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

[pennyk]

I am on today's 97 (10/4) with Baton Rouge diner.

 

[daybeers]

I am on today's 97 (10/4) with Baton Rouge diner.

How is it, Penny?

 

[pennyk]

I am on today's 97 (10/4) with Baton Rouge diner.

How is it, Penny?

I think it is lovely. Here is an inside photo.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Does the AC/Venalation work well Penny?

 

[pennyk]

Does the AC/Venalation work well Penny?

I was comfortable - seemed to work fine.

 

[cpotisch]

Does the AC/Venalation work well Penny?

When I rode 'Atlanta' on 97/98 I didn't notice any problems. Temperature was just right and it was a hot day.

Because of the double windows, a fair number of people were basically using the dining car as an SSL. I've always loved the Heritage diners, and was hoping to get one instead of a V-II, but it was actually great. I'm taking the LSL in February, so once Amtrak receives 68012 'Harrisburg' (their 13th diner including 8400), it'll have a real dining car.

 

[PVD]

That depends on when they show up, and how fast they put them into service, and how they choose to provision protects. But it is certainly worth hoping for...

 

[brianpmcdonnell17]

Does the AC/Venalation work well Penny?

When I rode 'Atlanta' on 97/98 I didn't notice any problems. Temperature was just right and it was a hot day.
Because of the double windows, a fair number of people were basically using the dining car as an SSL. I've always loved the Heritage diners, and was hoping to get one instead of a V-II, but it was actually great. I'm taking the LSL in February, so once Amtrak receives 68012 'Harrisburg' (their 13th diner including 8400), it'll have a real dining car.

Was the crew actually allowing people to stay in the car at non-meal times? I was hoping they would because I really like the double window design but the thread I created on the topic about a year ago seemed to have reached a consensus that this would not happen.
Sent from my SM-J327P using Amtrak Forum mobile app

 

[cpotisch]

Does the AC/Venalation work well Penny?

When I rode 'Atlanta' on 97/98 I didn't notice any problems. Temperature was just right and it was a hot day.

Because of the double windows, a fair number of people were basically using the dining car as an SSL. I've always loved the Heritage diners, and was hoping to get one instead of a V-II, but it was actually great. I'm taking the LSL in February, so once Amtrak receives 68012 'Harrisburg' (their 13th diner including 8400), it'll have a real dining car.

Was the crew actually allowing people to stay in the car at non-meal times? I was hoping they would because I really like the double window design but the thread I created on the topic about a year ago seemed to reached a consensus that this would not happen.

Sent from my SM-J327P using Amtrak Forum mobile app

The SM crew seemed fine with it.

 

[jis]

In my experience, the Atlantic Coast Service crews have been much more laid back about such things when compared to the LSL crew.

 

[A Voice]

I'm taking the LSL in February, so once Amtrak receives 68012 'Harrisburg' (their 13th diner including 8400), it'll have a real dining car.

How do you know there is a specific number of serviceable Viewliner dining cars which will automatically result in the return of a diner to the Lake Shore Limited? That train, together with the Silver Meteor and Crescent, require eleven diners (plus spares) to cover all trainsets, but is there a source indicating 13 is the magic number?

Also, was it ever confirmed just where Charleston was headed?

 

[Acela150]

I'm taking the LSL in February, so once Amtrak receives 68012 'Harrisburg' (their 13th diner including 8400), it'll have a real dining car.

How do you know there is a specific number of serviceable Viewliner dining cars which will automatically result in the return of a diner to the Lake Shore Limited? That train, together with the Silver Meteor and Crescent, require eleven diners (plus spares) to cover all trainsets, but is there a source indicating 13 is the magic number?

Also, was it ever confirmed just where Charleston was headed?

It's just a theory. There isn't any firm evidence on when the Diner will return to the LSL.

 

[cpotisch]

There 11 consists between the SM, Crescent, and LSL. Amtrak would want to keep 2 spares for the 11 diners, hence 13. With the Card and SS, the removal of the dining car was to cut costs. With the LSL, it was due to equipment shortages. Once there are sufficient dining cars, Amtrak is expected to restore diner service.

 

[PVD]

Aside from spares as protects, there is a shop margin for bad ordered cars or routine maintenance. Depending on whether Amtrak wants all Heritage gone ASAP, and where they (Heritage Diners) sit on any costly inspection timing, and how quickly cars that are delivered are placed into service (and their performance thereafter) the number is likely to be higher. Since we don't have all the pieces of the puzzle, all we can do is theorize.

