The Battle Of Roomettes — Superliner Versus Viewliner II

Northwest Of Pittsburgh

March 2. 2026; 4 AM

Awake at 4 AM. Can’t sleep anymore due to my roomette being cold and the “bed” being uncomfortable. Which motivated me to compare my current roomette to the one I had on the California Zephyr.

My Zephyr’s roomette was on a car called s Superliner. (Something being called a roomette on a Superliner gives away the time from they came from, right? I’m guessing the 1970s?). The Superliner is a two-level car that is used out West. My roomette while reasonably comfortable was dated. The upper bed folded down from the ceiling and had a pad that was probably less than an inch thick. It reminded me of sleeping in Hi Ho Silver including the narrowness of the bed.

The Viewliner II is a single-level sleeping car used on the East Cosst. Appears much newer than the Superliner with better lighting, in-room temperature controls and even a fold-down sink! The upper berth doesn’t fold down but pulls down from the ceiling. At first glance, I thought that was going to be an improvement. I was wrong. The bed is wider on one end than the other; the difference is several inches. Those inches turned out to be important as I found myself being close to the edge on the narrow end. Overall, I did not sleep as well in the Viewliner II compared to the Superliner. I got about four hours of sleep to go with about two hours of trying to get comfortable.

Note to self. If I remember correctly my train ticket cost $1,500. Meaning this experience is a bit of a splurge. When I booked my ticket a month ago, all that was available were roomettes. Next time, Lucian, book earlier and get a bedroom! It will be more expensive, but I’ll get twice the space!

Note: After three nights on the train, I’m finding it a bit hard to be insightful and witty. I’m just a bit unrested. I’d do this train trip again in a heartbeat, with the memory that by far the best leg was LA to Denver because of the scenery.