Passenger Trains > Cross Country Cafes?

What is their status?

Used on Capitol Ltd. (among others) as sole food source for both classes of pax. 

They operate on the Capitol Limited, Auto Train presently, and were assigned regularly to the City of New Orleans and Texas Eagle. I believe they still are assigned to the later trains. The Auto Train is new as of October 2020.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/08/21 15:58 by jp1822.

Currently in use as the sole food service car on the Eagle. Sightseer removed back in October for their "winter" consist. Dorm car has returned but Lounge has yet to return. Currently table seating is for Sleeper passengers only. No table seating for Coach passengers, staffed with 3 attendants. One downstairs heating food for sleeper passengers, one LSA taking orders and another manning the take out counter for Coach passengers. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/08/21 16:12 by SunsetLtd.

SunsetLtd Wrote:
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> Currently in use as the sole food service car on
> the Eagle. Sightseer removed back in October for
> their "winter" consist. Dorm car has returned but
> Lounge has yet to return. Currently table seating
> is for Sleeper passengers only. No table seating
> for Coach passengers, staffed with 3 attendants.
> One downstairs heating food for sleeper
> passengers, one LSA taking orders and another
> manning the take out counter for Coach
> passengers. 

Interesting...... Texas Eagle has THREE LSAs, but the the Capitol Limited (when I was aboard in October) had ONE LSA who was in charge of preparing meals for sleeper car passengers (take out service for dinner), and dealing with walk-up coach passengers (take out service only). 

EDIT - on the Empire Builder they had one person down in the kitchen heating the food up, ONE LSA taking orders and delivering the food to those in the diner, and then ONE LSA in the Superliner Sightseer Lounge. So at least the Empire Builder, and other trains with a Sightseer Lounge, had three staff members, but spread between Diner and Sightseer Lounge - not just all crowded in the Cross Country Cafe........At least with the Capitol Limited operation, they were savings two positions compared to Texas Eagle's Cross Country Cafe operation. Makes no sense why things are not a bit more uniform. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/08/21 21:07 by jp1822.

One was assigned to the Pacific Surfliner.

I am not sure if they were still using it during the pandemic

Jerry Martin
Los Angeles, CA
Central Coast Railroad Festival

I'm sure they look at the number of meals to be served. The Capitol only has dinner & breakfast for
westbound & eastbound passengers.

jeff56 Wrote:
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> I'm sure they look at the number of meals to be
> served. The Capitol only has dinner & breakfast
> for
> westbound & eastbound passengers.

In general, I agree, but only if the trains are carrying similar loads of people and consists are also drastically different. Otherwise it comes down to the intensity of service. So I am sure they do some "average" on paper - but the actuality can be a lot different.

Capitol Limited was SOLD OUT when I took it in October. Texas Eagle was not. When SOLD OUT conditions happen - and it happened regularly in October (till a second sleeper was occasionally added to the Capitol Limited and a coach), it really put a HUGE burden on the LSA in the Cross Country Cafe. She was constantly bombarded by a full Superliner Sleeper and two full coaches. It gets even more intense when sleeper car passengers may go and buy lunch from the Cross Country Cafe due to the lateness of the train (common occurrence eastbound). The Texas Eagle doesn't really have this elongated meal service if it is operating just a couple hours late. The coach booking on the Capitol Limited also had more than the 50% load factor. Texas Eagle had more meals overall, but the intensity of serving the food was greater on the Capitol Limited........Every LSA gets their appropriate breaks.

Texas Eagle had similar consist to Capitol Limited in October/November - but not completely (additional coaches most of the time). The Capitol Limited was spotted with an additional sleeper by mid-November (as it was selling out - the horror!!!).......