Ah, I hoped that someone who had been there would come forth! Thanks for the inside story, az. To answer your question about the dorm vs a sleeper, the dorm cars are called "Transition Sleepers" because they make a transition between high-level Superliner cars single level cars. One end has a door up high, the other end has a door down low to match with the baggage car (or any other single level car if Amtrak so chooses).
A Transition Sleeper has a crew lounge on the lower level, and the upper level has Standard rooms only, no Deluxe rooms.
According to a recent hotline on the NARP website Transition Sleepers were originally intended for both crew and paying passengers. Amtrak may be planning to sell Transition sleeper rooms regularly on the Texas Eagle. The full story is at http://www.narprail.org/hot295.htm about half way down.
Now, I don't know why Amtrak would be using regular sleepers for dorm cars. It doesn't make sense. There is still a shortage of regular sleepers, and the high revenue deluxe rooms are in there. There is no good reason I can see to use those cars for crew dorms. Perhaps you misunderstood the crewmember's comments, or I misunderstood yours.
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Trust God, love your neighbor, and never mistake opinion for truth.
-Mr. Toy
The Del Monte Club Car
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