Viewliner II Part 4: Sleeping Car production, delivery, deployment

[Josh M]

I wonder how much the in-roomette toilet debate is influenced by one's first long distance trip. For example, the first two long distance trips I took were the CZ and EB, so I got used to having to schlep to the communal restroom. When I took the LSL two years ago, having the toilet in my room (and having to remember to close the curtain!) seemed...odd. I don't love it, but didn't hate it, either. I can't help but wonder if I'd have had different thoughts if my first long distance trip had been one of the eastern trains.

I'll be taking the Meteor this fall, so hopefully I'll end up in one of the new sleepers to compare to my Viewliner I experience on the LSL.

 

[pennyk]

Currently riding on 98 in a new car. Quite a surprise when I boarded yesterday, although I'm a semi-frequent rider I don't keep up with news so I was surprised - and not in a good way - to see the toilets were removed from the roommettes.

So, ok, fine, we all have to use the bathrooms at the end of the car. Except that the toilets stopped flushing a few hours into the trip and they've been locked out ever since. The attendant mentioned this was not the first time it had happened on her shift, so that seems like a bad omen..

One bedroom was not booked, so we've been allowed to use that toilet instead. Didn't take long at all for that to get gross. Also doesn't help that this train is 4+ hours late.

The room itself otherwise is not bad. It's cleaner obviously, mostly because it's new, and everything works pretty smoothly, but the seats are weirdly plush and I find myself getting pretty uncomfortable.

All in all, I'm not a fan. One reason I ride the train is because I like a private bathroom. Don't really understand why it's gone. I can't afford bedrooms on the regular, so if having to hope there's an unbooked bedroom on my car for if/when the communal restrooms go out of order, my train days are over. Especially when you combine it with the delay, which is by far the worst I've experienced on multiple Silver trips, and the awful flex dining, there's not much left that makes this appealing.

Anyway, I hope everyone that had roommette toilets as their #1 complaint (according to the attendant) enjoy the new cars.

I am a regular Meteor rider also and I agree with you. However, even though bedrooms are out of my price range, I have still booked bedrooms for my upcoming trips because of the toilets.

 

[Seaboard92]

Striker64 current on the train. So the pipes have not froze, the system is working because the bedroom’s bathroom is working. Someone flushed a paper towel clogging the pipes is more likely. Anyways the bathroom debate is not over into the Viewliner Ones get refurbished. Should the bathrooms be removed from the roomette, than the debate is over.

I'm still surprised people are that dumb to throw a paper towel down the toilet. I have to make a daily announcement before each flight asking people not to throw sanitary wipes down the toilet. I mean it's common sense but to some people that isn't very common. I remember when I worked PV trips for the public school network in West Virginia the things I would pull from the pipes enroute, paper, action figures, and other items. Sometimes I swear we need to be like VIA and have an onboard mechanical person riding.

 

[jis]

Probably the Silver Trains since that's the only Route that currently has them!( this way they can start rehabbing the V Is from the Silvers)

There is no money at present for doing any more than cosmetic fixup like on the Superliners for the V-1s. So that question is moot. Getting common toilets into them is a major project which requires some dedicated funding. Theoretically the work could be done in house, provided the modules are available at hand. They are yet to be ordered though.

 

[PVD]

Some years ago some guy on Metro North dropped his cellphone in and he tried to retrieve it. His arm got caught, and the toilet had to be cut up. Guess who got the bill for the repair.....

 

[jis]

Some years ago some guy on Metro North dropped his cellphone in and he tried to retrieve it. His arm got caught, and the toilet had to be cut up. Guess who got the bill for the repair.....

That is one dumb way to figure out how much ones arm may be worth

 

[Bob Dylan]

There is no money at present for doing any more than cosmetic fixup like on the Superliners for the V-1s. So that question is moot. Getting common toilets into them is a major project which requires some dedicated funding. Theoretically the work could be done in house, provided the modules are available at hand. They are yet to be ordered though.

So the Biden $$$ for Amtrak can't be spent on this project?

And would Amtrak once again give a contract to CAF to do the work?( Politics being Politics,with Chuck Schumer the Majority Leader)Let's hope not!

 

[jis]

So the Biden $$$ for Amtrak can't be spent on this project?

They don't really exist yet, and no one knows what the final appropriation numbers will be. Authorizations are easy to spin out. They don't cost anything, in a manner of speaking.

Amtrak is free to use funds generated internally too, so at the end of the day it is Amtrak that has decided not to do the refurbishment of the V-1s to the V-2 commonality in the near future, if ever.

And would Amtrak once again give a contract to CAF to do the work?( Politics being Politics,with Chuck Schumer the Majority Leader)Let's hope not!

Those are matters to address after they decide to resurrect that project. Currently there is a declared decision not to do it. So the question is moot for the moment. Amtrak could even do it in house at BEE. Of course the modules would be acquired from an external vendor which does the modules. CAF had nothing to do with that. So there is no particular reason to involve CAF.

