Viewliner II - Part 1 - Initial Production and Delivery

[hastybob]

These are the first high quality photos that I have found of the new Viewliner cars:

Diner 68000 - http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=489037&nseq=0

Sleeper 62500 - http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=489036&nseq=1

Bagg/Dorm 69000 - http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=489034&nseq=2

Baggage 61000 - http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=482622&nseq=3

Bob

 

[FreeskierInVT]

Looking good!

 

[gaspeamtrak]

Yes ! They look great! Thanks for finding them!

 

[William W.]

I'm looking forward to seeing good interior images of each car (I've pictures of the modules from CAF's website, but none of the complete cars).

I'm especially interested in the dining car, and the baggage-dorm.

 

[Bob Dylan]

I'm looking forward to seeing good interior images of each car (I've pictures of the modules from CAF's website, but none of the complete cars).

I'm especially interested in the dining car, and the baggage-dorm.

Google up Viewliner Diner 8400/. There's videos of the Interior!( YouTube and Google) It's been in service on the LSL and Silver Trains and the new Diners will be similar! I've been fortunate to have eaten in it several times, nice!

 

[afigg]

These are the first high quality photos that I have found of the new Viewliner cars:

Diner 68000 - http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=489037&nseq=0

Sleeper 62500 - http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=489036&nseq=1

Bagg/Dorm 69000 - http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=489034&nseq=2

Baggage 61000 - http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=482622&nseq=3

Bob

BTW, the links to these photos were posted earlier in this thread on July 11. But, since some people may have missed the post, no harm in posting the links again as there are not that many detailed photos available yet.

I am also interested in interior photos, especially of the sleeper and bag-dorm cars. We have earlier interior photos of a new baggage car and the new diner car should be very close to the rebuilt 8400. But it would be useful to see photos showing the interior layout of the sleeper for any notable differences (beyond what we know) and the bag-dorm to get a read on how much room there is on the baggage end.

Since all 4 cars are in Albany and the diner car is named the Albany, I continue to think there are plans for a press conference and show & tell in the near future. If not in Albany, then in DC with politicians from NY state.

 

[William W.]

I'm looking forward to seeing good interior images of each car (I've pictures of the modules from CAF's website, but none of the complete cars).

I'm especially interested in the dining car, and the baggage-dorm.

Google up Viewliner Diner 8400/. There's videos of the Interior!( YouTube and Google) It's been in service on the LSL and Silver Trains and the new Diners will be similar! I've been fortunate to have eaten in it several times, nice!

Wasn't 8400 out of service for the first part of this year? (I thought I heard that someone left it out in the cold in January, unpowered, which caused it to freeze solid).

Whether this is true or not, the Viewliner Is have never liked the cold. Hopefully the Viewliner IIs will correct that problem.

 

[jis]

Any car left out in the cold without power that has not been properly prepared for such storage will freeze. Or so I was informed by a guy from Alaska Railroad. Amtrak likes to blame cars when the real problem is lack of facilities to care for them properly or some such.

8400 has been back in service for many months now.

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum

 

[William W.]

Any car left out in the cold without power that has not been properly prepared for such storage will freeze. Or so I was informed by a guy from Alaska Railroad. Amtrak likes to blame cars when the real problem is lack of facilities to care for them properly or some such.

8400 has been back in service for many months now.

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum

I figured that it was back in service, I had been meaning to ask that and just now remembered.

 

[William W.]

Photo from July 15th of the Rensselaer, NY Amtrak yard.

 

[neroden]

Any car left out in the cold without power that has not been properly prepared for such storage will freeze. Or so I was informed by a guy from Alaska Railroad. Amtrak likes to blame cars when the real problem is lack of facilities to care for them properly or some such.

Viewliners do tend to freeze up when powered and on the road, too, though. (Though not as bad as the Horizons, by all accounts.) The planned remedy was to put some insulation around the underfloor equipment. From the photos, this has been done on the Viewliner IIs. Last I head it discussed (a few years ago), this was going to be retrofitted onto the Viewliner Is as well, at some point.
Also, nearly all cars are going to be left in the cold without power intermittently (for less than 12 hours) in the winter; they have to have some resilience.

 

[jis]

Looks like more Viewliners are getting their Phase III stripes at CAF (photo linked below is from Rich Martin's post on Facebook. Mods, please convert to a link if that is more appropriate from IPR perspective)

 

[Amfleeter]

Looks like more Viewliners are getting their Phase III stripes at CAF (photo linked below is from Rich Martin's post on Facebook. Mods, please convert to a link if that is more appropriate from IPR perspective)

Looks like it has its trucks on already, too, if you take a close look.

 

[William W.]

Indeed. Hopefully that means there will be another set coming out soon. As soon as that happens, and once the testing is finished (without any problems, hopefully), I'm banking on the Cardinal getting the first round of bag-dorms and diners (it's the only train that can make use of only two new cars, so that seems to be the most likely assignment). That, and I would opine that the Cardinal would make the most use of the new cars, as the expanded revenue space will help the route's bottom line, and the lack of real diners would be rectified.

One can only hope.

 

[MikefromCrete]

I think the Cardinal will be the last train to get the new equipment. Other trains with much larger ridership will take precedence. The Cardinal will eventually get a dorm/baggage and maybe an extra sleeper, but I doubt if it will get a full diner considering the current effort to slash food service losses.

 

[jis]

My usually reliable source did say that Cardinal will get a Diner. But I suppose that is neither here, nor there.

 

[Ryan]

Given that it's the only train with sleeping cars and no diner, that's a safe bet.

