I admit it - I'm a smoker.
I'm about to take my first long-distance train trip in years. Cross-country in fact (Capitol Limited to Chicago, then Caif. Zephyr all the way West).
I'm disappointed (although not surprised) that I'm not allowed to smoke even in the privacy of my roommette or bedroom on the sleeper car. The idea of grabbing a quick smoke on the station platform during a few layover stops isn't my idea of relaxation.
Here is my question to those of you with more experience either traveling on (or perhaps working on) long-distance Amtrak trains: How strict are the sleeping car attendants in enforcing the non-smoking rule? Do they ever unofficially take a "don't ask don't tell" or "see no evil/smell no evil" approach to a passenger who sneaks an occasional smoke in the privacy of his roommette or bedroom?
Any candid answers to this question would be sincerely appreciated.
After smoking for almost 38 years and, now better, after not smoking for the last 17 years, I am happy to see that there is no smoking allowed in more and more places everywhere! It bothers my olfactory system to be places where smoking is allowed whether anybody is smoking there or not.
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I smoked for many years, but I gave it up. Unlike many former smokers, I am not bothered by smokers. In fact, I like the smell of tobacco. But many former smokers, as well as non-smokers, object to smokers irrespective of where they smoke. The zealots would stop you from smoking in your house if they could get away with it.
Amtrak's crews enforce strictly the no smoking policy. Moreover, if they don't catch you, a fellow passenger will probably blow the whistle on you. The roomettes are not air tight. There is a significant space under the door that would allow smoke to escape the room.
I have a pet skunk. He is really nice and I enjoy his company a lot. I don't mind when he occasionally gets scared and sprays. I actually enjoy the smell. Amtrak says I am not allowed to keep him in my roomette. Do they really enforce that rule, or do you think I can keep him in there if nobody notices?
Those anti skunk zealots always hassle me when I want to take him into public places. Isn't that a violation of my rights?
Dave
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow
Actually, skunk is not all that bad in low enough concentrations. And as I had suspected, something related to it is a component of Chanel No. 5 (perineal glands of a civet cat means what you think it does) -- see Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chanel_No._5.
The railroad olfactory environment with Diesel propulsion also has notes of a scent I call Chanel No. 2.
But I don't think that tobacco or tobacco smoke of any form is a flavor note in any commercial perfume.
The other thing is that transportation, whether on a common carrier mode such as a train or an airplane where you share the cabin air with fellow passengers, or on a private mode such as an auto, is essentially a social activity requiring some degree of cooperation.
Yeah, yeah, the rules are stupid and the anti-smoking people are zealots. But if you want to smoke, take your own car (the private car is perhaps the last bastion of smoking in our society), but follow the written and unwritten traffic laws such as not hogging the left lane and letting other cars go by, whether or not they are following the speed limit. If you want to take the train or airplane, observe the restrictions on smoking. It is perhaps the spirit of individualism and self expression (no one is going to mind if I smoke here) that perhaps had sparked the anti-smoking backlash. Some degree of social cooperation goes a long way to making Amtrak travel better for everybody.
If GM "killed the electric car", what am I doing standing next to an EV-1, a half a block from the WSOR tracks?
I have only smoked a couple times, but also like the smell of tobacco. On a cross-country trip in 1977, I spent the whole time in the lounge cars where smoking was allowed, and I think most trains had a smoking coach. I think they allowed smoking in rooms--I didn't enjoy a sleeper until many years later, and by then smoking was not allowed. Someone lit up in their room anyway, and my wife complained because it made the whole car smell.
Here is a shot of one of Amtrak's attempts to accommodate smokers: the exquisitely appointed lounge downstairs in a Superliner coach:
By maui_67photos, shot with Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XT at 2009-07-17
"Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood." Daniel Burnham
A couple of truths about smoking and former smokers:
1) Smoking is hazardous to one's health and the health of those around them.
2) My experience as a former smoker is the the longer I have been away from that final 1992 date that I quit, the more sensitive I am to smoke and smokers. And the less tolerant, too.
