Viewliner II - Part 1 - Initial Production and Delivery

[AlanB]

There may been 73 Heritage baggage cars officially on the roster some 5 or 10 years ago.

Looking back at the OTOL roster for 2003, there were 54 regular baggage cars active, along with 3 cars painted for the Vermonter, 3 cars painted for the Twilight Shoreliner, and 5 bags painted for use on the Adirondack/Ethan Allen. That's a total of 65 outright baggage cars.

Also on the list at that time were 25 coaches that had been converted into baggage/mail cars. And Amtrak had 65 material handling cars that in a pinch could also be used as a baggage car.

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

There may been 73 Heritage baggage cars officially on the roster some 5 or 10 years ago.

Looking back at the OTOL roster for 2003, there were 54 regular baggage cars active, along with 3 cars painted for the Vermonter, 3 cars painted for the Twilight Shoreliner, and 5 bags painted for use on the Adirondack/Ethan Allen. That's a total of 65 outright baggage cars.

Also on the list at that time were 25 coaches that had been converted into baggage/mail cars. And Amtrak had 65 material handling cars that in a pinch could also be used as a baggage car.

I recall seeing a string of MHCs parked on the southern approach to LAUS; that was about 3 years ago. Is that the entire fleet, or are some strung out elsewhere? If Amtrak has no plans to use them, I'm surprised they do not sell them as I'm sure they still have a lot of Meat left on them.

 

[neroden]

I recall seeing a string of MHCs parked on the southern approach to LAUS; that was about 3 years ago. Is that the entire fleet, or are some strung out elsewhere? If Amtrak has no plans to use them, I'm surprised they do not sell them as I'm sure they still have a lot of Meat left on them.

FWIW, the freight rail business demand for boxcars has been steadily dropping. I haven't been paying close attention but I'm not sure any new boxcars have been built in decades.

Open "gondolas", covered gondolas, and hoppers still seem to be solid business, along with (of course) flatcars, well cars, autoracks, and tank cars. But boxcar business has been in continuous decline for my entire life -- and metal boxcars last until they rust or crash.

This means that the resale value of the MHCs may be nonexistent.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Why hasn't Amtrak sold all this junk for scrap value? Noone wants those cars ( and lots of other junk sitting @ various sights in the US)

Amtrak will not be getting back in the Freight or Mail hauling business so why hang on to them??

Remember the Turboliners??

 

[Guest]

Remember the Turboliners??

I barely remember the Turboliners being sold, and with such I don't remember if such was the consists owned by Amtrak or the consists owned by NY. Or was it both?

 

[jis]

Remember the Turboliners??

I barely remember the Turboliners being sold, and with such I don't remember if such was the consists owned by Amtrak or the consists owned by NY. Or was it both?

The Turbos that were rotting at the old Supersteel facility were sold. I am not sure that the ones stored at Bear have been fully disposed off yet. Any definitive information on those?

 

[afigg]

Why hasn't Amtrak sold all this junk for scrap value? Noone wants those cars ( and lots of other junk sitting @ various sights in the US)

Amtrak will not be getting back in the Freight or Mail hauling business so why hang on to them??

Remember the Turboliners??

Amtrak may still be making lease payments on the MHC cars from the Warrington era. If those cars were purchased with a 15 or 20 year lease, Amtrak may have to store them until the lease is closed out. The scrap value for the cars is likely quite small. Look at what NY state got for the 3 Turboliners? About $500K total, if I recall correctly?

 

[neroden]

Also, storing them is is still cheap. Amtrak hasn't made any indications of running out of yard space.

 

[NE933]

Ok, back to new Viewliner II's. Any more coming soon?

 

[Thirdrail7]

Ok, back to new Viewliner II's. Any more coming soon?

As indicated a few posts above, yes...and they are shooting around in all directions now that the corridor is open. New bags, mods, training, you name it.

It is going on...right now actually.

 

[AlanB]

I recall seeing a string of MHCs parked on the southern approach to LAUS; that was about 3 years ago. Is that the entire fleet, or are some strung out elsewhere? If Amtrak has no plans to use them, I'm surprised they do not sell them as I'm sure they still have a lot of Meat left on them.

