In the U.K. right now, almost all LD trains are set up with face-to-face seats with a table between. Commuter trains will have most seats all facing the same way except they will also have seats facing each other with no tables. Regular passenger compartments that are not sleepers are gone. There are still some sleeper services to Scotland and to Cornwall. “Slam-door” type coaches were finally phased out in 2010. These were dangerous, you dropped the window, reached out to turn a handle and opened the door. The Southern Region commuter trains had the coaches with the doors all down the side and I rode them in 1974 and 2009. Loading and unloading was quick. Look close, the next time you see “From Russia With Love.” You will see a train of those coaches posing as the Orient Express.
Many MANY years ago there were some cars that had separate seating areas for segregation reasons. Seating was kept racially separate by partition. Not unlike the white line on the floor of some public buses back when.
The PRR had two 2 seven drawing room parlor cars built for
the “Congressional” in 1953. The train ran New York to
Washington and were strictly set up for day service. The
New Haven also had some combines that were built in 1948
with a lounge and what were called DAY roomettes.
The original Southern Pacific Daylight, premier daytime service between Los Angeles and San Francisco, had both a Parlor Car and a Parlor Observation. The Parlor car had a Drawing Room, and rumors of many a poker game still float around …
Meanwhile, the original California Zephyr had a portion of one car separated by a door from the rest, and reserved for women and children.
But neither of these were laid out like the classic European compartment seating.
The Old Colony had some compartment-style cars used on the Fall River boat train at one time.
Did “The Card Room” on the 20th Century as in “The Sting” have any basis in fact?
PRR had five such Budd-built cars, two for the morning and afternooon Congressionals, and two for the Senators, and one spare.
The New Haven also had five of the postar parlors with day-drawing-rooms, and they were regularly used on the Merchants Limites and on the Colonial to Washington. With few exceptions, including the overnight Federal, consists, Boston - Washington were either all-NYNH&H or all PRR -plus headend variety.
But about this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeBbJu-Z2wk
I would consider it within the realm of possibility except for the part with the Pullman Conductor acting as the dealer.
Like railroaders have never been known to play cards[:#]
Aside from wondering what that was on the other train at 0:24, I got a terrible headache from all the teleporting that train did. When the folks at British Pathe did the cut (presumably for a newsreel) they didn’t pay careful attention to continuity. I was having fun about to dive under Rt. 46 into the tunnel and suddenly … somewhere else!
About like those scenes when you see someone walking into a familiar college building and … the inside is completely different! Where’s the aspirin bottle?
By the way, I’m still waiting for someone to provide a picture, or at least a source for one, of the side-door compartment stock that was used on the Fall River Boat Train. I do recall having seen a (somewhat blurred) shot of the train when I was young, but can"t for the life of me remember well enough to find it again.