 

[PVD]

Tat is one dumb way to figure out how much ones arm may be worth

I'm not sure if it occurred before or after they got rid of the bar cars...

 

[PVD]

They don't really exist yet, and no one knows what the final appropriation numbers will be. Authorizations are easy to spin out. They don't cost anything, in a manner of speaking.

Amtrak is free to use funds generated internally too, so at the end of the day it is Amtrak that has decided not to do the refurbishment of the V-1s to the V-2 commonality in the near future, if ever.

Those are matters to address after they decide to resurrect that project. Currently there is a declared decision not to do it. So the question is moot for the moment. Amtrak could even do it in house at BEE. Of course the modules would be acquired from an external vendor which does the modules. CAF had nothing to do with that. So there is no particular reason to involve CAF.

RailPlan is the module vendor

 

[SubwayNut]

I'm not sure if it occurred before or after they got rid of the bar cars...

I remember this incident, the Bar Cars still existed on the New Haven Line only, it happed in the mid-2000s, but on the Harlem Line which lost its bar cars a few decades before that.

 

[jis]

Just for amusement I was reading this thread from back in 2012. Such enthusiasm and expectations!

https://www.amtraktrains.com/threads/viewliner-diner-8400.47744/

 

[Bob Dylan]

Just for amusement I was reading this thread from back in 2012. Such enthusiasm and expectations!

https://www.amtraktrains.com/threads/viewliner-diner-8400.47744/

You mean Amtrak has Viewliner Diners that are actually in Service as Diners?

 

[jis]

You mean Amtrak has Viewliner Diners that are actually in Service as Diners?

Only one back then.

But notice the expectation dates for delivery, and the hope that we'd get Diners then Sleepers. All that we got for a long time were a stream of Baggage cars instead, and we are yet to get the last two Sleepers AFAIK. And of course only 11 of the 25 Diners are currently in use for providing Flex Dining only to Sleeping Car passengers. How far Amtrak has fallen in the last ten years! Of course all in the interest of better serving the Millennials or something like that I suppose!

Also the more I am reading these old threads the more I am realizing how almost consistently wrong we tend to be about our prognostications. It is quite sobering and humbling actually for someone like me who contributes a lot to this cacophony But at least a third of the time some of us seem to be close to right too.

 

[me_little_me]

Only one back then.

But notice the expectation dates for delivery, and the hope that we'd get Diners then Sleepers. All that we got for a long time were a stream of Baggage cars instead, and we are yet to get the last two Sleepers AFAIK. And of course only 11 of the 25 Diners are currently in use for providing Flex Dining only to Sleeping Car passengers. How far Amtrak has fallen in the last ten years! Of course all in the interest of better serving the Millennials or something like that I suppose!

Also the more I am reading these old threads the more I am realizing how almost consistently wrong we tend to be about our prognostications. It is quite sobering and humbling actually for someone like me who contributes a lot to this cacophony But at least a third of the time some of us seem to be close to right too.

Wait until the new cars go into service - in 2117. Moreover, they'll probably be used as baggage cars!

 

[Bob Dylan]

Wait until the new cars go into service - in 2117. Moreover, they'll probably be used as baggage cars!

Or Axle Count Cars, along with the Sleepers, Diners and Lounges!

 

[Cal]

Viewliner II on 448? Can anyone confirm/deny

 

[Agent]

Found this video posted by Annette Gifford of #449 on Wednesday shows that the Viewliner is AMTK 62043 New River.

 

[Tlcooper44]

New River alternates between LSL and NE Regionals.
It’s easy to mistake it for a VII as it’s exterior is so new and shiny. Definitely looks nicer than the Silver Service VII’s.

 

[Cal]

Darn it. Got so excited when I saw that image. Too good to be true.

 

[Just-Thinking-51]

BTW - LAST VIEWLINER SLEEPER II RELEASED!

It's over friends

So now we just wait into someone think up a deployment plan for all this new equipment.

 

[Just-Thinking-51]

Nice. And how many are actually in service and not stored somewhere out of sight and out of mind?

At last check, the new cars are already 2/3 or 1/2 of the sleeper cars on the Star and Meteor. So 12 out of 25 in use.

 

[Steve4031]

I just booked a trip on 449 from Boston to Chicago on 9/5/21. Sure would be nice to see them trickle over to the Lake Shore Limited.

 

[Cal]

I just booked a trip on 449 from Boston to Chicago on 9/5/21. Sure would be nice to see them trickle over to the Lake Shore Limited.

I hope they do, although probably won't. At least not soon.

 

[me_little_me]

At last check, the new cars are already 2/3 or 1/2 of the sleeper cars on the Star and Meteor. So 12 out of 25 in use.

Can you imagine a CEO of a company gets 25 new expensive machines in and after they have all been delivered, the last one just recently but the rest over the last 2 1/2 years? You go to your board and explain that even before Covid, you took your time replacing or augmenting your 50 old machines which resulted in not bringing in the extra money to increase your bottom line. How long would they let you stick around?