Passenger Trains > Dining Car Hierarchy!

This really surprised me as to what went on years ago.
I came across an old timer still working the lounge car in the late '80's on the San Diegans.
I thinnk he was originally off the SP Dining Car Service. Anyhow he went on to say he worked dining car service duties.
At night he stated that they would lay boards across the tables for their bedding!! I sure hope the boards were padded
or they were proviced a mattress! This was no doubt in the RR heydays when the dining cars were fully staffed.
Maybe the Dorm cars were for higher seniority cooks etc. Heavyweight era no doubt. 1910-1940's??

they also used to store  in floor compartments for their bedding and matresses waiters have said, some seats may have had sompartments if they were benches, not sure thou



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/23/23 16:10 by dan.

ApproachCircuit Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This really surprised me as to what went on years
> ago.
> I came across an old timer still working the
> lounge car in the late '80's on the San Diegans.
> I thinnk he was originally off the SP Dining Car
> Service. Anyhow he went on to say he worked dining
> car service duties.
> At night he stated that they would lay boards
> across the tables for their bedding!! I sure hope
> the boards were padded
> or they were proviced a mattress! This was no
> doubt in the RR heydays when the dining cars were
> fully staffed.
> Maybe the Dorm cars were for higher seniority
> cooks etc. Heavyweight era no doubt. 1910-1940's??

Those practices varied by railroad, I believe. The TO archives should have have some good threads.

I can state having witnessed, the barman on the MILW lounge that ran on19 and 20 between Chicago and Savanna ILL
slept on the cushions in the car in the yard at Savanna.   He had about 6 1/2 hrs. betweenset out and pickup. 

ATSF has beds in the dining car floors.  They hung curtains from the ceiling to form a hallway with beds on each side of the curtains.  

Eventually they were able to build dormitory cars and dorm spaces in other cars, so that everyone had a place to sleep outside of the dining car.  Dormitory cars were open walls of bunks (often three high).  There was no privacy.  They were noisy at times.  Some people smoked.  Some people farted.  You can imagine the chaos at times.  

The dining car stewards got their union to provide a room for them in the dorm car or the sleeping car, so that monies from the dining car was locked in their room.  

In 1982-1984 when saving the former Milw in South Dakota for the state some of the out of state track employees spent nights sleeping on hay bales in a parked baggage car. Not a rumor. Saw this makeshift hotel myself.

Posted from Android

I can personally attest to this as I was an LSA on the San Joaquins during the early to mid 80's. At first I was provided with a motel room near the Bakersfield station. Then, when the second train was added, the layover was not long enough for Amtrak to be required, under the union rules, to provide me with a motel room and I slept in the Amfleet Cafe Car. I pulled out some of the seat cushions and made a "bed" in the aisle to sleep on. The Oakland commissary provided me with bedding. I was a bit concerned about the cash I carried on the car but I was able to lock myself in.

Don't forget that for most of the time that this practice was in effect the dining car crew was Black and the steward was white, as was common on passenger trains where the crew, being Black, had no opportunity to move up into management positions.

I witnessed this in 1970 on El Mexicali on board the former Atlantic Coast Line heavyweight dining car El Gourmet in Mexico. Standard practice back then south of the border...

jeffgeldner Wrote:
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> I witnessed this in 1970 on El Mexicali on board
> the former Atlantic Coast Line heavyweight dining
> car El Gourmet in Mexico. Standard practice back
> then south of the border...

That is interesting because in the heavyweight era, ACL did too.

The Stewarts were in with the Union that represented the Conductors and had an agreement completely separate from the rest of the dining car staff.
I was an LSA (1984-2016) and was with BRAC, the Union that evolved from the Sleeping Car Porters. Our contract was not as plush as the Stewart’s, but Amtrak did give LSA’s private accommodations because we handled revenue. The rest of the staff doubled up in the dorm and hotels.
SR