Viewliner II - Part 1 - Initial Production and Delivery

[Ryan]

I'm staring forlornly at the route of the Sunset East all week, waiting for a train that will never come.

 

[TylerP42]

According to an Amtrak lady who has had 40 years of repair work and yard work and was working in a glass house today, the Viewliner II baggage cars are extremely ineffective amd the way they were made leave a lot of unused space and inconviences. She says the company that made them made them to look nice, not be effective. She said that the old heritage baggage cars are better. (Not me talking, her)

 

[Amtrak172]

According to an Amtrak lady who has had 40 years of repair work and yard work and was working in a glass house today, the Viewliner II baggage cars are extremely ineffective amd the way they were made leave a lot of unused space and inconviences. She says the company that made them made them to look nice, not be effective. She said that the old heritage baggage cars are better. (Not me talking, her)

I miss those baggage cars.

 

[Caesar La Rock]

I was missing them before the Viewliner IIs even went into service. I gotta get back into fanning again.

 

[Acela150]

I'm staring forlornly at the route of the Sunset East all week, waiting for a train that will never come.

You foamer..

 

[Notelvis]

I'm staring forlornly at the route of the Sunset East all week, waiting for a train that will never come.

I'm reminded of an old movie ('The Air Up There') in which Kevin Bacon plays an assistant college basketball coach who has traveled to Africa in hopes of recruiting his next 6'8" power forward.

He walks into a bus station trying to buy a ticket to the isolated village where the prospect lives. The ticket agent says "I am sorry, you have missed the last bus to Winnabee." Bacon asks "When did it leave?" The agent picks up a ratty official guide kind of timetable, blows the dust off of it, flips through a few pages and replies "1974."

 

[Bob Dylan]

I'm staring forlornly at the route of the Sunset East all week, waiting for a train that will never come.

"Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again!"

 

[afigg]

According to trainorders, 10 more baggage cars are on the move today from Elmira, numbers 61048 through 61057.

 

[Cho Cho Charlie]

Get your camera ready Ryan. You know the "what" and "where." The when should be Wednesday and Thursday.

Do we expect these baggage cars to look any different?

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Get your camera ready Ryan. You know the "what" and "where." The when should be Wednesday and Thursday.

Do we expect these baggage cars to look any different?

Hopefully cleaner than the ones that have been in service for a while. :giggle:

 

[ronkstevens]

Get your camera ready Ryan. You know the "what" and "where." The when should be Wednesday and Thursday.

Do we expect these baggage cars to look any different?

They will have different numbers stuck on their sides

 

[PerRock]

Pictures of the new Viewliner II bags are on the Facebook NEC group:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/653724898029779/permalink/868964186505848/

Photo may not work for everyone.

peter

 

[Thirdrail7]

According to trainorders, 10 more baggage cars are on the move today from Elmira, numbers 61048 through 61057.

Hmmm. According to a post here that was made in response to your inquiry, this was already covered:

Second post here says AMTK 41 and 48 are being made ready to run from Albany to Elmira on Monday to pick up more baggage cars. I think this is what was hinted at before.

That's good news. The question is how many baggage cars will be delivered in this batch? 48 baggage cars have been delivered, there are 22 to go.

The 48 through the 57 are being picked up.

I guess reading isn't fundamental after all. I'll rejoin TO to answer any of your future questions though. :blink:

Get your camera ready Ryan. You know the "what" and "where." The when should be Wednesday and Thursday.

Do we expect these baggage cars to look any different?

They will have different numbers stuck on their sides

Ryan has taken pictures of their 16 car move to Florida in the past. I was merely attempting to let them know when they would occur should he wish to do so this time.

Next time I'll just send a pm.

Geez.

 

[Ryan]

Thanks for the heads up, it s a shame I'm out of town to miss it.

One more delivery should finish the bags, no?

 

[jis]

So like the previous recent ones they will go down to Florida in groups of 5 tacked onto 97 or 91?

 

[Train2104]

Thanks for the heads up, it s a shame I'm out of town to miss it.

One more delivery should finish the bags, no?

