Japan launches ultra-luxury train.

[CMStPnP]

Looks nice...

https://www.yahoo.com/news/japanese-luxury-sleeper-train-mere-slideshow-wp-174058562.html

 

[Miningman]

Wow. How come I get the feeling we have fallen even further behind. 

This is what the 20th Century Limited should have evolved to.

[54light15]

And Amtrak has all the ambience of a Burger King. Jeez! 

[RME]

54light15

And Amtrak has all the ambience of a Burger King.

Without the good-tasting burgers.

[ROBERT WILLISON]

RME

 

 

54light15

And Amtrak has all the ambience of a Burger King.

 

 

Without the good-tasting burgers.

 

you guys are ruff  lol. A true 21 century Ltd.

[CandOforprogress2]

Does that Japan Luxury train come with a happy ending?

Godzilla might find it delish.

[zugmann]

54light15

And Amtrak has all the ambience of a Burger King. Jeez! 

 

I don't know, the newer Burger Kings are pretty snazzy.

[54light15]

Not many Burger Kings around here. Haven't been in one in years but I do remember the 1970s style orange and yellow formica that was the main decor. No fine inlaid wood, no sunken bathtubs, no beautiful female attendants, No exotic drinks, no nothin! And no beautiful passing scenery out of the windows, only passing trucks, overflowing dumpsters and pimply teenagers. 

Waht was BK's slogan back then? "Hold the pickle, hold the ketchup, Burger King will make you retch up..." 

[RME]

ROBERT WILLISON

A true 21 century Ltd.

You forgot the comma in the new train's name.

What was BK's slogan back then?

Pittendreigh knew! He put it right in a sermon for y'all:

Do you remember the words, "hold the pickle, hold the lettuce?"

What’s the next line?

“Special orders don’t upset us – all we ask is that you let us have it your way.”

About 25 years ago Burger King came out with their "Have it Your Way" campaign where if you wanted fast food you didn’t have to get it any way they made it, you could have a hamburger made especially for you.

And we liked that.

We wanted that hamburger made especially for us, our way. That’s the kind of people we are, we love customization. We like things being tailor made, fit just for us.

The problem is that we don’t stop with material customization, we also want it in our spiritual lives.

We like our church customized to fit our needs.

We like our worship service customized just to our exact taste.

Unfortunately, we also want a God who is customized to conform to our preferences. We want a God who does it our way and that’s a problem. Because God has a habit of doing things his way... <remainder snipped, perhaps mercifully - he did not tell us how God wanted our burger to be.>

 

[wanswheel]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoinegara/2017/02/21/the-rebirth-of-burger-king-has-made-3g-capital-bill-ackman-and-warren-buffett-14-billion/#22493536566d

[schlimm]

RME

 

 

ROBERT WILLISON

A true 21 century Ltd.

 

 

You forgot the comma in the new train's name.

 

 

What was BK's slogan back then?

 

 

Pittendreigh knew! He put it right in a sermon for y'all:

 

 

Do you remember the words, "hold the pickle, hold the lettuce?"

What’s the next line?

“Special orders don’t upset us – all we ask is that you let us have it your way.”

 

Was the remainder of your quotation (his sermon) in any fashion relevant to this thread?

[RME]

schlimm

Was the remainder of your quotation (his sermon) in any fashion relevant to this thread?

No.  I put it in because he took that long to establish the 'sermon' parallel to the Burger King quote.  I could have edited it to drop out the intermediate few lines, but when I tried some sample edits it left out the humor of the rhetoric.

This is strictly humor (playing off the 'Burger King' Amtrak service compared to more luxurious possibilities) and nothing more.

[schlimm]

RME

 

 

schlimm

Was the remainder of your quotation (his sermon) in any fashion relevant to this thread?

 

 

No.  I put it in because he took that long to establish the 'sermon' parallel to the Burger King quote.  I could have edited it to drop out the intermediate few lines, but when I tried some sample edits it left out the humor of the rhetoric.

This is strictly humor (playing off the 'Burger King' Amtrak service compared to more luxurious possibilities) and nothing more.

 

"Have it your way..."

[Miningman]

1948- The 20th Century Limited is light years ahead of anything in Japan, or Europe for that matter. 

Zoom ahead about 70 years ( That's scary for us Classic guys) and it's all reversed to such a degree that the Century does not even exist nor does the NYC. East Japan Railway is a spun off private corporation, not government owned. 

Swiss do it right as well. 

Up here, we have VIA with that pretentious overpriced nonsense. 

Oh wait, today in North America it's beautiful airports, excellent hassle free service that is simply a joy right? 

How could this happen? Eat your Burger King while Rome burns. 

[54light15]

Miningman, very well put! 

[schlimm]

Miningman

1948- The 20th Century Limited is light years ahead of anything in Japan, or Europe for that matter.  Zoom ahead about 70 years ( That's scary for us Classic guys) and it's all reversed to such a degree that the Century does not even exist nor does the NYC. East Japan Railway is a spun off private corporation, not government owned.  Swiss do it right as well. 

