The last few times that I rode the Capitol Limited, I walked backto the diner for all of the sleepers were rught behind the baggage car. The same arrangement holds for the California Zephyr. Four years ago, except for the car with crew accommodations, the sleepers on the Zephyr were on the rear (I had roomette in that car, and had to walk through the coaches to get to the diner). On that trip, one of the coach attendants also attended the roomettes in that car.
It is my impression that both trains are turned at both ends of their runs.
On Superliner equipped trains, it’s been my experience over the years that the sleepers are always in the front of the train. For the Sunset, Texas Eagle, and Empire Builder, this is a necessity as those trains split and the rear cars either switch trains (train 421/422 SL<->TE) or go to separate destinations (27/28 to Portland). The consists are turned at each end to prevent sleepers in the middle, etc.
But why does the Southwest Chief, California Zephyr, Coast Starlight, City of New Orleans and Capitol Limted have the sleepers in front? My guess is that it simplifies ‘train swaps’ (minus cars split off - 27/28 & 421/422) at their endpoint cities (except EMY and WAS) should it become necessary due to late trains and whatever else pops up. The downside of this is that except at SEA, the sleepers and therefore the dining car are farthest away from the statioin which requires a longer walk by the passengers as well as for the food supply vehicles to travel.
On single level trains, except for the Boston section of the Lakeshore Limited, the sleepers are usually (and I emphasize USUALLY) at the rear. However, except for the Lakeshore Ltd, sometimes the consists will be reversed for 6 months, or maybe a year or longer, presumably to ‘balance out’ any direction-of-travel related ‘wear and tear’ issues, particularly on the trucks, wheels, etc. On occassion, due to late trains, substitute trains, etc, it may not be possible to turn the train at the endpoint, thus necessitating all the seats to be manually turned around. But that’s a rarity, in my opinion.