I'm assuming they'll do one more of 10 then tack the 3 left onto whatever's next.

 

[Chaz]

In an Aug 11 thread at TrainOrders Amtrak LSA 'Boiling Man' ( a frequent poster there) shared gossip from someone he usually trusts to the effect that the diner order will be cancelled--as a way to deal w Congress' demand to cut F&B and in light of the Silver experience. He says it may be off base but ... just in case...

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,3815460,page=1

 

[Bob Dylan]

I saw that post on trainorders too. As we know, OBS aren't always the most in the know people @ Amtrak! ( except for AU Members! )

This makes no sense since the Heritage Diners aree on their last legs, unless Amtrak is going to eliminate ALL Diners on the Single Level Cars!( very unlikely)

The New Diners are are urgently needed!

 

[AmtrakLKL]

According to an Amtrak lady who has had 40 years of repair work and yard work and was working in a glass house today, the Viewliner II baggage cars are extremely ineffective amd the way they were made leave a lot of unused space and inconviences. She says the company that made them made them to look nice, not be effective. She said that the old heritage baggage cars are better. (Not me talking, her)

It seems all the employees who have been around forever hate the new baggage cars, presumably because they just hate change. Are they perfect? Absolutely not, but the Heritage bags were even less perfect than the Viewliners. The Heritage bags leaked everywhere, doors didn't close properly, they didn't heat properly, so dimly lit you couldn't see properly, they bounced all over the place scattering stacks of bags, etc.

From my perspective, the biggest issue with the new cars is the stifling heat in summer. Unlike the incredibly leaky Heritage cars that let rain, snow and wind blow right through, these cars are sealed up tight and the roof ventilators don't do much (if anything).

So like the previous recent ones they will go down to Florida in groups of 5 tacked onto 97 or 91?

They'll probably move in groups of five on the back of 97 as before. Can't put them on the bottom of 91 because the train backs into Tampa which only fits about 11 or 12 cars on the platform.

 

[Hal]

I saw that post on trainorders too. As we know, OBS aren't always the most in the know people @ Amtrak! ( except for AU Members! )

This makes no sense since the Heritage Diners aree on their last legs, unless Amtrak is going to eliminate ALL Diners on the Single Level Cars!( very unlikely)

The New Diners are are urgently needed!

Certainly none can't rely on a rumor heard by someone in OBS. It should be treated as a rumor. But that they would eliminate diners is possible.

Someone in that Trainorders thread thinks animals can be shipped in the new baggage cars because they have heat. Nooo. The heat is to 55 degrees and there is no AC in the summer. They get very hot. Hot, Hot, Hot!

 

[jis]

So like the previous recent ones they will go down to Florida in groups of 5 tacked onto 97 or 91?

They'll probably move in groups of five on the back of 97 as before. Can't put them on the bottom of 91 because the train backs into Tampa which only fits about 11 or 12 cars on the platform.

Good point about 91. Also apparently 91 is now going with single P42 too?

 

[AmtrakLKL]

So like the previous recent ones they will go down to Florida in groups of 5 tacked onto 97 or 91?

They'll probably move in groups of five on the back of 97 as before. Can't put them on the bottom of 91 because the train backs into Tampa which only fits about 11 or 12 cars on the platform.

Good point about 91. Also apparently 91 is now going with single P42 too?

There were the single locomotive days during the Gunn administration. The cost savings to running a single engine is tremendous both in fuel, wear-n-tear and increasing unit availability. If you have a reliable, well maintained fleet the primary downside is no back up when the lead unit is no longer able to lead account tree or vehicle strike. Running times are calculated with one engine and 12 cars, so schedules shouldn't be affected.

I don't know about any current effort to revert to a single locomotive, though.

 

[jis]

Yes indeed, the savings are huge. Indeed in rest of the world very often trains are assigned a single loco.