So, if I am going to plunk my money down for a hotel room, a restaurant meal, a train trip, or whatever, I am glad that smoking is banned from more and more public places. I feel so much better, have been able to afford things for the family and myself, have inconvenienced and harmed fewer people, and don't feel bad about being the way I am today. As a smoker I was on the defensive, too, but now realize what a jerk I was!
Why the sarcasm? Apart from a customer leaving a Marlboro box on the floor, it looks like a properly appointed smoking lounge -- am I to assume they don't do this anymore? There are plenty of ashtrays, tables, trash cans. The place looks clean and well maintained, and the furniture and decor is comparable to your airport departure lounge (where one used to be able to smoke but cannot these days). There are places to sit, and room to stand if one prefers to smoke and pace about.
Back in the day, the smoking accomodation was the Men's Lavatory annex -- I believe the assumption was that women did not smoke. I had seen such a thing on a pre-Amtrak ride on the Capitol Limited on the B&O, and this place looks spiffier than that smoker's lounge in the chair car.
I am well aware that people who smoke feel persecuted by what has been called anti-smoking zealotry, but smoking, any kind of indoor combustion really, is not clean, and keeping that lounge clean required some effort.
I remember back in the day commuting on the C&NW and how they had Non-smoking cars along with gallery cars placarded as "Smoker." I rode in Non-smoking, but there was the occasion when Non-smoking had no seats or one stepped into the wrong car. Hoo-boy was there not only an opaque miasma through the car, the grime was hard to describe.
I don't think Amtrak has the downstairs smoking lounges anymore. For one thing, no matter how powerful the exhaust fan, smoke always drifted through the train. I was in a dormitory car that had a downstairs lounge, and it WAS very well decorated and furnished. It had padded chairs, large tables, and carpet--the kind of furnishings one expects on a long-distance train; as opposed to what I photographed in 1995(?) which was surplus station chairs. I have heard that there are all-bedroom sleepers on Auto Train that have a downstairs lounge.
I confess that I put the Marlboro box on the floor.
If the smoker ever set the compartment on fire, rest assured he/she killed himself/herself and probably several others in the car. Fires on moving vehicles are catastrophic. Just Don't Do It.....
OK, people, relax!
I see that my query generated some passionate responses.
I thank those who took the time to post thoughtful and informative answers.
I promise not to smoke, curse, gamble, covet my sleeping-car neighbor's wife, or otherwise misbehave on the train.
In all seriousness, I do hope those of you who are rightly concerned about the ill health effects of smoking -- which certainly are real -- are also making efforts to reduce your consumption of fats, sugars, and salts, and to exercise regularly .... Americans' over-consumption of unhealthy food and lack of exercise are contributing to health problems as much if not more than is smoking (and they certainly are worse for your health than occasional exposure to second-hand smoke).
See you on the train!
Steverino:
I quit in 1969. I HATE the smell of smoke. I am totally relaxed. I don't care if you curse, gamble, covet thy sleeping-car neighbor's wife, as long as you do your smoking in the great outdoors or anywhere else where I don't have to smell it.
That said, I would gladly socialize with you on the train.
I used to smoke all the time on commuter trains, sure, there was always a smoking car or two. The last time I did ride a commuter train with a smoker was the last train out of Hoboken on a weekday night on a late summer evening. We settled in the last car, a smoker; my wife and I got the last seats. The smoke was so thick, the oder so heavy, it was then that I decided I had to quit. Even so, it took me another year or so before I finally did. But that night in that choking smoke made me reailize how bad someone else's smoking was bad for me and that my smoking must be bad for me and them!
I have been smoking for 30 years and am taking Ziban now to help me quit. It does help to stop. From 1 pack a day to less than half a pack now. Soon it will be no more. It does not help with the wife puffing away and me trying to quit. We do not smoke in the house for the last few years and can really see a difference in the walls and ceilings.
Pete
I pray every day I break even, Cause I can really use the money!
I started with nothing and still have most of it left!
Well, someone else brought up safety--and this experience also is one reason I take the train instead of flying...
