named "Viewliner" sleeper car, which has only one level. The roomettes are similar, but on the Viewliner the seats are narrower and there is a tiny washbasin/sink and a toilet in the roomette. Although at first glance it seems preferable to have the Viewliner Roomette's toilet, I would rather have the Superliner Roomette's larger seats and have a toilet outside the roomette.
I mention that scanner frequencies for AMTRAK routes can be obtained on-line. Here is where I get mine: www.on-track-on...
Corrections/additions (May 2012):
1) The Superliner downstairs has two toilets (not counting the one in the accessible/hanidcapped room), not the three I said were there. Of course there is also the other toilet upstairs. I have never seen these busy, although the shower downstairs might require a wait of a few minutes in the morning. Flip-flops or other foot covering are pretty much mandatory for shower use, both to prevent things like athlete's foot, but also for traction on a wet floor in a moving train.
2) The speaker in the roomettes does work, but in my experience it has only worked for announcements from the conductor and diner car management, not for any other sounds.
3) AMTRAK (and other passengers) seriously frown on passengers making noise that disturbs others. If you have a radio scanner like the one I show, keep the roomette door closed while the radio is on, and turn the radio off when you are not in the room. If you have any music with you, headphones are pretty much mandatory.
4) The downstairs luggage rack is not secure, althought the sleeper car attendant knows who belongs in the car and who does not belong, and he/she is usually by the car's outside door when stopped at stations, so theft is unlikely. Don't put anything too valuable in bags left here. The room and roomette doors latch from the inside, but do not latch from the outside. I suggest not leaving anything like a purse of camera sitting right on a seat when you are out of the room, and if you are going to be gone for long, I suggest closing the curtains so people passing by can't see in to your room to know if you are in there or not, or to see what you might have left laying around. Still, only other sleeper passengers and train officials can be in the sleeper cars, so there is very little chance that anyone would steal anything from a room.
5) If you have a GPS, change it to 'walking' mode or equivalent, as opposed to the usual 'car' mode. This way it should not always try to place you on the nearest road, and hopefully will give a more accurate display of exactly where you are.
6) The car attendant will configure the seats and beds between daytime and nighttime modes for you, so you don't need to deal with raising and lowering the upper bunk, and he/she will also make the beds, moving the extra mattress to the lower seats to make up that bed.
14 окт 2024