Lots of other countries do it right or are moving in that direction.

[Paul of Covington]

   $2500 a day?   What are we comparing it to?

[zugmann]

Miningman

Up here, we have VIA with that pretentious overpriced nonsense.

I'm sure theres plenty of people in Japan that think that luxury train is pretentious overpriced nonsense as well.

[Miningman]

No doubt, except it's a new train, not something from 1955 that has been gussied up for the 10th time.

[54light15]

When you're stting back in your bathtub, sipping a cold glass of Sake, you can think, "I wonder what the poor people are doing." 

[Firelock76]

As long as they're not serving whale meat in the diner, more power to 'em!  Beautiful train, the interiors anyway, like something out of science fiction.

[Aussie Loco]

Well I disagree with what has been said about The Canadian. I've travelled all the way from Australia twice to ride it and because for me it really does deliver many of the elements that North American passenger trains were once world famous for. Yes there is the snazzy end of the train where you pay top dollar but there's open section sleepers, roomettes, drawing rooms and sit up cars all very well maintained and available to a range of markets. Whilst I was travelling as a tourist I still had great opportunities to talk to everyday people who were still using the train for point to point travel. It may not have been the 20th Century Limited but that served completely different markets just like the you can't compare the Century with the new Japanese cruise trains. I've ridden Amtrak too and been to Japan several times as well as Europe all by rail.. The Canadian is well and truly up there as a wonderful travel experience and those impeccably maintained, clean, smooth riding 1955 stainless steel Budd cars still do a great job!!!

[Miningman]

Mr. Aussie Loco- Except, that is not what I stated whatsoever. Not even in the ballpark. 

Nothing wrong with the Canadian in general except it does not come even reasonably close to running on time, coach seats are oversold and it has a crappy route. The equipment is old but well looked after. 

The overpriced luxury part recently introduced is the pretentious stuff. Well more power to them. 

We have not come anywhere near any kind of reasonable new updated trains for a very very long time.

Why is that? 

 

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

Miningman

We have not come anywhere near any kind of reasonable new updated trains for a very very long time.

Why is that? 

Probably because there isn't a market for such trains in North America anymore.  The American European Express of the 1990's and the stillborn Marlboro Unlimited prove the point.

[PJS1]

Miningman

East Japan Railway is a spun off private corporation, not government owned. 

JR East is one of seven JR Group companies.  It was incorporated on April 1, 1987 after being spun-off from Japanese National Railways, which was privatized into six passenger railway companies, one freight railway company and several other organizations.

 

In 2016 JR East had 67 consolidated subsidiaries and six non-consolidated subsidiaries.  The major segments were Transportation, Station Space Utilization, Shopping Centers & Office Buildings, and Other.  Other included Happy Child Care and Senior Citizen facilities (82).

 

In 2016 JR East had revenues of $25.4 billion (U.S.), operating income of $4.3 billion and income before taxes of $3.4 billion.  Profit after taxes was $2.1 billion, and comprehensive income was $1.9 billion.  Apparently it has the financial wiggle room to launch a luxury train and, if it is not successful, absorb the losses. Presumably, however, the JR East marketing gurus have determined that there is a market for the train.

 

A significant portion of JR East’s property, plant, and equipment was transferred from Japanese National Railways, through several successor companies and/or agencies, to the JR Group companies at net book value. In addition, the successor companies appear to have been able to finance the acquisition of the transferred properties at favorable rates, with maturities stretching as far as 2051.  Net book value transfers and lower interest rates probably have been significant factors in JR East becoming profitable sooner rather than later. 

 

JR East can obtain working capital funds at intracompany rates from the parent company.  The rates are probably below what JR East would have to pay in the open funds markets.  It can also get construction loans from Japan Railway Construction, Transportation and Technology Agency (JRTT) at favorable rates.

 

There is no market for a similar luxury passenger train in America.  Americans have shown a preference for airplanes and personal vehicles.  It is not likely to change in the foreseeable future.    

 

 

 

[CNSF]

I don't know... check out the diner photo, the portions look pretty small... I also enjoyed the photo of the crew member standing on the platform by the open subway-style doors. I couldn't help but wonder if his job is "pusher".

[Deggesty]

CNSF

I don't know... check out the diner photo, the portions look pretty small... I also enjoyed the photo of the crew member standing on the platform by the open subway-style doors. I couldn't help but wonder if his job is "pusher".

 

Your mention of  "pushers" reminfed me of a family incident back in the early sixties. Two of my uncles and their wives took a trip to Japan to visit two more of my uncles, who were missionaries (my grandparents were missionaries, and all of their children were born in Japan and lived there until they were in their teens, so my uncles knew some Japanese). Somehow, they were taken to the track where they were to board a train--before the gate was opened. When the gate was opened, there was a great rush of people to the platform--and one of my aunts could only scream and cling to my uncle as the great mass came towards her. They did board safely, and returned to die in old age (at least 92 years old).