 

[battalion51]

I'd actually be willing to guess the first trains to see a Bag-Dorm would be the New York side of the LSL or the Silver Star. While the Star can't give up its full baggage car, it certainly could stand to have the revenue space opened up for paying passengers on a high demand route. The New York side of the LSL could give up its full bag car (since the Boston side will still have one) and there's probably sufficient demand for the revenue space in spite of having a total of three sleepers when it's combined with the Boston side.

 

[William W.]

I'd actually be willing to guess the first trains to see a Bag-Dorm would be the New York side of the LSL or the Silver Star. While the Star can't give up its full baggage car, it certainly could stand to have the revenue space opened up for paying passengers on a high demand route. The New York side of the LSL could give up its full bag car (since the Boston side will still have one) and there's probably sufficient demand for the revenue space in spite of having a total of three sleepers when it's combined with the Boston side.

The issue regarding the Cardinal is that it only has one sleeper, and the crew takes up 3-4 of the roomettes. Adding a bag-dorm would provide the biggest instant benefit, and would allow for the elimination of the full baggage cars, since the Cardinal is a low-volume route, baggage-wise. If the other eastern LD trains provide the baseline for equipment, revenue sleeper space, and service, the Cardinal would clearly fall below that baseline. It is important to get that route up to the same level as the rest of system.

There's also the fact that since the Cardinal only has two train sets, it is the only train that would benefit from only receiving two diners, or bag-dorms. The rest of the eastern LD trains run with three or more sets. The CAF order is set to deliver 2 of each type of car first.

 

[jis]

What I could gather is that the New York section at present loses usually 6 but maybe upto 8 roomettes to staff (depends on how many Coaches it has). Roughly speaking, only 8 or 9 roomettes are sold in each Viewliner in the New York Section. Adding a Bag Dorm would release those 6 to 8 roomettes for revenue use. The Boston section normally loses only 3 roomettes for staff AFAIR.

 

[battalion51]

I'd actually be willing to guess the first trains to see a Bag-Dorm would be the New York side of the LSL or the Silver Star. While the Star can't give up its full baggage car, it certainly could stand to have the revenue space opened up for paying passengers on a high demand route. The New York side of the LSL could give up its full bag car (since the Boston side will still have one) and there's probably sufficient demand for the revenue space in spite of having a total of three sleepers when it's combined with the Boston side.

The issue regarding the Cardinal is that it only has one sleeper, and the crew takes up 3-4 of the roomettes. Adding a bag-dorm would provide the biggest instant benefit, and would allow for the elimination of the full baggage cars, since the Cardinal is a low-volume route, baggage-wise. If the other eastern LD trains provide the baseline for equipment, revenue sleeper space, and service, the Cardinal would clearly fall below that baseline. It is important to get that route up to the same level as the rest of system.

There's also the fact that since the Cardinal only has two train sets, it is the only train that would benefit from only receiving two diners, or bag-dorms. The rest of the eastern LD trains run with three or more sets. The CAF order is set to deliver 2 of each type of car first.

William I don't disagree with you. However, there's two things at play. It seems like lately they have been running two sleepers on the Cardinal, I don't know if this is a temporary thing, or if it will be permanent, so that drops the Cardinal's need for a bag-dorm tremendously. Additionally, the Star is a logical choice because all of the Viewliners will be Miami based for their major Mechanical needs. While I realize the LSL and Cardinal have the same origin and destination the LSL is much more heavily patronized than the Cardinal is. The utility of the LSL is also much higher since it is a daily train that only requires three sets. The Cardinal sets sit idle roughly half the week whereas the LSL sets are idle for maybe 48 hours in total in a week (an LSL set can do a minimum of two round trips a week and be en route the seventh day, while the Cardinal sets will do a round trip and a half).

 

[William W.]

The Cardinal running with two sleepers seems to be a temporary deal, unfortunately.

I think that what must be figured out when deciding how sleeping cars are assigned is A: whether the amount of space provided will be filled on any given day, and B: the number of passengers demanding sleepers. If the amount of space provided satisfies most of the demand, then the inventory supplied was sufficient. If, on the other hand, there is a significant number of customers who are unable to secure sleeping car accommodations, due to a lack of space, that seems to indicate that additional space is needed. The latter situation occurs perpetually on the Cardinal. I'm not sure what the situation is on the other eastern LD trains, but it can't be nearly as bad. I would tend to think that from a revenue perspective, the gain from the assignment of the bag-dorms to the Cardinal would be greater, but that's just my opinion. You could very well end up being right. Especially when one considers that the Cardinal always seems to get the short end of the stick.

 

[neroden]

I think we'll see some complex reallocations of equipment as they are phased into service. There's going to be one set of assignments which is most appropriate when there are only two Viewliner IIs of each type -- and that's bag-dorms on the Cardinal, because it's the only train running with two sets. Then, when the additional bag-dorms start being commissioned, it's perfectly likely that the Cardinal could go back to having a full baggage car as the larger number of bag-dorms are assigned to other trains.

I'm betting on the first two dining cars going to the Lake Shore Limited; with #4800 that would provide the three needed, and the new cars are supposed to be more cold-resistant, which is most important on the LSL.

 

[mfastx]

Looking pretty spiffy.

 

[NE933]

Two quickies:

1. The Cardinal must, must get, as was mentioned, a baggage dorm to allow for more sleeper space, as well as a full diner. That would make the train complete for the first time in over 15 years. But we still have the issue of CSX and the Buckingham Branch constraints. Hopefully some of the projects that are taking place will solve that a little.

2. Amtrak has to consider building a Viewliner facility in New York Sunnyside. It is simple inefficient and uneconomical to send these railcars a thousand + miles to Hialeah in Miami for maintenance and fixing, then perhaps another 1,000 mile deadhead. I know it's what we have now, but for the future, esp if a greater number of Viewliners start replacing the long distance fleet, this set up is just too time consuming.