Viewliner II - Part 1 - Initial Production and Delivery

[MattW]

Just fyi: also cannot use the lower bag racks because the bags would then be against the floor heat which could be dangerous... Have been instructed to leave lower racks up with the explicit intention of keeping bags from being against the floor heat.

Sooo...I assume nothing can be on the floor either, right? Looking at pics posted earlier, the bottom rack appears to be about 3-4" above the floor. How hot does that floor get?

I don't get it.

Just fyi: also cannot use the lower bag racks because the bags would then be against the floor heat which could be dangerous... Have been instructed to leave lower racks up with the explicit intention of keeping bags from being against the floor heat.

Would not the bags being on the floor make them even closer to the floor heat?

I don't believe it's full-floor heat, it's more "strip heaters" (I don't know the proper name) that run along the lower corners between the floor and walls. I don't remember seeing them right off hand in Amfleets, but I know Atlanta's MARTA trains have them, they can get pretty hot sometimes, too hot to touch even.

 

[edjbox]

Do the new viewliner baggage cars still need a deadhead heritage car with them or not?

 

[George K]

I don't believe it's full-floor heat, it's more "strip heaters" (I don't know the proper name) that run along the lower corners between the floor and walls. I don't remember seeing them right off hand in Amfleets, but I know Atlanta's MARTA trains have them, they can get pretty hot sometimes, too hot to touch even.

Well. That would be a serious design flaw, wouldn't it? I mean, not being able to use the baggage cars for...baggage? Surely, I would think that the heat, if electric, would be adjustable.

 

[jis]

Do the new viewliner baggage cars still need a deadhead heritage car with them or not?

No.
Did they ever? Or was it yet another imaginary requirement in the minds of railfans?

 

[Guest]

I don't believe it's full-floor heat, it's more "strip heaters" (I don't know the proper name) that run along the lower corners between the floor and walls. I don't remember seeing them right off hand in Amfleets, but I know Atlanta's MARTA trains have them, they can get pretty hot sometimes, too hot to touch even.

Well. That would be a serious design flaw, wouldn't it? I mean, not being able to use the baggage cars for...baggage? Surely, I would think that the heat, if electric, would be adjustable.

The floor heat strips are on the sides. It is a design flaw if it heats up bags against them. That could potentially cause a fire. The floor heat is not adjustable, set to maintain 50 degrees. So a work around would be to turn it off and not have heat. When the temperature is above 50 it should go off automatically but it could just be turned off in the warmer months or transition to warmer months, and the placement of the bags would not be an issue those times of year if the heat was turned off. Of course the heat could be left off in the winter too.....

 

[Just-Thinking-51]

Eastern Europe had a sleeping car fire due to the electric heating strip cooking off a can of hair spray inside a bag. At the time no bagged car on the train so the pax filled up the room with there bags. Sometime in the night the can cooked off, one sleeper and one couchette burn Down to the wheels. Several pax never made it out. That national railroad is now running bagged cars on all long distance trains now.

My info is dated, so it may not be true at this time.

 

[mgl1978]

Here's my spotting report from today from Washignton.

#80, #91 & #92 all ran with viewliner baggages.

#29 ran with 2 heritage baggages.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

I see a shelf being used.

 

[edjbox]

Do the new viewliner baggage cars still need a deadhead heritage car with them or not?

No.
Did they ever? Or was it yet another imaginary requirement in the minds of railfans?

They did have both during the first couple of days of operation, that's why I asked

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Do the new viewliner baggage cars still need a deadhead heritage car with them or not?

No.
Did they ever? Or was it yet another imaginary requirement in the minds of railfans?

They did have both during the first couple of days of operation, that's why I asked

I think they were deadheading some to be protect cars at the different yards.

 

[jis]

Do the new viewliner baggage cars still need a deadhead heritage car with them or not?

No.
Did they ever? Or was it yet another imaginary requirement in the minds of railfans?

They did have both during the first couple of days of operation, that's why I asked

Quite a leap from "they had both on a few trains" to "new Viewliner baggage cars need a deadhead Heritage car" don't you think?

 

[Ryan]

Rail fans are really good at making leaps like that.

While we were sitting in WAS we saw 50 roll through with a single new bag. Still don't know what's behind us, maybe I'll catch a peek when the sun comes up.

 

[Ziv]

So they can use the upper shelf for sure, which is cool, but the lower shelf appears to be up. Would that be because it would keep the bags from coming into contact with the heater? If that is the way the baggage cars work in the winter that doesn't seem to be a huge problem. It would be nice to get the heavy bags up off the floor a couple inches, without having to lift them onto the upper shelf, but the floor of a car heated to near 50 degrees is a lot better than a baggage car full of drifting snow.

It is nice to see Amtrak getting new cars and locomotives. This is a good year for them.

Here's my spotting report from today from Washignton.

#80, #91 & #92 all ran with viewliner baggages.

#29 ran with 2 heritage baggages.

DSC00002.JPG

DSC00013.JPG

DSC00014.JPG

 

[rrdude]

I am still eagerly anticipating the level of foam distribution when the new Viewliner Sleepers and Diners start appearing outside of the CAF property.

