I spent the Friday of my long holiday weekend on a round trip from Chicago to Springfield, Ill., solely to get some seat time in Amtrak’s lone remaining dome car, the “Ocean View.” As part of the passenger system’s response to the Thanksgiving rush, the full-length dome, built in 1955 for Great Northern’s Empire Builder, was placed in service on Chicago-Milwaukee and Chicago-St. Louis runs.
As I watched the landscape pass from the always-coveted front seat, I thought how unfortunate it is that U.S. intercity passenger no longer have an regular opportunity to enjoy that forward view that’s only possible from a dome. Amtrak’s Sightseer cars are certainly nice, but there’s just something about that ability to look along the rooftops to the lead unit and see where you’re going.
EMD general manager C.R. Osborn was definitely onto something when, as the story has it, his ride a Rio Grande F-unit through Colorado’s Glenwood Canyon inspired the design of a car that would give passengers the ability to look ahead.
I also thought about a photo I recently posted to the Trains Facebook page, noting with regret that a much-photographed signal bridge on the former Southern Pacific near Mojave, Calif., had been taken down as part of Union Pacific signal upgrades.
Among the responses was an admonishment: “There is no place for sentiment in the railroad business. Please keep this in mind.”
Happily, not everyone agrees, not even in the business in question. Otherwise we wouldn’t have heritage diesel paint schemes, or Class I railroads with steam program — or, perhaps, this lone dome car on the Amtrak roster.
As a one-off in a mostly standardized car fleet, “Ocean View” probably doesn’t make a lot of sense — or, for that matter, a lot of dollars. It’s got to be maintenance-intensive, and at this point, it’s looking a bit threadbare. But it’s still a great piece of equipment to roll out for a fall-colors stint on the Adirondack or other special events, or just to toss into service during a week of peak demand.
In the strictest, bean-counting, no-place-for-sentiment sense, Amtrak probably doesn’t need a dome car. That it has one, though, is a reminder that at its best, train travel provides more than getting from Point A to Point B in a seat in a metal tube. (That’s what flying is for.) It’s an opportunity to get a little more, be it more space, more productivity or more of a chance to actually experience where you’re going.
The trip from Chicago to Springfield is hardly the stuff of dome-car legend, being a mostly straight-line run over billiard-table topography. But from a dome car, it became just a bit more enjoyable, with the ability to see the meets with opposing Amtrak trains, or just watch the signals change.
Is it sentiment to regret that this is an experience now lost on more passengers? Or is it a credit to Amtrak that there’s still a chance to experience it at all? Either way, it was time well spent.
Oh, one last thing: The train on my return trip was powered by P42 No. 66, in the 40th anniversary heritage paint scheme. Downright sentimental, these Amtrak folks.
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