Passenger Trains > ATSF Hi-Level Car 577 Picture

This is a Santa Fe publicity photo from the 1960s.

Yardclerk

---

Another publicity photo showing the interior of the car.

Yardclerk

---

The exterior photo was taken at San Bernardino Station on what was then the mail and express track. Now used by Metrolink.

yardclerk wrote:
>
> This is a Santa Fe publicity photo from the 1960s.

BEAUTIFUL photos! Thanks yardclerk!

ATSF Hi-Level Lounge Car #577 became Amtrak #9972 and later Amtrak #39972 when it was converted to HEP. It now serves proudly as a Pacific Parlour car on the Coast Starlight.

There are six Santa Fe Hi-Level lounges numbered 39970-39975. Five of the six have been refurbished (39970, 39972-39975) One of the six has not been refurbished (39971).

Photos of #39972
http://lib2.clark.cc.oh.us/amtrak/amtPARLOUR/amt39972.jpg
http://lib2.clark.cc.oh.us/amtrak/amtPARLOUR/amt39972b.jpg

Photos of other ATSF Hi-Level Lounge Cars
http://lib2.clark.cc.oh.us/amtrak/amtPARLOUR.html
http://www.trainweb.com/reynolds/newppc.html

Amtrak Coast Starlight Pacific Parlour Car Pages
http://www.AmtrakWest.com/coaststarlight/slparlc.html
http://www.trainweb.com/accommod/parlour.html
http://www.trainweb.com/zephyr/PPC.HTM

Mike Kimura

Question? What is at the end of the car, the end where there are no windows? Washrooms? Thanks for the answer.

VIA 1

VIA1 wrote:
>
> Question? What is at the end of the car, the end where there
> are no windows?

Currently that end of the car is a bar area for the service attendant.

There is a floor plan of the upper and lower level of the Pacific Parlour car at:

<http://trainweb.com/amtraktb/amtrakaccomodations.html#pacparcar&gt;

Mike Kimura

I've put together a website showing just about everything you ever wanted to know about the hi-levels, including car dispositions. It's still a work in progress but mostly complete. The link is:
<a href="http://members.tripod.com/NoCalDriveIn/hilev.htm&quot;&gt;http://members.tripod.com/NoCalDriveIn/hilev.htm&lt;/a&gt;

Would anyone like to donate any scans?

Enjoy

Sal Garcia
salgarcia@hotmail.com

---

Forgot to mention the tremendous help I've received from WebLurker and Dave Warner in putting together the list.

Thanks guys!

It woud be interesting to see if Amtrak duplicates the Pacific Parlour Car (more or less) by taking a Superliner Lounge car and remodelling the interior. This service has clearly been a winner for this train and I can't help but wonder if the idea has merit, now that Brian Rosenwald is in Chicago with the Intercity Business Unit.

My idea would be to have the bench seats on the upper level replaced by booths as on the P.Parlour car, the center bar area would be turned into a circular bar / buffet area for the car attendant. The lower cafeteria area would become a theatre.

Any comments (other than "in your dreams"..)?

The no-window end was a service area and a "newsstand" according to the original car plans. The service area did not have a counter, but some kind of one way mirror the attendant could look out of and see if anybody needed anything. The upper level was called the Top O'the Cap Lounge and the downstairs was the Kachina Coffee Shop.

BTW, if you ride a Pacific Parlour Car (love the car, hate the name. It's a non-revenue pullman lounge, not revenue parlor, i.e. 1st class day-trip seating, space) the cabinets around the TV set in the downstairs theater where the Coffee Shop was still have refrigerator-type latches on them from their food-storage days under AT&SF. They paneled them over with the fancy wood they used for the "parlour" conversion, but left the big latches.

Bonus point question to which I don't know the answer. As to real parlor cars on the route, apparently SP ran parlors on the Coast Daylight until well into the late 60s, maybe even as late as 1970. Anybody know when the parlors finally came off of 98/99?

Great photos! Thanks!

My wife and four oldest kids had the pleasure of going LAX to CHI on the Hi-Level El Capitan in the Fifties right after it began service. The stewardess would baby sit the kids while my wife took a break in the lounge car.

The book Classic American Streamliners has a photo and a cutaway drawing of the El Capitan.

The book Dining by Rail has a photo of the Santa Fe's streamlined Chief (NOT Super Chief) with a hilevel lounge in the center of the train.

Amtrak's web site shows, for a representation of the Superliner Sightseer Lounge car, a picture of the interior of a Pacific Parlour Car. <G>

To answer someone's question, when my wife and (then six) kids rode the Coast Starlight in 1964, SJC to LAX, they had the rearmost seats in the tail car RESERVED! <G> Apparently, the observation lounge car was a revenue parlor car. (After eating at the LAUPT Harvey House with my mom and siblings, they rode in Sunset Limited bedrooms on to HOS. I had to bring the family wagon by highway. Sob!)

Bill in Texas

TexasBill wrote:
>
> Great photos! Thanks!
>
> My wife and four oldest kids had the pleasure of going LAX to
> CHI on the Hi-Level El Capitan in the Fifties right after it
> began service. The stewardess would baby sit the kids while my
> wife took a break in the lounge car.
>
> The book Classic American Streamliners has a photo and a
> cutaway drawing of the El Capitan.
>
> The book Dining by Rail has a photo of the Santa Fe's
> streamlined Chief (NOT Super Chief) with a hilevel lounge in
> the center of the train.
>
> Amtrak's web site shows, for a representation of the Superliner
> Sightseer Lounge car, a picture of the interior of a Pacific
> Parlour Car. <G>
>
> To answer someone's question, when my wife and (then six) kids
> rode the Coast Starlight in 1964, SJC to LAX, they had the
> rearmost seats in the tail car RESERVED! <G> Apparently, the
> observation lounge car was a revenue parlor car. (After eating
> at the LAUPT Harvey House with my mom and siblings, they rode
> in Sunset Limited bedrooms on to HOS. I had to bring the family
> wagon by highway. Sob!)
>
> Bill in Texas

Bill, you forgot to mention that book that came out a few years ago on the Santa Fe streamliners. I forgot the name of the book as I have lost my copy of it. But it was VERY informative on all the Santa Fe cars. Even the Hi Levels. Lots of great pictures, too.

lil chico

I can't tell from the photo but I suspect the high car I mentioned in the Chief consist is a full length dome car. I didn't know the Santa Fe had any of those but the diaphragm position on the HiLevel cars would not match that of the single level cars.

Thanks, Chico, for the Santa Fe book reference. It's one I hadn't heard of. (You lost it? Tsk tsk.)

Bill in Texas

re: Santa Fe full domes ~ http://trainweb.org/web_lurker/ATSFSantaFeBigdomes

WOW!!! Thanks, Lurker, for the URL to another great site. Too, the more I learn the more I believe Amtrak gave away the farm. Of course, Amtrak's having trouble keeping cars of just a few types repaired. With more different types...?

I did enjoy a full dome lounge and full dome diner on the SP/UP/Milw "Cities of Everywhere" back in 1963. (Sigh...)

Bill in Texas