Viewliner II Part 2: Dining Car Production, Delivery, Speculation

[WoodyinNYC]

I'm guessing Columbus will be on 97(15). Unless Hialeah isn't ready for it.

Amtrak still has service disruptions in Florida due to Hurricane Irma. They won't send any new cars south until resumption of full service to Miami.

The current delays are not the fault of CAF.

 

[jis]

I'm guessing Columbus will be on 97(15). Unless Hialeah isn't ready for it.

Amtrak still has service disruptions in Florida due to Hurricane Irma. They won't send any new cars south until resumption of full service to Miami.

The current delays are not the fault of CAF.

Yeah. Why would one expect a car builder to deliver cars in which the Air-conditioner actually works. How very daft of people to have such odd expectations!

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Yeah. No reason to get all hot and bothered over that.

 

[PRR 60]

I'm guessing Columbus will be on 97(15). Unless Hialeah isn't ready for it.

Amtrak still has service disruptions in Florida due to Hurricane Irma. They won't send any new cars south until resumption of full service to Miami.

The current delays are not the fault of CAF.

Yeah. Why would one expect a car builder to deliver cars in which the Air-conditioner actually works. How very daft of people to have such odd expectations!

Are we sure that Amtrak did not specify specific AC equipment in order to provide interchangeability with existing cars? I have no idea if that happened, but we are talking Amtrak, so just saying.

 

[PVD]

Older equipment would likely have been r-22 based, newer equipment can not be. Also, I would not be surprised if the compressor is a more modern/efficient design. The tendency in new railcars, where the car type permits, is to use packaged units in the roof for ease of swap out for maintenance.

 

[jis]

I'm guessing Columbus will be on 97(15). Unless Hialeah isn't ready for it.

Amtrak still has service disruptions in Florida due to Hurricane Irma. They won't send any new cars south until resumption of full service to Miami.

The current delays are not the fault of CAF.

Yeah. Why would one expect a car builder to deliver cars in which the Air-conditioner actually works. How very daft of people to have such odd expectations!

Are we sure that Amtrak did not specify specific AC equipment in order to provide interchangeability with existing cars? I have no idea if that happened, but we are talking Amtrak, so just saying.

Yeah. Unfortunately exceptionalism appears to apply to Amtrak and the decisions it makes, in spades, unfortunately.

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum

 

[west point]

Has Amtrak moved the V-2 diners temporarily to all Crescent and LSL ? That until service restored to MIA ?

 

[GaSteve]

Has Amtrak moved the V-2 diners temporarily to all Crescent and LSL ? That until service restored to MIA ?

No

 

[ainamkartma]

Has Amtrak moved the V-2 diners temporarily to all Crescent and LSL ? That until service restored to MIA ?

Are there any diners at all on the LSL at this time? If so, I missed the announcement of their return.

Ainamkartma

 

[OBS]

Has Amtrak moved the V-2 diners temporarily to all Crescent and LSL ? That until service restored to MIA ?

Are there any diners at all on the LSL at this time? If so, I missed the announcement of their return.

Ainamkartma

No....just the lounge subbing for the diner....

 

[Ngotwalt]

On trainorders there are photos of two SM consists being stored in Philly until the Meteor starts running again. Augusta and Boston are in these two consists as the dining car "of record."

Cheers, Nick

 

[Amtrak706]

I happened to be near Elmira, NY today, so I took a look around CAF. I saw several Viewliner shells in the back, some on trucks and some not. What's odd is that they all appeared to be sleeper cars, and several were even wrapped by the doors like they were being stored. Does anyone know what's up with this?

(Photos are below. Check out their little shop switcher as well.)

https://m.imgur.com/gallery/O5aZmWM

https://m.imgur.com/gallery/fz85voS

https://m.imgur.com/gallery/2wUzOPq

https://m.imgur.com/gallery/OOif8xW

https://m.imgur.com/gallery/Iv5oexO

 

[jis]

And so the mystery saga of VL II deliveries continues unabated...

 

[Lonestar648]

Looking at these photos, it appears that no work is being done. They mystery is on going.

 

[KnightRail]

Columbus is bringing up the rear of 97(19)

 

[AmtrakBlue]

I worked from home today, so didn't get to my usual spot and didn't think to go to a spot near my home. Sorry, TR7, I have failed this mission.

 

[Ryan]

Church meeting, same failure here.

Looking at these photos, it appears that no work is being done. They mystery is on going.

How exactly can you draw that conclusion from those photographs?

 

[Amtrak706]

Church meeting, same failure here.

Looking at these photos, it appears that no work is being done. They mystery is on going.

How exactly can you draw that conclusion from those photographs?

I took those photos this Sunday, so work *could* be going on during the week.

 

[StriderGDM]

In addition, shells sitting outside, says nothing about work being done inside. My understanding is a lot (if not all?) shells are complete. It's the interior work that is slowing things down.

In fact I'd honestly be more worried if where were no shells outside.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

I agree. Work is clearly not being done on the car bodies that are sitting out in car body storage land, likely waiting for an open bay in the factory where the cars you can't see are being outfitted.

Theory: They built the bodies first in one batch (which is a distinct process) and then after delivering varying prototypes, then initiated outfitting bodies. Those all look like sleepers to me, and they are currently working on diners.

Why do people act with such desperation to see something going wrong? Is it what you want? That is a picture grouping of a bunch of empty car shells in a storage yard. It is not a picture of an empty or idle factory. If you see a time stamped photo of the empty employee parking lot at 2PM on a Tuesday, that would be a lot more suggestive than this.

 

[Amtrak706]

I agree. Work is clearly not being done on the car bodies that are sitting out in car body storage land, likely waiting for an open bay in the factory where the cars you can't see are being outfitted.

Theory: They built the bodies first in one batch (which is a distinct process) and then after delivering varying prototypes, then initiated outfitting bodies. Those all look like sleepers to me, and they are currently working on diners.

Why do people act with such desperation to see something going wrong? Is it what you want? That is a picture grouping of a bunch of empty car shells in a storage yard. It is not a picture of an empty or idle factory. If you see a time stamped photo of the empty employee parking lot at 2PM on a Tuesday, that would be a lot more suggestive than this.

I thought it might be something like that, but I was just curious if anyone knew for sure. I just found it odd that they would make so many sleeper shells before the bulk of the diners are done. Maybe the rest of the diner shells are in the hangar.
Also, I’m pretty sure the second part of this response was directed at the other poster, but just to be clear, I never attempted to make that point, nor do I even believe it. I am simply curious about CAF’s production strategy and how that relates to what I saw this Sunday.

 

[PVD]

Making shells involves cutting forming and welding, that is usually a different set of people in a different location than would be doing the other work. Many railcars (not these) have even had shells delivered from fabrication points in other countries.

 

[jis]

Making shells involves cutting forming and welding, that is usually a different set of people in a different location than would be doing the other work. Many railcars (not these) have even had shells delivered from fabrication points in other countries.

Like the Silverliner Vs for example.

 

[PVD]

Sure. It is entirely reasonable to build shells at whatever rate makes sense, and free up that portion of the operation for another project.

 

[Cho Cho Charlie]

In addition, shells sitting outside, says nothing about work being done inside. My understanding is a lot (if not all?) shells are complete. It's the interior work that is slowing things down.

What bothers me is that it appears that the shells have temporary trucks? I assume Amtrak didn't specify those baby blue trucks.

If my memory is still even partially working, there was a problem with a company that supplies the trucks (or a major part of them?) going bankrupted. If these shells do indeed lack their final trucks at this time, that might mean that this supplier problem hasn't been resolved yet.