Canadian Railroads > Canadian Park Car access

I’m about to book a roomette from Toronto to Winnipeg in January. Is the Park car still available for sleeper plus passengers? The last time I made the trip there was talk about limited access for those not in Prestige.

Posted from iPhone

There is no off-peak restriction for regular sleeper passengers.  I was on the Canadian recently and the staff  were saying the restrictions are expected to start at the end of April as they were this year. During the peak season only Prestige passengers may use the Park car until after 4:00 p.m.

DrawingroomA Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There is no off-peak restriction for regular
> sleeper passengers.  I was on the Canadian
> recently and the staff  were saying the
> restrictions are expected to start at the end of
> April as they were this year. During the peak
> season only Prestige passengers may use the Park
> car until after 4:00 p.m.

When we traveled Prestige 2 years ago in August there eere only 7 of us in Prestuge so 8 seats were reserved in the dome and I dont believe access was limited for the other seats. If Prestiige is full, 26 dome seats will be reserved.
C





ige 

Carol Voss
Bakersfield, CA

Carol is correct. Seats are blocked off for the number of passengers in Prestige Class. But normally the staff will let anyone sit there until someone turns up which is rare excepting during the  brief hours of daylight through the mountains.  In peak season, it's also not much of an issue as typically there is a nicely refurbished Skyline just ahead of the rear diner for Sleeper Plus passengers.

In the off-peak season, the capacity of Prestige would be 14 should all six rooms in the Chateau sleeper and the one in the Park car be sold. On my trip earlier this month there were five Prestige rooms booked. Therefore 10 seats ( five double seats) of the 24 in the dome were marked for Prestige. These included the popular front row seats.

One often encounters railfans who think the rules don't apply to them. There was a group who took over several of the marked seats. One person even put his rucksack and coat on a Prestige double seat. It was never a problem as there were never more than four Prestige passengers in the dome at any time when I was there. I did hear the two concierges talking to each other about that. One said that if it got crowded with Prestige passengers those chaps would be evicted in a hurry.

Two of our friends were travelling in Prestige and they never went to the dome. They find it too cold. There was another couple who left their room only for meals.

Even though this was off-season, there was a Skyline car ahead of the dining car for sleeper passengers. VIA did this last year as well, although when the passenger loads dropped it was removed for at least two winter months.
 

DrawingroomA Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> One often encounters railfans who think the rules
> don't apply to them. There was a group who took
> over several of the marked seats. One person even
> put his rucksack and coat on a Prestige double
> seat.

Here's my Dome Car Anecdote: I was in the Park Car on VIA’s Ocean a couple of years ago and two railfans (obvious from one fellow's BNSF ball cap and pins and the other's camera gear and gadgets) had staked out the two front seats on either side. At dinner time they got up but left a backpack on the seat (probably empty or nothing of value in it) A few minutes later, a fellow arrives with a camera....waits a few minutes then takes the front seat...standing the backpack up against the front bulkhead. Well you know what happens next. The two arrive back from lunch “you had no right to touch my personal property” and gets the Attendant who the tells them seats are not reserved and open to everyone.....and also they shouldn’t have left their backpacks unattended. After that they left in shifts....telling anyone the other seat was occupied. Don’t know if they even went to bed as they were there early the next morning for the back-up move across the Quebec Bridge!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/23/18 07:42 by ghCBNS.

Idiots like them give railfans a bad name. If you leave your seat, it becomes open. Period. Same thing happens all the time in Amtrak Superliner lounges. People leave their stuff on the seats expecting that they are their personal seats for the entire trip. I've even seen people sleeping in the lounges all nights. Some conductors kick them out. Others pay no attention. Like so much with Amtrak, there apparently is no set policy on sleeping in a lounge car. Good for the VIA attendants to tell these to losers the rules. I'm on No. 1 in March. Using it for actual transportation to get some place (only tourists use the train LOL).....flying to Las Vegas with a friend from BC to watch the Wings beat up on the one year wonder Golden Knights. Sadly, Amtrak doesn't go there anymore. Delta Dick's former employer will get me home in less time than the Windsor-
Toronto portion of the trip.

Slightly OT but VIA is running a pretty good Black Friday special if you go to their website.  I just booked on #2 in March, a friend is working as the service manager that trip.  Looking forward to it!

Per comments above and my experiences, I believe you will have no problem having Park dome time in January. Likely there will only be one Prestige sleeper only partly occupied meaning plenty of Park dome seats. On my last mid winter Canadian trip there were only 2 Prestige passengers. They offered me their front seats whenever they weren't there!

Posted from Android