Amtrak had Gallery Cars??

1:29 let me clarify something here that was unclear in my script: The CB&Q cars from 1950 were built by Budd. Almost immediately after, St. Louis Car company and Pullman began building them as well. I focused on Pullman since they’re probably the most well-known company, and because their history in Chicago is the most fascinating to me. And of course, they went out of business first, with other companies continuing the Gallery car legacy. . . . . . . I will not be entertaining responses to this comment.

I personally love gallery cars, but a lot of it is probably due to nostalgia, since the first time I ever rode a non-Amtrak passenger train was on the upper floor of one of METRA’s gallery cars. I was staying with my friend Josh in his Joliet dorm room to go to the 2012 Pitchfork festival in Chicago and the night before, we, along with a mutual friend who decided to tag along with me last minute, decided to head downtown for some ill-advised public drinking (I no longer condone this sort of behavior, please follow all local laws and drink responsibly). Once the train finally got to joliet station after what felt like an eternity, Josh guided us upstairs to the longitudinal gallery seats and bought our weekend passes from the conductor. Shortly after, Josh reached in to my backpack to pull out a beer from the case we bought earlier and I looked over in shock not realizing that it was allowed on METRA trains. After arriving in Chicago many hijinks ensued, until we realized we needed to hurry up and catch the last train, little did my friend know that the heritage line that we arrived on and the rock island line we should’ve departed on were served by different termini, so we were essentially stuck at Union Station, late at night and had no choice but to take the most expensive taxi ride of my life. I’ve ridden a few gallery cars since then, but it’s been a while, I’ll have to see if I can find an excuse to ride on one when I’m back in Chicago this winter. EDIT: I guess it was technically just my first ride on a commuter service, as I had also taken short trips on the DC and Athens metros in ‘04&’05 on school/group educational trips, but considering I was only 12-13 and how little I remember of those rides compared to the rest of each trip, I’d say they both deserve at least a small asterisk on my transit timeline (then there’s also the pikes peak cog railway, but that’s more of a tourist attraction than a legitimate form of transit).

Yes they did. So did CB&Q and Burlington Northern. (P.S. there is a cursed picture online of a CB&Q E5 pulling some Gallery cars.)

Fantastic train race scene at the end. That’s was a great addition!

This doesn't bother me. If I were going solo, I'd definitely go upstairs so that I could have a seat to myself.

Yes they were on the Illini when it operated Chicago to Decatur IL

I like riding on the upper deck when I use the Metra routes. I like to get the bigger picture you get higher up.

When Amtrak was first founded, the gallery cars & even the gallery CNW 400 cars were used by Amtrak. Remember seeing them on the Chicago to Champaign and Carbondale service. Also, people do commute regularly between Valparaiso and Chicago on the NICTD/South Shore. There has been some planning that the "South Shore Line" build a second route to Valparaiso/Chesterton.

I road those cars on the C&NW and on Amtrak to and from Milwaukee as a kid. The coaches were very much the same as the ones in commuter service, down to the orange leather and reversible seats. I never had a chance to see the interior of the parlor cars. P.S. I still remember the disappointment of getting nothing but a plain old commuter car. It was my first time on Amtrak, and I wanted to ride on something like the new Amfleet cars. Fortunately, on the return trip from Milwaukee to Chicago, we were put on the Empire Builder, so I got to ride in a Superliner 1 car when they were basically brand new. That was a cool experience!

When MARC rail got a bunch of ancient gallery cars from Chicago, two groups of people absolutely loved them. Deaf commuters could sit on the upper level facing across and sign easily with groups of their friends. And riders all the way to WV (or Point of Rocks) could use the ceiling shelf that you didn't show to share drinks and food. They could only use them on the Brunswick line due to platform (only low platforms work with these) and height (Baltimore tunnels).

Like VRE, MARC had once use Chicago Metra's old Pullman Gallery cars. VRE had some before they bought new gallery cars. They sold the other cars back to Chicago Metra

I’m glad you done a topic about gallery cars.

