Viewliner II - Part 1 - Initial Production and Delivery

[CSXfoamer1997]

BOLO! The new Viewliner cars in Philadelphia are heading south this evening on a special. Looks like they are headed to Miami like the other ones did!

Are they diners?

 

[AmtrakBlue]

BOLO! The new Viewliner cars in Philadelphia are heading south this evening on a special. Looks like they are headed to Miami like the other ones did!

Are they diners?

One diner, one bag-dorm and one sleeper

 

[Thirdrail7]

Running as a special movement or tacked on to 97 or 91?

Third Rail are they riding on the back of 97 or are they taking a twenty car special like the baggage cars did once.

If all goes according to plan, they will go solo. It is a quick round trip.

All has gone according to plan.

 

[Ryan]

/me wonders how quick is "quick"

 

[Seaboard92]

If they are going solo I think I'll reschedule some meetings and head down savannah ways

 

[CSXfoamer1997]

Man, I wonder how long it's gonna take before the diners come out and go to Hialeah? The Heritage diners, as you may know, are already in need of replacement.

 

[TylerP42]

Man, I wonder how long it's gonna take before the diners come out and go to Hialeah? The Heritage diners, as you may know, are already in need of replacement.

To be honest, the heritage diners have held up well and their maintenance is well. I hear of amfleets and viewliners having more issues than I hear of diners having issues, but it can be a bit unfair to compare... anyways, the heritage diners are probably good for another 10 years if need be. As I said, if need be. Not that they will be in operation for another 10 years.

 

[pennyk]

Running as a special movement or tacked on to 97 or 91?

Third Rail are they riding on the back of 97 or are they taking a twenty car special like the baggage cars did once.

If all goes according to plan, they will go solo. It is a quick round trip.

All has gone according to plan.

any idea when they will be passing through the Orlando area?

 

[Gulfwind2]

Can anyone verify the movement of V-II's which is supposedly taking place towards Hialeah? Or for that matter, whether the cars are on their way to Hialeah for any sort of training? (Or just more correcting of copious defects)

 

[OBS]

You don't need verification. If Thirdrail7 said it, it is true. My guess is they will be running on the window that 97 operates in. Either right before or right after...but just a guess.

 

[Seaboard92]

That's what I was about to say OBS. My best bet of daylight is savannah

 

[WoodyinNYC]

They are moving, and apparently in the right direction. That's good enuff for me today.

 

[neroden]

Man, I wonder how long it's gonna take before the diners come out and go to Hialeah? The Heritage diners, as you may know, are already in need of replacement.

To be honest, the heritage diners have held up well and their maintenance is well. I hear of amfleets and viewliners having more issues than I hear of diners having issues, but it can be a bit unfair to compare... anyways, the heritage diners are probably good for another 10 years if need be. As I said, if need be. Not that they will be in operation for another 10 years.

Look up the flat wheel incident which stopped one of the Silver Service trains for hours a few years ago. The Heritage diners are mostly on their last legs. (I think some of them are in better condition than others.)

 

[TylerP42]

Man, I wonder how long it's gonna take before the diners come out and go to Hialeah? The Heritage diners, as you may know, are already in need of replacement.

To be honest, the heritage diners have held up well and their maintenance is well. I hear of amfleets and viewliners having more issues than I hear of diners having issues, but it can be a bit unfair to compare... anyways, the heritage diners are probably good for another 10 years if need be. As I said, if need be. Not that they will be in operation for another 10 years.

Look up the flat wheel incident which stopped one of the Silver Service trains for hours a few years ago. The Heritage diners are mostly on their last legs. (I think some of them are in better condition than others.)

On there last legs, yes, but they still have some years left in them. Most certainly aren't going to keel over tomorrow.

 

[NTL1991]

Here's some info about the special move:

Consist:

ACS-64 Locomotive 653 (PHL-WAS)

P42-8 Locomotive 174 (WAS-MIA)

Viewliner II Baggage 61035

Amfleet II Business Class 48176

Viewliner II Baggage Dorm Car 69001

Viewliner II Diner Car 68000

Viewliner II Sleeper Car 62500

Viewliner I Sleeper Car 62027

Schedule:

PHL: 6:50P Dep.