I gotta admit, I'm jazzed too, even at the Bags, and know for a fact that I will be "inspecting" the Viewliner bag when I board the Cap in May. But it still cracks me up that we all get this excited about hunks of aluminum on steel wheels.

Now, if Amtrak ever ordered and took delivery of new domes or "real" lounge cars, me thinks I'd have a coronary event.

 

[user 1215]

Do the new viewliner baggage cars still need a deadhead heritage car with them or not?

No.
Did they ever? Or was it yet another imaginary requirement in the minds of railfans?

They did have both during the first couple of days of operation, that's why I asked

Quite a leap from "they had both on a few trains" to "new Viewliner baggage cars need a deadhead Heritage car" don't you think?

And now to get past the sarcasm, you will likely continue to see heritage units deadheading as they are being relegated to the spare and/or scrap yard upon replacement by the VLBs.

 

[2.0]

Do the new viewliner baggage cars still need a deadhead heritage car with them or not?

No.
Did they ever? Or was it yet another imaginary requirement in the minds of railfans?

Another imaginary requirement?

I seem to remember back when Amtrak first moved the Viewliner sleepers to the back of the Silver's consist, there was a problem with the Viewliners "tail wagging" back there. The solution was to then also move the (heritage) baggage car to behind the Viewliners to stop this.

So, I think this is very valid question. Since the a Viewliner sleeper had this "tail wagging" problem if it was the last car in the consist, do the new Viewliner baggage cars have the same problem? If so, would the same solution of having to put a heritage (baggage) car back there be still valid?

I mean, I could easily see that while Amtrak was running both a new Viewliner baggage car with an old heritage baggage car at the back of the consist, intended to be simply a backup, might have been masking this forgotten problem.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Do the new viewliner baggage cars still need a deadhead heritage car with them or not?

No.
Did they ever? Or was it yet another imaginary requirement in the minds of railfans?

Another imaginary requirement?

I seem to remember back when Amtrak first moved the Viewliner sleepers to the back of the Silver's consist, there was a problem with the Viewliners "tail wagging" back there. The solution was to then also move the (heritage) baggage car to behind the Viewliners to stop this.

So, I think this is very valid question. Since the a Viewliner sleeper had this "tail wagging" problem if it was the last car in the consist, do the new Viewliner baggage cars have the same problem? If so, would the same solution of having to put a heritage (baggage) car back there be still valid?

I mean, I could easily see that while Amtrak was running both a new Viewliner baggage car with an old heritage baggage car at the back of the consist, intended to be simply a backup, might have been masking this forgotten problem.

I believe they put the bags on the back so that the passengers would not feel the tail wagging in the sleepers. I don't think they care if the baggage feels the tail wagging.

 

[Ryan]

Exactly. It was equally a problem when the Amfleets were on the rear, we had an awful trip to ATL one time on the Crescent riding in the very last row of the last car. Very uncomfortable.

We have a single Viewliner bag on the rear of 97(29).

 

[Ryan]

... And here's what it looks like inside:

 

[George K]

So, I don't get it. The floor gets too hot to use the lower racks, but it's OK to put luggage directly on the floor.

AMIRITE?

 

[Railroad Bill]

Not sure if it has already been reported, but saw a new baggage car on the rear of 42 Pennsylvanian this morning as it passed through Cresson, Pa. Of course those of us who like the railfan window in BC would not have been happy

 

[Just-Thinking-51]

No the lower rack is in the up position to prevent the bags for making contact with the heating units. So they can get warm, but not so hot to catch fire.

 

[jis]

Do the new viewliner baggage cars still need a deadhead heritage car with them or not?

No.
Did they ever? Or was it yet another imaginary requirement in the minds of railfans?

Another imaginary requirement?
I seem to remember back when Amtrak first moved the Viewliner sleepers to the back of the Silver's consist, there was a problem with the Viewliners "tail wagging" back there. The solution was to then also move the (heritage) baggage car to behind the Viewliners to stop this.

So, I think this is very valid question. Since the a Viewliner sleeper had this "tail wagging" problem if it was the last car in the consist, do the new Viewliner baggage cars have the same problem? If so, would the same solution of having to put a heritage (baggage) car back there be still valid?

I mean, I could easily see that while Amtrak was running both a new Viewliner baggage car with an old heritage baggage car at the back of the consist, intended to be simply a backup, might have been masking this forgotten problem.

Yes. Lack of understanding of the original issue can cause one to arrive at erroneous conclusions. That is quite understandable.
So yes - imaginary requirement

BTW, looks like the racks are being used after all ! There goes another apparently unsubstantiated assertion about them being unusable that was touted here insistently, duly defenestrated!

 

[OBS]

Amtrak issued an employee advisory stating that as of March 30, the Viewliner II baggage fleet, based out of Miami, is now operating on all single level trains East of Chicago. Expansion to Western routes will occur as more equipment becomes available and additional training to new areas has been provided....

 

[StriderGDM]

Amtrak issued an employee advisory stating that as of March 30, the Viewliner II baggage fleet, based out of Miami, is now operating on all single level trains East of Chicago. Expansion to Western routes will occur as more equipment becomes available and additional training to new areas has been provided....

Good news. Any word when the next batch from CAF is due?