Viewliner II - Part 1 - Initial Production and Delivery

[Agent]

For the record Amtrak #5(11) is the first #5 to have a Viewliner II baggage car in revenue service with AMTK 61002 going back west again. Also, the California Zephyr consist has dropped down to two coaches and two sleepers.

 

[keelhauled]

I don't mind that actually. That's a nice scheme for the Amtrak California trains. I think it's safe to say that the regular revenue Amtrak ones will be in Phase V. I mean Amtrak chose to paint the ACS-64's in V. Although those are part of the Northeast Regional.

Yeah but Amtrak paid for the ACS-64s. No reason why the states can't paint their locomotives in another scheme. All Amtrak is going to do is drive them.

 

[keelhauled]

Who in their right mind suggested that the Eastern and Western fleets would benefit from different paint schemes in the first place? Whoever thought up this loud and gaudy Uncle Sam style redux is the one who should be explaining themselves. Might as well bring back the pointless arrow with its head up its rear. All these decades it took to drain the last bit of garishness out of the paint scheme and then here it comes back again.

Yeah but they're going to brand the long distance trains as "Amtrak America" now. This way, anyone who votes against them will clearly be marked as being against America and the red, white, and blue. It's brilliantly cynical.

 

[Ryan]

I think it's safe to say that the regular revenue Amtrak ones will be in Phase V. I mean Amtrak chose to paint the ACS-64's in V. Although those are part of the Northeast Regional.

There aren't yet any Amtrak regular ones, they haven't ordered any.

 

[Paulus]

Amtrak hasn't ordered any of them yet, so it'll be up to the states that paid for them.

Thank you. I hope they're in Phase V or something modern.

It's a safe bet the CA ones will look like this:

Not all. Some will look like this instead:

 

[oldtimer]

Having been a survivor of Amtrak's rainbow days it does not matter what paint scheme the Viewliner II's are. It matters more on how they work. I do not like what I have seen so far. The skirting on the lower edge of the car body will just retain more snow and ice and make it harder to get to components that that are under car and it will further delay turn around service at points like Chicago and Sunnyside. In order to properly inspect the trucks, brakes, brake rigging in must be visible and not frozen in an iceberg. If it is below zero out it will take many hours for that mass of metal to get warm enough in the Service & Inspection building to do a proper job.

It also appears that the 480 Volt cables are run under the car where they are vulnerable to strike damage. This is one of the major causes of cars being "Bad Ordered" in the snow belt winters. The Viewliner I's had the cables run in a wire loom on top of the car and most of the electricians in Chicago thought that was a great idea.

That is just my dos centavos!

 

[AmtrakLKL]

Having been a survivor of Amtrak's rainbow days it does not matter what paint scheme the Viewliner II's are. It matters more on how they work. I do not like what I have seen so far. The skirting on the lower edge of the car body will just retain more snow and ice and make it harder to get to components that that are under car and it will further delay turn around service at points like Chicago and Sunnyside. In order to properly inspect the trucks, brakes, brake rigging in must be visible and not frozen in an iceberg. If it is below zero out it will take many hours for that mass of metal to get warm enough in the Service & Inspection building to do a proper job.

It also appears that the 480 Volt cables are run under the car where they are vulnerable to strike damage. This is one of the major causes of cars being "Bad Ordered" in the snow belt winters. The Viewliner I's had the cables run in a wire loom on top of the car and most of the electricians in Chicago thought that was a great idea.

That is just my dos centavos!

The underside of the new baggage cars is fully enclosed, and I believe the remainder of the fleet will be the same. What you see as a skirt is actually a rather heavy door that swings up to allow access under the car. When it drops down it seals shut to keep out the elements such as ice and snow. I've got a picture somewhere. When I find it I'll post the photo.

 

[jis]

According to a report from Elmira Heights NY, while everyone was busy remembering 9/11 a short train pulled out of the CAF plant with the following consist:

[SIZE=10.5pt]P42 79, Diner 68000 ALBANY, Sleeper 62500 PORTAGE RIVER, Bag-Dorm 69000, Cafe 48154 and GP38-3 520[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Apparently it was headed to Albany. I wonder what came of the equipment move, since I have not seen any further reports on it anywhere else.[/SIZE]

 

[Bob Dylan]

Hmmm, Stealth equipment testing and moves, but if they do it on the NEC, the videos and posts will be all over the net!

Maybe they are speeding up the delivery and testing, and perhaps we'll see some Viewliner Bag Dorms and Diners in Revenue service for the holidays?

 

[jis]

If I remember correctly these are the same cars that have been out of the den for a little while earlier this year.

 

[R30A]

You remember correctly that the cars were here. They were delivered last July, and were returned by the same engines which then proceeded to pick up 61000 for the second time, and 61001 for the first time(I think it was last November)!

