So I was looking at past consists of this train in the early 1960s and was surprised to find there was not a full service diner for the first class sleeping car passengers. Instead they used Vista Dome Diners (two of them on the consist I looked at). Which seems a lot more efficient than a seperate car. Curious how much space the kitchen took up, was it just under the Vista Dome portion?
The schedule was pretty convienent as well. Board in Chicago in the evening and be in Wyoming by the next day? The morning after that arrive in Los Angeles.
The kitchen took up the front of the car, plus extended halfway under the dome.
The rest of the area under the dome was a 10 seat reserved dining room.
The dome seating capacity was 18
The rear dining room capacity was 18
The reserved dining room (as noted) capacity was 10
There was a dumbwaiter up to the dome.
I am curious of the recollections of people who waited tables up in the dome.
Ed
7j43kThe kitchen took up the front of the car, plus extended halfway under the dome. The rest of the area under the dome was a 10 seat reserved dining room. The dome seating capacity was 18 The rear dining room capacity was 18 The reserved dining room (as noted) capacity was 10 There was a dumbwaiter up to the dome. I am curious of the recollections of people who waited tables up in the dome. Ed
That would make the Dome Diner having a capacity of 46 patrons. I believe most 'straight' diners had seating for 36 to 40 patrons.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
BaltACD That would make the Dome Diner having a capacity of 46 patrons. I believe most 'straight' diners had seating for 36 to 40 patrons.
Union Pacific's lightweight "standard" diners, the 4800 class (built 1949--6 years earlier), had a capacity of 48. So did the diners on the Empire Builder and the North Coast Limited.
I believe most lightweight diners of the time had the same 48 seat capacity.
UP_Dome-Diner by Edmund, on Flickr
A lovely view of a coach yard included with every meal!
UP_Dome-diner-art by Edmund, on Flickr
Regards, Ed
UP dome diners seated 56, not 46, ifv one includes the reserved room. My experience on the Super Chief says it was used for regular seating if demand was high and there was no reservation. I did enjoy the UP's dome diner once.
An old thread has information on the last eastbound City of LA, which did not have a dome diner, a regular 48-seat lightweight instead. It did have 4-8-4 8444 on the head-end, ahead of the diesels, Rawlins - Cheyanne, easily seen from the front dome. The thread has the extenive and beautiful material thevUp gave each ;passenger in commemoration of that trip, including the illustrated menus.
daveklepper UP dome diners seated 56, not 46, ifv one includes the reserved room.
UP dome diners seated 56, not 46, ifv one includes the reserved room.
The capacities I supplied are from UP's diagram for these cars (including the reserved room):
18 + 18 + 10 = 46
Perhaps I did not read the posting vthoroughly enough and possibly you have edited to make the numbers' assignments clearer, but my initial impression was for two 10-seat rooms. Apologies.
My first post on this topic hasn't been edited since it went up. I think you likely counted the one reserved dining room twice, since I DID mention its capacity twice. But I never mentioned it as a plural noun.
I was, myself, surprised at the low capacity of the dome diner--it doesn't "fit".
The big contributor was that the seating was a variant of 2-1, rather than 2-2. The former normally gave 36 seats in a diner, the latter 48. If the dome diners had been laid out as 2-2 seating, there would have been 24 seats in the dome and 24 seats in the dining room--thus 48. Add the 10 below the dome, and there's 58--what one would expect.
I never rode in a 36 seat diner, but I do feel it was much more pleasant, especially if you were not so much the group-eating type. I wish I had tried out this dome car, but when I was riding the UP, I was one of those starving anti-social students that are known to exist.
The square footage for the kitchen area was pretty much the same as on a flat-top diner, by the way. An inefficiency was introduced with the space taken up by the stairway to the dome, plus the landing area needed on the lower level.
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