Railroaders' Nostalgia > Please see passenger board of 11-28,02:38 EST

Whenever I go from DC to Chicago I try to get to the sightseer
ASAP.At times,I have been OK'ed by a crew member as soon as
I get on the train and at other times not until we get out
of the suburbs.But,this is not what this story is about.But what
happened on one trip.

I was in the sightseer when a lady crew member of color asked when
I would like dinner.She told me 5:30 or 9:00.When I told her 5:30
she said "my mistake,5:30 is full".OK,I had no other choice,9:00.

Later the conductor (29 years service and of light skin) came by
and I asked him how many first class passengers he had.He wasn't
sure but would get back to me.He did,52.

We all know that the diner has 64 seats.BUT,we also know that the
crew will use some of those seats (booths)for other things.I don't
know why she told me 5:30 was full.

I told him what the lady said and there was no reason that I could
not eat at 5:30.He then brought her back and asked me to repeat my
story.I did.She said that I could eat at 5:30,changing her story.

Then later the conductor came to me and said the lady called DC and
said the conductor was HARASSING her!! What BS!

Uncle Joe
Seffner,Fl.

Seems to be gone. Probably removed.

sums007 Wrote:
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> Seems to be gone. Probably removed.


It is still on my machine.
Under woman raped on Empire Builder by Amtrak man.

UJ

I reported a similar event a few weeks ago on TO, with sleeping car passengers on #4 forced into seating times they didn't want, and coach passengers unable to get seating at all.

All thanks to the crew blocking off half (yes, literally half) of the dining car seats with trash boxes, piles of tablecloths, and paperwork.

march_hare Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I reported a similar event a few weeks ago on TO,
> with sleeping car passengers on #4 forced into
> seating times they didn't want, and coach
> passengers unable to get seating at all.
>
> All thanks to the crew blocking off half (yes,
> literally half) of the dining car seats with trash
> boxes, piles of tablecloths, and paperwork.


On a trip last year from DC to Orlando.At DC I, among
other first class passengers were told there was no seating
although they were serving coach passengers first.

UJ

rotten dining crews need to go

Why is there any mention of skin color?

drh1est Wrote:
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> Why is there any mention of skin color?

I was wondering that to.Maybe the story sounds better that way.

Posted from Android

drh1est Wrote:
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> Why is there any mention of skin color?


Did you know the answer before you asked the question?

Bob Wilcox
Charlottesville, VA
My Flickr Shots

Sadly pretty much so.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/01/17 05:40 by drh1est.

General practice is to seat only half the car at a time with seating times staggered.  This way the kitchen isn't overwhelmed, only dealing with 30 or so orders at a time- about the limit the grills and ovens can handle.  About the time those orders start coming up you seat the other half of the car and things are off and running with the first group finishing as the second's orders begin to come up.
That's how you run a diner- to seat 64 at a time is to invite disaster!   I knew one steward that divided his diner in thirds- but only if he had a crack kitchen and wait staff and all were in agreement.  He was amazing! (anyone remember Ziggy out of LA?)
As to unused tables-  if the crew base cuts staffing, usually based on passenger counts, well you can't very well seat passenger if there's no one to wait on them.  Back in the mid/late 80's counts would go low enough on 3&4 (Chief) I'd only get one waiter.  So I'd just use one side of the car (SuperLiner) and we'd split the tables- I'd take 2 less because as LSA I'd be seating and collecting revenue in addition to waiting too. 
Trash talk us if you want- but working diners is hard work!
SR

SR, I'm a bit confused by your explanation.....but figure it's one of two things.....either Amtrak does not fully staff the chef positions, or, hard to believe this is possible....the downstairs kitchen is too small and simply not equipped to handle a full dining room.

AA

Stanford White
Carmel Valley, CA

No, I'm describing a fully staffed kitchen. During breakfast and lunch passengers tend to wander in as they please and in doing so, are kind of self-staggering. also breakfast and lunch menus are rather simple and quick to prepare.
Dinner is more complicated. Some of the entrees are done in batches (chicken & fish). Because these are stored frozen, the chef tries to second guess the number needed in advance of actual orders. Most are quite good at this, but even then, need some wiggle room. (Amtrak takes a VERY dim view of a chef that simply thaws everything- if it's thawed and not served, it's wasted. Anything still frozen can be returned to the commissary at trip's end. It's a very tricky business!) Meats get cooked to order, so are more hands-on. The goal is to match up these varying prep times so that a table of 4 is served all at once. It's far easier for the chef to keep things flowing smoothly with 30 orders rather than 60.
Does that help?
SR

SR, Thanks for that explanation. Still, considering pre-Amtrak dining car days.....with, say, SP 98/99, and the famed triple unit diner-coffee shop......and it's approximately 140 seats, I'd think the staffing on a per-table ratio would be much higher than aboard todday's Amtrak diners and their pre prepared frozen meals.

AA

Stanford White
Carmel Valley, CA

I don't know how the Triple Unit was staffed. It was a pretty big kitchen car- 57' I think. (Richard Wrights book says 3 cooks- but it's not clear if he means the original '37 diner or the Triple)
Full kitchen staff for a SuperLiner was 4 (2 chefs, a food specialist, and a dish washer) but I only ever saw that on the Starlight and only in the Summer. I'll bet they haven't staffed the dish washer position in 20 years!
Back in the day I think they carved their own (not frozen) meats. This may have actually been faster. As I described- frozen entrees add thawing as a whole new thing to work around. I don't think frozen is faster, just more efficient. That is: less waste if done right.
I'm hardly an expert on dining cars. I was around them, and ran as Steward (1&2, 3&4, 11&14, and 35&36) in my extra board years- but avoided them once I had enough time to hold regular jobs. I sure never bid a diner! It was controlled chaos & stress and I never wanted any part of it!
SR



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/12/17 15:59 by BoilingMan.

For a Non-employee like myself this clears things up..interesting thread...Steve

BpoilingMan --
Thank you very much for the very interesting explanation
of how a railroad diner car works. I had heard long ago
that Superliner diners were supposed to have 12 people if
fully staffed. How many people do they usually have these
days? I am sure it is far less than 12! Poor Amtrak --
always being forced to cut-cut-cut staffing and everything.
They need and deserve a budget that is at least 10 times
what they now get. But that is not likely to happen, so
the crews make do.

Kudos to all the good Amtrak employees who work so hard!
Thanks to all of you, present and retired! I have had
some great trips on Amtrak, none of which wold have been
any fun at all without the excellent crews we had.

Thanks Margaret
The most I ever saw on a SuperLiner diner was 8: 4 in the kitchen and 4 waiting. (I guess that’s actually 9- I always forget to count myself as the LSA in the old Stewards position)
One big problem had they tried to staff it any higher would have been beds- the old Hi-Level dorms were maxed out with 2 in every room and the Steward got a room in the sleeper (always #14 in the “31” Car). The number of beds in the dorm was always a problem until the transition Superliner dorms arrived- and by that time crew sizes were way down. But on the luxury side- for the first time ever everyone got a room to themselves!
SR