In India for example, almost everything, including very prestigious trains run with single locos and upto 24 cars (indian cars are somewhat shorter - 75', and somewhat lighter), and they generally seem to operate pretty reliably on the whole. However, they have an advantage of having a very dense network, which means that in case of failure a replacement is more readily available close by. But then again, because there is a huge competition among loco sheds about the quality of the locos that they own, it is a matter of shame when a loco from a particular shed fails in service. On IR the owning loco shed is very clearly identified on each loco either with a distinctive livery or where that is not allowed (e.g. the WAP 5 and 6 class electrics) the loco shed name appears emblazoned on the front of the locomotive.

But the bottom line is, that most of the passenger service runs using single loco for each train. There are only a few exceptions here and there.

 

[rrdude]

Yes indeed, the savings are huge. Indeed in rest of the world very often trains are assigned a single loco.

In India for example, almost everything, including very prestigious trains run with single locos and upto 24 cars (indian cars are somewhat shorter - 75', and somewhat lighter), and they generally seem to operate pretty reliably on the whole. However, they have an advantage of having a very dense network, which means that in case of failure a replacement is more readily available close by. But then again, because there is a huge competition among loco sheds about the quality of the locos that they own, it is a matter of shame when a loco from a particular shed fails in service. On IR the owning loco shed is very clearly identified on each loco either with a distinctive livery or where that is not allowed (e.g. the WAP 5 and 6 class electrics) the loco shed name appears emblazoned on the front of the locomotive.

But the bottom line is, that most of the passenger service runs using single loco for each train. There are only a few exceptions here and there.

This is key though, "........they have an advantage of having a very dense network, which means that in case of failure a replacement is more readily available close by...." That simply doesn't exist here in the USA, outside of just a few corridors. I mean, even in Michigan, it could take hours to get a replacement loco.

 

[Thirdrail7]

According to an Amtrak lady who has had 40 years of repair work and yard work and was working in a glass house today, the Viewliner II baggage cars are extremely ineffective amd the way they were made leave a lot of unused space and inconviences. She says the company that made them made them to look nice, not be effective. She said that the old heritage baggage cars are better. (Not me talking, her)

It seems all the employees who have been around forever hate the new baggage cars, presumably because they just hate change. Are they perfect? Absolutely not, but the Heritage bags were even less perfect than the Viewliners. The Heritage bags leaked everywhere, doors didn't close properly, they didn't heat properly, so dimly lit you couldn't see properly, they bounced all over the place scattering stacks of bags, etc.

From my perspective, the biggest issue with the new cars is the stifling heat in summer. Unlike the incredibly leaky Heritage cars that let rain, snow and wind blow right through, these cars are sealed up tight and the roof ventilators don't do much (if anything).

So like the previous recent ones they will go down to Florida in groups of 5 tacked onto 97 or 91?

They'll probably move in groups of five on the back of 97 as before. Can't put them on the bottom of 91 because the train backs into Tampa which only fits about 11 or 12 cars on the platform.

It has less to do with being against change and more to do with wanting something to change for the better. If you think the cars that were delivered prior to the multitudes of mods (that are STILL ongoing) are better just because they currently close better because they haven't aged, well some people have higher expectations, particularly for what they cost. Which raises another point that I bring up. Sure, they're shiny, new but does anyone see them lasting 50 to 60 years?

There is a lot more going on with these cars that luggage racks and paint jobs. Eventually, one day after the last mods are made, we'll all be free to discuss the under the radar trial and tribulations of this equipment..and we'll have a nice laugh...or something like that.

So like the previous recent ones they will go down to Florida in groups of 5 tacked onto 97 or 91?

They'll probably move in groups of five on the back of 97 as before. Can't put them on the bottom of 91 because the train backs into Tampa which only fits about 11 or 12 cars on the platform.

Good point about 91. Also apparently 91 is now going with single P42 too?

There were the single locomotive days during the Gunn administration. The cost savings to running a single engine is tremendous both in fuel, wear-n-tear and increasing unit availability. If you have a reliable, well maintained fleet the primary downside is no back up when the lead unit is no longer able to lead account tree or vehicle strike. Running times are calculated with one engine and 12 cars, so schedules shouldn't be affected.

I don't know about any current effort to revert to a single locomotive, though.

Look deeper, AmtrakLKL. h34r: