Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1919-12-11
SERVING MEALS
IN DINING CARS
A Ticket Arrangement That Ac-
commodities Passengers With
Much Satisfaction.
Railway Age.

Railway Age.
The reservation of seats in dining ears,
by means of tickets distributed to passeIi-
GERS before the beginning of the meals,
fas now been the regular practice on the
Congressional Limited tIains OF the
Pennsylvania Railroad for whole year;
and the officers of the road express decided
satisfaction with the plan, though they
do not as vet recommend II tor trans
which make stops during or near meal
times. The Congressional Limited trans
run for four or five hours without taking
ar leaving passengers. The southbound
trom leaves New York at 3.25 q. m;
Manhattan Transfer, 3.42; Baltimore.
1.3o: and arrives IN " Washington $50
n. m. \orthbound, the tram ic2Vcs
Washington AZ p. M, Baltimore p. m
and arrives IN New York at $40 p. m
The southbOund train takes on but lew
pasSengers at Baltimore.
The tables are set four times for periods
of i5 minutes each--namely, from a.5o
10 6.I5: from els to 7; from 10 |.43,
and Is 10 $50 \ notice dcScrlb-
INF tho arrangement for the DIM
nrr service is found by each pas
scnger when he enters the tram. MI Oh
the cars IN the train are parior carS, ana
each passenger, therefore has a nulnpGrcd
seat which Is identified by ms ucket-
Usually there is one dining car on cach
train Each Of the tables bear 8 card
showing it's number.
The steward distributes TO passengers
.hs tickets for seats according TO their
choice. each scries Of tickets, Tor each
sitting. containing the numbers OF SIX
large tables and SIX small ones, there beng
four tickets. with the Same table number
for csch large table, and two tickets with
the same table number for each small
tsbIe Thus plan works well and there
has been no attempt to number individual
seats IN the dining cars.
The car seats 50 persons, and four
ea.tinrs will accommodate IA, IN case
" a lsrrcr number, when an extra dining
ear Is provided, the extra car serves
Enosls 8 Is carte The regular cars are
manned hv one steward, four cooks and
sia WATERS.
The service IN these cars Is table hote'
snd the tickets for the different SIttngs
arc ui different color, obyIatIng any posi-
bic confusion IN seating the passengers.
On the southbound tram the steward goes
through the parlor cars Immediately after
leaving Manhattan Transfer, and on the
northbound after leaving Baltimore; and
therefore he has no trouble with the
problem az paSsengers getting Oh the
tram after he has made his rounds
The second period 6:l5 to Us the
most popular one snd all the seats for thus
sitting are quickly disposed OF. The
passenger who desires the most con
venlent hour and lails 10 get II occasionally
enters an objection. hut no grcat ditlclity
hss been experienced II Is obvious that
the chsnccs of obtaining desirable
sitting are ST least s. good as under the
J Is carte system, which. though II might
ccnn0mize time, IN some cases must labor
under the disadvsntage Of crowdlng ST
Other hours II the trsin j. well filled
The avcracc length Of time occupied nv
the passengers in eating IS 81 minutes,
leaving 10 minutes for the rcsctlng of
the tables On one occasion $50 paSsen-
gers were served by ono csr IN one evening
but this made necessary fifth sitting,
beginning st $50 p. m.