 

[neroden]

According to a report from Elmira Heights NY, while everyone was busy remembering 9/11 a short train pulled out of the CAF plant with the following consist:

[SIZE=10.5pt]P42 79, Diner 68000 ALBANY, Sleeper 62500 PORTAGE RIVER, Bag-Dorm 69000, Cafe 48154 and GP38-3 520[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Apparently it was headed to Albany. I wonder what came of the equipment move, since I have not seen any further reports on it anywhere else.[/SIZE]

With only one report, I'm not at all sure this is actually *true*. It's a perfect false rumor for the sort of people who like to be impish, since it's a plausible rumor which I could have made up from available public information -- with lots of seemingly convincing detail, but detail which is easy to generate and hard to disprove.

If it is true, it's good news. These are of course the three "pilot cars" which came out for testing a while back and were sent back for modifications. So if this is true, they are now out for second-round testing -- which is a very good thing. I was saying earlier that the main uncertainty in the delivery schedule for these car types is the question of how long it will take to get all the design bugs worked out of the prototypes so that the mass production can start. Of course, they could go back with another huge list of necessary fixes.

It's possible that they're being inspected at Albany in a top secret fashion. Or maybe it was just a false rumor...

 

[keelhauled]

Someone on railroad.net said the same thing, but was less specific. They also claimed to have photos, but didn't share any.

 

[Ryan]

I'm an hour from ALB and heading back to the airport Friday morning. Maybe I need to leave a little early and make a detour.

 

[AmtrakLKL]

According to a report from Elmira Heights NY, while everyone was busy remembering 9/11 a short train pulled out of the CAF plant with the following consist:

[SIZE=10.5pt]P42 79, Diner 68000 ALBANY, Sleeper 62500 PORTAGE RIVER, Bag-Dorm 69000, Cafe 48154 and GP38-3 520[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Apparently it was headed to Albany. I wonder what came of the equipment move, since I have not seen any further reports on it anywhere else.[/SIZE]

With only one report, I'm not at all sure this is actually *true*. It's a perfect false rumor for the sort of people who like to be impish, since it's a plausible rumor which I could have made up from available public information -- with lots of seemingly convincing detail, but detail which is easy to generate and hard to disprove.

If it is true, it's good news. These are of course the three "pilot cars" which came out for testing a while back and were sent back for modifications. So if this is true, they are now out for second-round testing -- which is a very good thing. I was saying earlier that the main uncertainty in the delivery schedule for these car types is the question of how long it will take to get all the design bugs worked out of the prototypes so that the mass production can start. Of course, they could go back with another huge list of necessary fixes.

It's possible that they're being inspected at Albany in a top secret fashion. Or maybe it was just a false rumor...

Edited out as the photos were old.

 

[busboy]

Why is everything such a top secret with Amtrak. Don't they communicate what's going on with their employees?

 

[Acela150]

The only thing with those photos is that the Pointless Arrow is on the Equipment. I know they switched from the Pointless Arrow to the Waves on the bag cars. I don't know if they kept the PA on the cars.

 

[jis]

The email that I got (indirectly) from someone that many of us know had eight photos attached, two of which appear above. I think these are still prototype test cars and they have not received any new striping or decals since the last time we saw them. But it is also possible that it is a hoax. That is why I posed the question as to whether someone else had seen or heard something about this move.

The only other data point that we have so far is on rr.net from someone who is at Albany Yard and he has heard nothing about it. So likely that it did not happen afterall, unless we hear otherwise from an additional source.

 

[StriderGDM]

Why is everything such a top secret with Amtrak. Don't they communicate what's going on with their employees?

Because it's not relevant for most employees to know.

 

[R30A]

Not to be overly skeptical. but I do find it highly suspect that the weather is cloudy, that they have the pointless arrow, and that they were picked up by 79 and 520.

Each on its own would be nothing to be suspicious about, but together, it would be an incredible coincidence that conditions would be EXACTLY the same as their original delivery on 7/8/14.

 

[lo2e]

I'm with you, R30A, it does appear to be an amazing coincidence. I won't say it's not possible, but very, very unlikely.

For reference, when the last batch of baggage cars left CAF in August, the locos were 41 and 520, as shown on the YouTube video of the move.

 

[Ryan]

I'll just leave this here...

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,3459872

 

[AmtrakLKL]

Well, my apologies. Those pictures were sent to me a few days ago. I asked if they were recent and the sender wasn't positive but thought they were. After seeing the comment here about engines 79/520 making a recent move, I checked these and saw the engine numbers matched. There was no meta data in the photos to indicate date taken, so I posted them. It appears they are indeed recycled from July 2014. Whoops!

 

[Ryan]

Google image search is your friend.

I figured if they were old, someone would have posted them somewhere. h34r:

 

[AmtrakLKL]

Four new baggage cars from the most recent delivery were released from Hialeah today, heading north on 98(18) to Washington then on to Chicago.