Nostalgia & History > SP's Gourmet Dining at its very Best!

I had a hard time finding one good reason! Only on the SP could there be such a great dining experience. Just look at the menu, it dose not get any better then that. Look at the excited couple enjoying gourmet dining in SP's very best dining car, the Automatic Buffet Car!!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/11/12 16:27 by edsaalig.

---

---

---

What a streamline beauty!

---

Coast Daylight or the Sunset?

Those were gormets not gourmet.

Man, don't those two elderly folks look happy to be riding with "the Friendly"?

Sunset!

It was back in 1967 or 68 that I first saw a microwave oven in action on an SP Automatic Buffet car. As I recall it needed a 220 volt AC circuit to run it, and the unit probably weighed over 100 lb.

Did someone say these were built from "smoothside" sleeping cars? :-)

~ BZ

---

Prunes in syrup? Ugh. Maybe that elderly couple just tried some...

I loved the automat. I was maybe 12 when I'd ride from Madera to Fresno and back to spend my allowance on food from the automat! Soggy buns!!!! Yum!

billmeeker Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Prunes in syrup? Ugh. Maybe that elderly couple
> just tried some...
Stand back. Their plumbing is about to explode

I'm gonna link back to this excellent thread from a few years ago by Notch16 with great pix and discussion of SP Automats...

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,2042857,page=1



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/11/12 21:12 by davew833.

Pizzaburgers -
I think they foisted those upon us in junior high school.
...Lorenzo

You know, that AUTOMAT menu sure looks very similar to AMTRAK's current menu on the Starlight...

I suspect that having a few items from the adult beverage menu made it easier to take the delightful selection from the automatic buffet.

I was 7 the one and only time I experienced the Automat car on the way from Oakland to Bakersfield. It was the first time I ever saw a microwave. Sitting here right now I can still hear the horrible angry buzz that thing gave off when you pushed the button to run it. By the way you couldn't set a time for it, you had to select one of the buttons for your food choice "Buttered Roll", "Hamburger", etc.

Tim

My memories of the automat cars isn't completely negative. They were just what the doctor ordered after a little of non medicinal herb, back in the day. Just the thing to calm your nerves after a stroll through the almost hallucinatory Mardi Gras lounge car.........

GettingShort Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My memories of the automat cars isn't completely
> negative. They were just what the doctor ordered
> after a little of non medicinal herb, back in the
> day. Just the thing to calm your nerves after a
> stroll through the almost hallucinatory Mardi Gras
> lounge car.........

Hallucinatory Mardi Gras lounge car? SP?

Notch16 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Did someone say these were built from "smoothside"
> sleeping cars? :-)
>
> ~ BZ


This car looks like one of the 10-5's that emerged from Sacramento....ready to bring terror to the travelling public. Really though, SP didn't start this idea....Santa Fe did with the "Lunch-O-Mat" (modified Budd chair car 3153) it brought to the El Pasoan back in 1954. Santa Fe also had another modified PS car called a "Vendo-Lounge, car 1346, essentially similar to the SP Automat cars, although a bit nicer inside with carpets, ect. The Santa Fe car ran on the Golden Gates from 1962 until their demise in 1965. Same type of food as in the Automat cars. Car 1346 later returned to Topeka and emerged in 1967 as a Snack-bar car, complete with a mini-galley for preparation of hot food. So, blame SP all you want for the Automats, but even pro-passenger Santa Fe tried the concept and was the first to do so.
.

Those cars almost look like the cars NS used on its 765 excursions..


edsaalig Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What a streamline beauty!