WAS: 8:45P Arr. 9:15P Dep.

RVR: 11:15P Arr. 11:30P Dep.

FLO: 5:30A Arr. 5:45A Dep.

JAX: 11:45P Arr. 12:01P Dep.

MIA: 9:00P Arr.

 

[Thirdrail7]

/me wonders how quick is "quick"

It should be in and out. If nothing goes wrong, it'll stay for a day and return.

Running as a special movement or tacked on to 97 or 91?

Third Rail are they riding on the back of 97 or are they taking a twenty car special like the baggage cars did once.

If all goes according to plan, they will go solo. It is a quick round trip.

All has gone according to plan.

any idea when they will be passing through the Orlando area?

I'm taking a wild guess based upon the running time of train 97 between JAX and ORL. The special was due out of JAX, noon tomorrow. It left WAS at 1030pm, roughly an hour down. Therefore, I'll say somewhere around 4pm?

 

[edjbox]

Anyone have video?

 

[keelhauled]

Man, I wonder how long it's gonna take before the diners come out and go to Hialeah? The Heritage diners, as you may know, are already in need of replacement.

To be honest, the heritage diners have held up well and their maintenance is well. I hear of amfleets and viewliners having more issues than I hear of diners having issues, but it can be a bit unfair to compare... anyways, the heritage diners are probably good for another 10 years if need be. As I said, if need be. Not that they will be in operation for another 10 years.

Look up the flat wheel incident which stopped one of the Silver Service trains for hours a few years ago. The Heritage diners are mostly on their last legs. (I think some of them are in better condition than others.)

On there last legs, yes, but they still have some years left in them. Most certainly aren't going to keel over tomorrow.

According to Amtrak's fleet strategy plan as of 2012, the Heritage fleet has five million plus miles on them since Amtrak began keeping records sometime in the 1970s, second only to the Amfleet IIs without even counting the mileage from their previous service. They are orphan equipment, effectively custom, with all the expenses and headaches and inefficiencies that go with it, as well as being painfully inadequate for serving Amtrak's current passenger loads and the sooner they are off the property and in a pile of scrap the happier I as a passenger shall be.

 

[edjbox]

Are all the heritage baggage cars out of regular revenue service (excluding extra cars placed on Illinois trains) ??

 

[Thirdrail7]

Are all the heritage baggage cars out of regular revenue service (excluding extra cars placed on Illinois trains) ??

No, there are still heritage baggage cars in revenue service as baggage cars.

 

[Agent]

Are all the heritage baggage cars out of regular revenue service (excluding extra cars placed on Illinois trains) ??

A few have been used on the California Zephyr the past several weeks. Here's one on Amtrak #5 from March 18.

 

[neroden]

According to Amtrak's fleet strategy plan as of 2012, the Heritage fleet has five million plus miles on them since Amtrak began keeping records sometime in the 1970s, second only to the Amfleet IIs without even counting the mileage from their previous service. They are orphan equipment, effectively custom, with all the expenses and headaches and inefficiencies that go with it, as well as being painfully inadequate for serving Amtrak's current passenger loads and the sooner they are off the property and in a pile of scrap the happier I as a passenger shall be.

I'll take exception to "pile of scrap" since I think the dining cars would be very attractive to various museum and tourist operations and should be sold to them. The baggage cars are so stripped that they have no historical value left.

 

[Seaboard92]

Actually baggage cars have a good use in preservation as well. They make excellent converts into Tool cars and power cars. So they do have some use. Not the 1700 series but the original baggage cars are good for something.

 

[Palmetto]

For those of trying to follow the move down to Hialeah, the CSX symbol is P855.

 

[lo2e]

Actually baggage cars have a good use in preservation as well. They make excellent converts into Tool cars and power cars. So they do have some use. Not the 1700 series but the original baggage cars are good for something.

Would they have to fix/replace the roll-up doors to serve either of those purposes? I know some of the baggage cars have had door problems.