Back when smoking was allowed on planes, I liked to sit in the smoking section (even though I have never smoked). On one 747 flight to Hawaii, the person sitting next to me dropped a lit butt onto a fur coat that had been stuffed under her seat. The coat started smoldering, flight attendants came with fire extinguisher, and it was no real problem. But then another crew member came to check for hidden sparks, and he started dis-assembling the airplane --removing floor and wall panels. Then I really saw what I was travelling in; how flimsy airplanes appear--it IS just an aluminum balloon!!
Sam1Amtrak's crews enforce strictly the no smoking policy.
You can be put off the train at the next station.
Last year, when the washed-out culvert in Memphis forced the detour of the City of New Orleans around Memphis on the freight line, the passenger stop was made at a particular point at which the engine was re-fueled. Because of certain factors, the Memphis stop could not be used as a smoking stop, and one passenger on the day that we were also on this train was upset to the point that an Amtrak employee called for help from the city police. The passenger did calm down when he realized the danger to his continuing to his stop.
Johnny
I'm now in my 70s and have never Smoked (my parents did, I didn't like the smell). I still don't like the smell and always reserve a Non-Smoking Hotel Room.
In June I stayed at a Radisson, on the desk in the room there was a sign, "This Is A Non-Smoking Room" any evidence of smoking will result in a $250 room cleaning charge.
As you see, this is no longer your health, it's the public's choice for clean air.
Don U. TCA 73-5735
I was walking through the concourse of the Cinncinatti, OH/Covington, KY airport yesterday afternoon and was hit with a stench of stale cigarette smoke. There is a smoking lounge but the polluted air kept spilling out into the concourse because there was no reverse ventilation. I am very thankful that smoking is not allowed on planes or trains.
Mel Hazen; Jax, FL Ride Amtrak. It's the only way to fly!!!
Lat year, after two warnings, a passenger was set off the train in the middle of the night for smoking in his bedroom. The police were also waiting for him. It seems he fell asleep and started a small fire. I would suggest following the rules.
Sam1 Amtrak's crews enforce strictly the no smoking policy. Moreover, if they don't catch you, a fellow passenger will probably blow the whistle on you. The roomettes are not air tight. There is a significant space under the door that would allow smoke to escape the room.
Sam is correct. Amtrak's trains are no smoking from locomotive headlight to the markers. Crews tend to enforce this policy with much vigor, and passengers are regularly set out, not neccessarily for smoking, but for refusing to comply with instructions by the train crew to stop smoking, or becoming unruly after being told not to smoke. That is when the police get involved.
Use the smoke stops, comply with the all aboard of the Conductor, or the "boarding call" blast of the locomotive whistle, and all will be well.
I quit smoking (was a 2 packer) 30 years ago. I also remember the smoker car on CNW commuter scoots. It was to be avoided even if you were a smoker yourself. I recall even fairly recently running into smoking cars on some IC trains on the DB (no longer allowed). But no smoking in public areas has become increasingly common to universal in most western nations. The difference between overeaters and smokers is the overeaters only hurt thmselves.
C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan
amtrakwineI was on the Silver Star last month in a sleeper A gentleman 2 rooms down would go to the vestibule every hour and open the window and have a smoke the car attendant even walked by and said nothing. I guess it is a don't ask don't tell. He road all the way from Miami to Richmond nobody in the car had a problem with it . Just open the window and keep it in the vestibule.
The Attendant, Trainman or Conductor who walked by should be fired for a direct violation of company safety policy. Only Train Crew should open a window on a train, if the train has an openable window. The Vestibule is designed as the "Crash Absorbing Zone" of a passenger car, passengers should be keep out of it untill the train stops, but, it can be used to pass through to the next car while in motion. Also, Other Passengers would be forced to walk through that "Smoke Filled" Vestibule.
Bluntly; I would not tempt fate. I would not get into ANY discussion about smoking with any member of the crew and if you are caught They WILL remove you from the Train. I would not want to be removed from any Amtrak train in McCook Nebraska, Havre Montana or anyplace else. The conductor will call the cops. Nobody wants to send part of his vacation in the back of a squad
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