Never ever travelled on one but if they keep operational costs down then surely help public transport agencies keep operating costs and fares down. Not keen on the stair arrangement though! When I hear Valpariso I think Chile 🇨🇱

Valparaiso, Indiana is named after the way more famous Valparaíso, Chile! In Old Spanish/Castilian, Valparaíso means vale of paradise! Why is it called that? Well the county it's in, Porter County, was named after David Porter who was a naval officer and commanded a number of US ships in the First Barbary War, the War of 1812 and against piracy in the Caribbean. Porter battled in the Battle of Valparaíso (a battle that was a British victory) during the War of 1812, and so it ended up being named after it! Before Valparaiso, it was called Portersville! Love them or hate them, Gallery cars are a part of American rail history. While of course Gallery cars like these shouldn't be made today, it made effective sense for the operators back then. And then there are the C3s. The C3s aren't Gallery cars, but they're special in that they're bi-levels exclusively used by LIRR diesel trains! The C3s are bi-levels because the platforms on the diesel branches are shorter and so with bi-levels, they still get the capacity they want. They're based off the C1. C1s were built by Tokyu Car Corporation. They were designed by Comeng (an Australian company) who worked with Mitsui, and it was one of their last projects before they ceased to exist in 1990. The reason Comeng didn't follow through with building was because of the instability of their owner Australian National Industries. So they sold the design to Mitsui, and then Mitsui sold it to Tokyu. These C1s were supposed to be part of an experiment to see if they could do a one-seat ride on the partially electrified Port Jeff Branch (not electrified between Huntington and Port Jeff) using dual-modes into Penn. If the experiment was successful (which it was), they'd get a larger order. Which ended up becoming the C3 based on an updated design thanks to feedback. The C3s, however, were built by Kawasaki.

More Valparaiso history: The site of present-day Valparaiso was included in the purchase of land from the Potawatomi people by the U.S. Government in October 1832. Chiqua's town or Chipuaw was located a mile east of the current Courthouse along the Sauk Trail. Chiqua's town existed from or before 1830 until after 1832. Located on the ancient Native American trail from Rock Island to Detroit, the town had its first log cabin in 1834. It was then established in 1836 and called Valparaiso in 1837. The city was once called the "City of Churches" due to the large number of churches located there at the end of the 19th century. Valparaiso Male and Female College, one of the earliest higher education institutions admitting both men and women in the country, was founded in Valparaiso in 1859, but closed its doors in 1871 before reopening in 1873 as the Northern Indiana Normal School and Business Institute. In the early 20th century, it became Valparaiso College, then Valparaiso University. In 1858, the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad reached Valparaiso, connecting the city directly to Chicago, and then it had an interurban to Gary starting in 1910. While the city is no longer important train wise, it's still at the crossroads due to its proximity to I-65, I-80, I-90, and I-94.

It took a couple of days for the gallery car to sink in, but I recall being on one, only once, as a kid. I found the upstairs gallery fascinating, it was a big deal to a 4 year old.

I don’t understand why people hate on gallery cars, I’ve ridden in them and they’re quite comfortable. I don’t see any problems with them.

Sitting on the upper level is a private seat with a great view and plenty of room for your bags, on the luggage rack. True Trivia - Earlier designs had a a view block along the upper deck. This was called the “modesty panel”, and existed to block first floor walking patrons from seeing up the skirts of the second floor passengers.

After the ex C&NW bilevels were retired by Amtrak, they ended up in Green Bay getting repainted back to green-yellow for Great Lakes Western, an excursion outfit. They were refurbished at the old Milwaukee Road shop here. They were back home in Green Bay, as they had served on the 400's up here from 1958-1971. Don't know what happened to them after 1995 but I worked on them as car attendant and they rode like a Cadillac on rough track. One car had a bar and no upstairs on one end. Seats were very comfortable. Chicago railroads that had gallery cars were Burlington, Milwaukee Road, Rock Island, C&NW, Illinois Central. Southern Pacific had them too out in California. Nice video. Gonna do one on Amtrak's French turboliners that rode like glass? They were awesome and so smooth.

"...european horrified" i think as an asian watcher i feel fhe same 😅