Artists’ renderings show that Stadler’s proposed versions attempt to improve upon — but not significantly depart from — designs pioneered by Colorado Railcar for Alaska land cruises. The first deliveries are expected to be in time for the 2018 summer season.
Rocky Mountaineer bought its first GoldLeaf dome in 1995. It has a full-length seating area under curved glass upstairs over a kitchen and dining room on the lower level. Colorado Railcar and its Grand Luxe land cruise train subsidiary ceased operations in 2008 and entered bankruptcy with 16 GoldLeafs in service. Though demand for the popular cars warranted more purchases, the Canadian operator could not find a company to fill the void left by the specialty manufacturer.
Stadler will build the new fleet at its plants in Switzerland and Germany.
“Tailor-made is one of our core business areas,” Stadler Rail Group CEO Peter Spuhler says, “and we are convinced we will deliver on all wishes and needs to the complete satisfaction of our new business partner together with our Stadler team.”
Rocky Mountaineer’s president, Steve Sammut, adds, “Working with (Stadler) allows us to re-invent our most luxurious class of service from the ground up.”
Existing GoldLeafs have been undergoing periodic mechanical and cosmetic refurbishing during off-season maintenance periods, and Rocky Mountaineer continues to convert single-level former Canadian National Daynighter coaches to single-level SilverLeaf cars with roof-line glass and larger side windows.
See the upcoming “Passenger” column in the July issue of Trains for more on the new GoldLeaf purchases.
Stadtler equipment is used on NJ Transit River Line. Well-engineered and durable (so far). A good choice, I’d say.
Those domes are far better than Amtrak’s Sightseer lounges, but there is nothing like a short dome (ala California Zephyr) for viewing over the top of the cars. Sure miss them.
let´s hope the seat backs are not going to be as high as the ones shown.
These are hardly dome cars in the classic sense. More like glass-top cars. Forward visibility is limited, and very important. Milwaukee’s Super Domes (later sold to the CN) were a prime example. They were considered vastly inferior to Budd-built domes of the competition due to their lack of forward visibility.
So what ever happened to US Railcar?
http://www.usrailcar.com/
@Rich Boyer, not as long as they operate on US rails, but since they’re taking an existing design(Colorado Railcars) and improving it, there shouldn’t be an issue(those cars already met the requirement).
So I am confused, would these cars be exempt from the FRA 800,000 lbs stress test? Same as is required for the new “Midwest” bi-levels?
Whilst it might have taken 8-years for Rocky Mountaineer to come up with a builder for their new Gold leaf cars it’s worth remembering that this is a company that has achieved what it has through sheer hard work, and the creation of a service offering totally tuned to the market. It delivers a wonderful product. (I’ve travelled on every RM sector in Gold Leaf except to/from Seattle). It’s equipment is maintained in immaculate condition and that requires a lot of money. To now fund 10 brand new sophisticated passenger cars out of the farebox and at the sametime continue upgrading its other service offerings is a remarkable achievement. I can’t think of any other private stand alone “boutique” passenger operation being in this situation. Other operations continue to rely on using existing equipment (not necessarly bad) or they are state supported such as the newish cruise trains in India.
And here’s a lotta more haha: had the Milw Rd. survived long enough for a new vision plan, it mayhave included a series of dome type cars with sleepers, parked at night, scheduled at day when scenery was prime, with cuisine to match….a type of cruise ships on wheels. Let the freight, which is likely to be good these days, fly by. Remember, the Milw., like the NP, had the best scenery.
Mr. Norton: IF the free market was so fantastic in reacting to demand, it wouldn’t have taken 8 years to come up with a new source for dome cars.
As for dragging Amtrak into a comparison with a land cruise venture for high-paying tourists, Amtrak Superliner trains do feature the lounge car. On my recent trips on the Sunset Limited, Texas Eagle and Southwest Chief, the lounge was never filled to capacity, meaning most passengers didn’t choose to hang out there. Seems some people prefer their coach seat or sleeper compartment…
Personally, I find it a great place to set up office and get work done with ever-changing scenery outside the window.
A typical example of how the free market acts to demand. Amtrak? I guess they don’t understand the appeal of the dome.
The kicker is these cars will be built and in service long before any of the new “Midwest” bi-levels ever turn a wheel.