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Amtrak to institute quiet cars on ‘Wolverines’
Big innovation! When they bring back smoking cars I’ll ride again, til then I’ll smoke and drive MY quiet car.
I think it’s a great idea since Amtrak took over the line E of Kazoo it seems trains are moving a bit closer to schedules as the pass thru. There is track work, ballast, ties, rail and signal work being seen frequently as well.
I think it’s a great idea since Amtrak took over the line E of Kazoo it seems trains are moving a bit closer to schedules as the pass thru. There is track work, ballast, ties, rail and signal work being seen frequently as well.
I think it’s a great idea since Amtrak took over the line E of Kazoo it seems trains are moving a bit closer to schedules as the pass thru. There is track work, ballast, ties, rail and signal work being seen frequently as well.
I think it’s a great idea since Amtrak took over the line E of Kazoo it seems trains are moving a bit closer to schedules as the pass thru. There is track work, ballast, ties, rail and signal work being seen frequently as well.
I think it’s a great idea since Amtrak took over the line E of Kazoo it seems trains are moving a bit closer to schedules as the pass thru. There is track work, ballast, ties, rail and signal work being seen frequently as well.
I think it’s a great idea since Amtrak took over the line E of Kazoo it seems trains are moving a bit closer to schedules as the pass thru. There is track work, ballast, ties, rail and signal work being seen frequently as well.
I think Amtrak’s got it backwards: Most of the train should be quiet and one or two cars should be designated for cell-phone conversations. I’d settle for half and half, though, with some easy-to-understand approach like the front half of the train is quiet, the back half isn’t. If you’re boarding at an intermediate station (30th Street, for example) you have no idea where in the consist the quiet car is going to be.
Yes, as Michael Morris has pointed out, before there were Quiet Cars on trains, there were smoking cars, called “Smokers”. Younger railfans today may not realize this. Typically, the first car in a commuter train was the Smoker. On long-distance trains, smoking was allowed in the lounge cars where there were metal stands fitted with little glass cups called “ash trays”. Smoking was very common. Quiet Cars seem a little wimpy to me; if you’re so sensitive that you cannot stand a little noise on the train, then you should drive yourself, or charter a private airplane.
Good, Michael D Morris, you can drive your car and keep your cigarette smoke to yourself. Oh, by the way, how are dealing with restaurants, bars and other establishment that prohibit smoking?
Quiet car is an awesome idea. So is not allowing smoking.
@LAWRENCE BIEMILLER - This isn’t about cellphone conversations (which, in any case, has always been an overblown issue - people don’t notice cellphone users who try to keep it down, which I genuinely believe is the majority, for obvious reasons!)
The quiet car is all about silence. You wouldn’t seat kids on it. You don’t have a conversation with your neighbor, quiet or otherwise. You don’t listen to music with ordinary headphones on because the “tshh tshh” noise that leaks from your headset will annoy other passengers. Even laptop usage generally requires care - if you have a habit of banging each key on your keyboard, you’ll be asked to keep it down. People sit there because they want to read, or sleep, or something like that, where anything beyond the hum of the air-conditioning and the predictable, rhythmic, clackity-clack of wheels on rail joints is going to be disturbing.
So making most of the train “quiet” like this would be a massive inconvenience to most passengers.
(I agree loud, inconsiderate, cellphone users should be asked to go to the vestibule FWIW, but I have no objection to ordinary cellphone users as they don’t fit that profile, and I’d feel the same way about the classic loud know-it-all who insists on expressing their point of view as loudly as possible in a conversation with their neighbour. But that’s not what quiet cars are about.)
Karl Scribner: was it really necessary to click Submit 6 times?
Mel & Mo Miller: well said.
Good grief, what next! I thought communicating with your fellow passenger was one of the unique things about train travel. (Unlike air travel.) Looks like I’ll be texting my wife sitting in the seat next to me on our upcoming MI trip.
I still remember the days of getting stuck in a metra smoker car if I wanted to sit. Smoking-what a disgusting habit.
MetroLink Los Angeles trains have a quiet car and they are very popular.
Quiet cars are a real blessing. I hope all trains can have one.
Nice option instead of listening to screaming cell phone talkers and loud beeping sounds. Try talking over a cell phone talker some time in your car. You could read a book or the paper, look out the window, take a nap, listen to your iPod- not really an option in the air due to numerous interruptions. I would call it the Return of the Courtesy Car. Hope the Empire Builder does this in coach soon.