Those would most likely be the ones purchased for the failed experiment for moving freight on the rear of the Amtrak trains, and not the one's that I mentioned. The one's I mentioned were used more for mail and then later baggage, before mostly being retired to my knowledge.

But some of the MHC's purchased for Express Trak were retained by Amtrak for reasons unknown by me.

 

[hastybob]

Heads up - deadhead move today from Albany to Elmira to pick up more cars. Will return tomorrow.

 

[neroden]

Heads up - deadhead move today from Albany to Elmira to pick up more cars. Will return tomorrow.

Still 100% baggage cars, I presume?

 

[Thirdrail7]

Heads up - deadhead move today from Albany to Elmira to pick up more cars. Will return tomorrow.

Still 100% baggage cars, I presume?

As previously stated:

Ok, back to new Viewliner II's. Any more coming soon?

As indicated a few posts above, yes...and they are shooting around in all directions now that the corridor is open. New bags, mods, training, you name it.

It is going on...right now actually.

Another group is being cycled to Hialeah for mods as well. They still have quite a bit to go.

 

[WoodyinNYC]

Still 100% baggage cars, I presume?



Heads up - deadhead move today from Albany to Elmira to pick up more cars. Will return tomorrow.

As previously stated:

Ok, back to new Viewliner II's. Any more coming soon?
As indicated a few posts above, yes...and they are shooting around in all directions now that the corridor is open. New bags, mods, training, you name it.

It is going on...right now actually.

Another group is being cycled to Hialeah for mods as well. They still have quite a bit to go.

This is a nice piece of news altogether, after a sad and depressing week.

Does anyone have a running count go VII bags accepted by Amtrak?

iirc, it was 18, then 10 more, got us to 28 thru Hialeah, then another "batch" … If a "batch" is 10, we're already at 38, out of the 70 ordered, so that's more than halfway home. Add the next "batch" you that hear coming, we could get to 48 out of 70, with still 22 to go.

We could have the full 70 bags working for Amtrak by the end of the Fiscal Year. Then by year end, can we hope to see a "batch" of diners at long last.

 

[jis]

Woody, the On Track On Line Amtrak Roster for LDSL is your friend. Click on the link and see the latest.

 

[WoodyinNYC]

Thanks for the support. The link says 38.

As I said, "We're already at 38, out of the 70 ordered, so that's more than halfway home."

The original post on this thread said they were originally set to begin service in 2012. Then the schedule slipped a bit. But Amtrak accepted the first bag cars in February. So get half of them on the tracks in three months looks good.

With four months to go, I'm hoping to see the bag car portion of the order finished before Fiscal 2016 begins.

Then comes the hardest part, the 25 diners, maybe by this time next year, maybe later.

 

[Dutchrailnut]

reported on another forum , todays move: Ten more Viewliner II Baggage Cars departed this morning from the CAF plant in Elmira Heights, NY.

Train consist
73
61045
61042
61041
61047
61040
61046
61043
61044
61038
61039
82512
520

 

[tommylicious]

where are the pax cars??

 

[Ryan]

Still being built.

 

[Bob Dylan]

The Diners shouldn't be as hard or take as long since the Prototype #8400 has been around so long and has actually been in service on the Eastern LD Routes!

 

[afigg]

reported on another forum , todays move: Ten more Viewliner II Baggage Cars departed this morning from the CAF plant in Elmira Heights, NY.

Train consist

....

61047

....

Assuming that the cars have been delivered in sequence or that is the net effect of the prior deliveries, then CAF has indeed shipped 48 baggage cars (counting from 61000). So 22 more to go of the baggage cars.

As for the diner cars, presumably the first 2 diner cars will have to be shipped for extensive testing and training with another likely round of modifications resulting from the testing and crew feedback. Hopefully, CAF will be able to (re-)ship the first diner car for testing while completing the build-out of the 70 baggage cars.

 

[StriderGDM]

where are the pax cars??

If you mean coach cars (I assume that's what you mean by pax), there are none ordered at this time.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

where are the pax cars??

If you mean coach cars (I assume that's what you mean by pax), there are none ordered at this time.

He may mean sleepers

 

[Thirdrail7]

I can't say I noticed any interior mods.