If I remember correctly, the NP RDCs ha d regular walkover seats. They would not have made for many happy riders on a Chicago - Twin Cities overnight. I would not have made two (possibliy three, with since I think one of the two was a round-trip) Blackhawk trips if some sort of sleeper had not been available. Instead, I would have ridden a day train or flown. I think the Slumbercoach lasted as long as the train did! It was the head-end businees that kept it going, I believe. That would also argue against an RDC.
The Blackhawk of the late 1960’s was quite a train. I believe that it did carry a slumbercoach up to the end. I rode it a couple of times in the late 1960’s. The train, believe it or not, also had one vista dome on the trips I made in 1968 and 1969. The vista dome is quite a place to watch scenery at night. Burlington always had the lights dim at night which made for great viewing. You could really see well surprisingly. Patronage was down on both the Blackhawk and Pioneer Limited. The Burlington often assigned heavyweight coaches to the Blackhawk which justified me spending to small extra fare for the slumbercoach.
May I offer a bit of clarification regarding Amtrak’s use of Onboard Service Chiefs to fill the position formerly filled by Pullman Conductors? When I worked out of WAS on the OBS extra board in 1987, the major long distance trains had Chiefs. They were in charge of the delivery of onboard service, so they were the direct managers of all OBS crew members on a given train. I left WAS service later in 1987 and went to Auto Train Service, where we have always had Onboard Service Chiefs, and continue to have them. The Auto Train Chief supervises well over 20 employees, and is definitely needed. Several years ago, Chiefs were removed from regular assignments on most or all other trains, and designated Supervisors filled the void with a “step-on/step-off” arrangement. A Supervisor might appear on the train at any time, any place. I was never involved in this, so I have no first-hand experience with it. I have always thought this system could result in an unfortunate sort of “Gotcha” management style, when what was needed was a consistent plan implemented daily with consistent management. Since there was no OBS manager there on a regular basis, the handling of problems was supposed to devolve to OBS crew members, the highest ranking person being the Lead Service Attendant in the dining car. Operational issues were, of course, handled by the conductor; but service issues would be referred to the LSA. In my opinion, a good LSA generally had enough to do without having these extra problems to contend with. However, I was not involved in these “step-on/step-off” operations, so I can’t say for sure how effective it is/was.
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You drove me back to my 1962 Official Guide, where I was surprised to discover that now-nameless (as you say) Minneapolis-Deer Lodge Nos. 15-16 retained a sleeper, full diner and café-lounge. Pretty damn fine for those passengers who remained, if not for the stockholders! Does anybody (Aricat?) know for how long the trains retained the above-named amenities after they were cut back to Aberdeen?
Some answers: 4/26/64, 15 & 16 were cut back to Aberdeen. I have no Guide between the January and May issues, the January issue shows the Touralux sleeper and the café lounge. I would say that the good service was continued as long as the train ran to Deer Lodge.