There was a recent discussion on the Passenger Car List regarding the capacity
of dining cars. Most railroads/ways modified their dining cars from 36 seats
to 48 seats in order to increase capacity. Normally there would be 6 4-seat
tables along one side of the car and 6 2-seat tables along the other side. At
some point in time, the 2-seat tables were changed to 4-seat tables, but the
problem here became a lack of room for the waiters to work in the narrow aisle.
No other changes were made to the cars to accommodate this increase in
capacity – they looked the same from the outside. I am sure that you can use
the BGR A diner model to simulate either capacity.
Regards
Dave Pottinger
From: cpha-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:cpha-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of ;
Robert Kirkham
Sent: Tuesday, 7 July, 2020 8:46 PM
To: cpha@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [cpha] Re: Trans Canada Limited diner capacity
Hmmm, I didn’t know about the two floor plans for A diners. now I’m going to
have to figure out which plan the BGR A diners model. Is there a visual
difference in the windows between the two plans?
Rob
On Jul 7, 2020, at 3:35 PM, Jeff Pinchbeck (Redacted sender "jpinchbeck" for
DMARC) <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I should also add, without knowing a specific car name it wouldn’t be possible
to know seating. There were 2 floor plans for A diners with capacity of 36 or
48 patrons. The W diners had a capacity of 48 patrons.
Jeff
From: Jeff Pinchbeck [ <mailto:jpinchbeck@xxxxxxxxxx>
mailto:jpinchbeck@xxxxxxxxxx] ;
Sent: Tuesday, July 07, 2020 6:27 PM
To: ' <mailto:cpha@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> cpha@xxxxxxxxxxxxx'
Subject: RE: [cpha] Trans Canada Limited diner capacity
I don’t think it wouldn’t be 7 sleepers for the entire run of the train.
According to timetables the consist (not including baggage) was diner, 4
standard sleepers, a compartment sleeper and observation car. Additional cars
were added between specific destinations. For example a parlor car between
Ottawa and Montreal, standard sleepers between Toronto and Sudbury (westbound)
or Winnipeg and Fort William (eastbound) and an additional compartment sleeper
between Montreal and Winnipeg.
Jeff
From: <mailto:cpha-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> cpha-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [
<mailto:cpha-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> mailto:cpha-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf ;
Of Kaley Hoffman (Redacted sender "khoffman" for DMARC)
Sent: Tuesday, July 07, 2020 3:43 PM
To: <mailto:cpha@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> cpha@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [cpha] Trans Canada Limited diner capacity
I was reading a book about the TCL and noted that in later years of operation,
there was an “A” series diner assigned to the train, with a seating capacity of
36. The train would typically have 7 sleepers each accommodating between 20-27
people each (R, S, G series). Assuming the train was sold out, there would be
between 140-180 people on the train, all fed by a single diner. That equates
to 4-5 sittings for each meal.
How would that have worked practically? Assuming each sitting took 45 minutes
to an hour, it would be 3-5 hours for each meal. If you started serving at 7
am, you might be done by 11 am, but that is a pretty late lunch, and then it is
straight into lunch. Dinner could start around 5 pm, but would run to 9 or 10
at night?
In the plans for the tail car, there is a small buffet area, but doesn’t look
large enough to serve any significant numbers of people.
Am I missing something here? Any info would be greatly appreciated.
KALEY HOFFMAN