 

[cpotisch]

Aside from spares as protects, there is a shop margin for bad ordered cars or routine maintenance. Depending on whether Amtrak wants all Heritage gone ASAP, and where they (Heritage Diners) sit on any costly inspection timing, and how quickly cars that are delivered are placed into service (and their performance thereafter) the number is likely to be higher. Since we don't have all the pieces of the puzzle, all we can do is theorize.

It does seem like Amtrak will only reinstate the LSL diner if all the Heritage cars are gone. I will say though, a big reason Amtrak has had to keep so many backup diners in recent years is that Heritage cars constantly need maintenance and repairs. CAF has obviously been super-duper late with the V-IIs, but now that they're here, the cars seem pretty solid and reliable. Once Amtrak is exclusively using Viewliner diners, the necessary shop-count may be a lot lower than with the Heritage fleet.

 

[PVD]

Time will tell, obviously we all share your hope. There will always be a number in for required inspection and interval service, hopefully the unplanned visits will be lower.

 

[tommylicious]

I thought consensus was Trak needs like 100 VL diners before LSL gets one...

 

[Green Maned Lion]

I think the consensus is 99% of AU posters were not aware of Amtraks plans at all.

 

[OBS]

I think the consensus is 99% of AU posters were not aware of Amtraks plans at all.

We just pretend we do....

 

[WoodyinNYC]

I thought consensus was Trak needs like 100 VL diners before LSL gets one...

Are you kidding or confused?

I'm no more sure of exactly how many Viewliner diners Amtrak needs than anyone else. But in round numbers if goes like this: They ordered 25 new ones. Looks like they might get by with fewer if they decided to run Silver Star without any diners forever more. Or perhaps they should order about 10 or 12 more before CAF shuts down the production lines to have enuff to revive the Broadway Ltd (or any East Coast-CHI route). But +/- 25 is the range. Nothing like 100.

The 100 Viewliners figure might stick in your mind from the Sleepers, not diners. In some earlier decade or century, Amtrak said it intended to order 100 Viewliner sleepers. Congress only paid for 50, so it was 50 cars for 10 or 15 years. About 10 years ago, Amtrak ordered 130 new Viewliners, that worked out, so far, to 60 baggage cars, 25 diners, 10 bag-dorms, and 25 Sleepers.

So the 25 CAF sleepers and 10 bag-dorms (with capacity equivalent to 5 sleepers), promised if we live long enuff, plus the 50 already in use, will give the equivalent of 80 VL sleepers in the fleet.

Remembering that the original intention was to order a total of 100 Viewliners for the single-level trains, it seems fair to daydream about ordering another 20 sleepers or so from CAF for even longer trains on existing routes, or for new or revived routes. After all, the equipment would probably pay for itself within a few years. Anyway, Congress will decide.

But barring a new order, we are looking at only 25 more sleepers, and 10 more half sleepers (bag-dorms), to go from a fleet of 50 to 80 full Viewliner sleepers.

Well, I know you couldn't be confused now. (Just kidding. LOL.)

 

[me_little_me]

I think the consensus is 99% of AU posters were not aware of Amtraks plans at all.

We just pretend we do....

Actually, since we "know" what Amtrak "should do", we assume Amtrak management is as smart as and as knowledgeable of the situation and needs as we are and therefore should think as we do so common sense says that they will do as we think they should.

Edit: Grammar fix

 

[Ryan]

we assume Amtrak management is as smart as and as knowledgeable of the situation and needs as we are

Amtrak management is significantly more knowledgeable about the situation than any non-employee posting here.

 

[Brian Battuello]

In my now happily retired career, I worked my way up and down several management chains. I learned two important things.

First, the level of management above you has access to a lot more information than you do, and has very different priorities than you think they should have.

Second, despite this advanced level of information and priorities, they still mess things up.

And we're talking relatively sane business management, not government agencies.

p.s. I just had an AmCafe diner meal on the LSL last weekend, and it wasn't great, but it was still a dinner in the diner. Nothing could be finer.

 

[Thirdrail7]

68006 was needed in NY for a training exercise. Once they were done with it, it back into revenue service.

 

[StriderGDM]

68006 was needed in NY for a training exercise. Once they were done with it, it back into revenue service.

I presume NOT this kind though: