Nostalgia & History > Before They Became Famous

These photos were taken of the Westbound El-Cap/Super Chief in Pomona about one year before Amtrak. This is Sky Lounge 575. These were the only cars that featured extensive passenger space on the lower level, where a 24 seat bar/lounge was located. However, the most impressive area of the train was the upper lounge with it's semi-glassed roof, similar to Amtrak's Superliner lounges. The upper level also housed a news stand and another bar. Five of the six Hi-Level lounge cars are still in service as "Pacific Parlour" cars on Amtrak's Coast Starlight, between Los Angeles and Seattle.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/24/12 20:23 by edsaalig.

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What happened to the sixth one?

Tim

Privately owned in St Louis I think?

Thanks for the photos of these classic cars. My first ride on unfortunately was not until 1976, out of Kansas City.

By the way, the hi-level cars in your photo were technically not part of the Super Chief, they were actually on the El Capitan portion of the train. The Super Chief was composed of single level cars and a Pleasure Dome on the rear portion of the train.

You are correct, made change.

The Sky Lounge now the the Starlight Parlor car looks a lot different today.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/24/12 22:57 by edsaalig.

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