Hi-Level

Hi-Level
Exterior of the Amtrak Pacific Parlour Car "Sonoma Valley."
The interior of an Amtrak Pacific Parlour Car, a refurbished lounge.
In service	1954–present
Manufacturer	Budd Company
Constructed	1954–1964
Entered service	1954
Number built	73 (61 coaches, 6 lounges, 6 diners)
Number in service	5 (Amtrak)
Number preserved	Various in private ownership

The Hi-Levels are a fleet of bilevel intercity railroad passenger cars built by the Budd Company for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway in the 1950s and 1960s. The first two coaches entered service on El Capitan in 1954 and were an immediate success. Budd built sufficient coaches, dining cars, and lounge cars to fully reequip El Capitan, with additional coaches seeing use on the San Francisco Chief. Despite plans no Hi-Level sleeping cars were ever produced. Amtrak inherited much of the Santa Fe's Hi-Level fleet in 1971 and continued to use the equipment on its western routes. In 1979 the first Superliners, based on the Hi-Level concept though built by Pullman-Standard, began entering service. As of 2013 Amtrak continues to operate five Hi-Level lounges, which it calls the "Pacific Parlour Cars", on the Coast Starlight.

Design

The Hi-Levels were 15.5 feet (4.7 m) high, 2 feet (0.61 m) taller than most conventional equipment. The additional space allowed for the entire upper level to be given over to seating, with restrooms, baggage, and other non-revenue areas on the lower level. The coaches could carry either 68 or 72 passengers, over the 44 of comparable single-level long-distance coaches. Each dining car seated 80 (all on the upper level), compared to 36 in a single-level diner. The lounges could seat 60 on the upper level, with additional seating on the lower level. This increased capacity permitted the Santa Fe to run El Capitan with fewer cars while increasing the total number of passengers carried.^{[1]:138–241} In all three configurations the staircase between the two levels was located in the center of the car. The 68-seat coaches featured "step down" stairs at one end to permit access to standard-height equipment.^[2]

History

The Budd Company delivered the Hi-Levels in three batches. The original two prototype coaches (#526–527) entered service on El Capitan in 1954. Following a positive customer response the Santa Fe ordered 47 more cars: 10 68-seat "step down" coaches (#528–527), 25 72-seat coaches (#700–724), 6 lounges (#575–580) and 6 dining cars (#650–655). These constituted five equipment sets, sufficient for daily service on El Capitan beginning on July 8, 1956. The Santa Fe ordered an additional 24 coaches in 1963–1964 for use on the San Francisco Chief; 12 step-down (#538–549) and 12 not (#725–736).^[2][3]:153

The Hi-Level equipment continued in service under Amtrak beginning in 1971.^[4]:129 Most were rebuilt with Head-end power (HEP) as part of the Heritage Fleet. Amtrak used the Hi-Levels as the basis for the design of Superliners it ordered from Pullman-Standard, which began arriving in 1978.^[5]:57 In the 1980s many of the coaches were rebuilt as dormitory-coaches, with half the car given over to crew space. Several Hi-Level coaches remained in service into the 2000s on the Heartland Flyer.^[6]:139

Amtrak's most prominent Hi-Levels are the so-called "Pacific Parlour Cars," which are the original Hi-Level lounges. Amtrak refurbished five of the six lounges for use on the Coast Starlight as sleeping car passenger only lounges.^[6]:140

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hi-Level passenger cars.

• Disposition of the Hi-Levels

v t e Rolling stock manufactured by the Budd Company Streamliners Flying Yankee General Pershing Zephyr Pioneer Zephyr Roger Williams Multiple units CB class CTA 2200 Series CTA 2600 Series M1/M3 M2 Metroliner 1100 class PATCO Speedliner Pioneer III R11 R32 Rail Diesel Car (RDC) Silverliner SPV-2000 Universal Transit Vehicle Passenger stock Amfleet Big Dome Hi-Level Pacific series Slumbercoach Strata-Dome Viewliner