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

[AmtrakBlue]

I'll be in San Diego. Can you slide it a week to the right for us?

So, it's all up to the Fleet who hasn't responded.

 

[John Bobinyec]

I got a report that sleeper 62503 Rappahannock River is deadheading on 97(30). Is this for testing, training, or is it going into service soon?

jb

 

[Acela150]

I got a report that sleeper 62503 Rappahannock River is deadheading on 97(30). Is this for testing, training, or is it going into service soon?

jb

TR7 reported about a week ago that the last bag dorm and a sleeper were being released from CAF and being sent to Hialeah for acceptance.

 

[Thirdrail7]

So, it's all up to the Fleet who hasn't responded.

Fleet 3 may not say much, but he certainly gets the job done!

2 New viewliners headed south on #97 tonight at long bridge park. 1 bag/dorm. 1 sleeper

Thank you!!

TR7 reported about a week ago that the last bag dorm and a sleeper were being released from CAF and being sent to Hialeah for acceptance.

There are still two more bag dorms to go. This was just the highest number.

 

[Acela150]

There are still two more bag dorms to go. This was just the highest number.

Ooops! Thanks for the correction!

 

[Just-Thinking-51]

There are still two more bag dorms to go. This was just the highest number.

Any idea where these 10 cars will find themselves in service?

 

[Thirdrail7]

Any idea where these 10 cars will find themselves in service?

They've been used in regular service on Silvers for the past few months. However, I don't know if that is the long term goal. They were considering using them as day rooms and adding them to corridor trains but I don't think that is allowed anymore.

 

[Palmetto]

They've been used in regular service on Silvers for the past few months. However, I don't know if that is the long term goal. They were considering using them as day rooms and adding them to corridor trains but I don't think that is allowed anymore.

If it were, the Boston to Virginia trains would be good candidates. Has anyone thought of an overnight Boston-Harrisburg-Pittburg trip?

 

[City of Miami]

Amtrak tweeted tonight that they have 2 Viewliner II sleeper cars and the rest will be put in service in 2020. They're advertising them & refurbished Amfleet IIs & Horizons. There's a link to an article of last month.:
https//chicago.suntimes.com/2019/10/16/20918107/amtrak-rolls-out-comfortable-cars-trips-chicago

 

[Thirdrail7]

Amtrak tweeted tonight that they have 2 Viewliner II sleeper cars and the rest will be put in service in 2020.

Riiight on schedule!

 

[chrsjrcj]

This isn't directly related to the Viewliner II's, but I wonder when the new bed/linen/towels will roll out?

 

[Bob Dylan]

Riiight on schedule!

Are they saying what " kind of service?".
( see the New Diners and Bag Cars being used as axle count cars!)

 

[John Santos]

Amtrak tweeted tonight that they have 2 Viewliner II sleeper cars and the rest will be put in service in 2020. They're advertising them & refurbished Amfleet IIs & Horizons. There's a link to an article of last month.:
https//chicago.suntimes.com/2019/10/16/20918107/amtrak-rolls-out-comfortable-cars-trips-chicago

Bad URL. There should be a colon after the https at the beginning... "https://chicago.suntimes.com/..." The existing link takes you to a home improvement web site!?!

 

[Thirdrail7]

Two sleepers are being retrieved tomorrow. They will be on the usual suspects on Wednesday.

 

[DSS&A]

Two sleepers are being retrieved tomorrow. They will be on the usual suspects on Wednesday.

Thanks for the information!! Heading south to warm climates for the Holidays sounds great!!!!!

 

[neroden]

If Amtrak management does the right thing for once (ha ha, I know), they'll have additional sleepers on the Florida trains by February and on the NY-Chicago trains by April. Not expecting it.

 

[Just-Thinking-51]

Will be need a deployment plan soon enough. The change of bathroom set up will be interesting to see how they address it.

 

[jis]

They've been used in regular service on Silvers for the past few months. However, I don't know if that is the long term goal. They were considering using them as day rooms and adding them to corridor trains but I don't think that is allowed anymore.

I had it on the Silver Stars that I traveled on while on my impromptu weekend trip to Raleigh and Salisbury a few weeks back. The train crew appeared to like them a lot, and they appeared to be quite adequate for the baggage that was checked on those trains that day.

 

[neroden]

They've been used in regular service on Silvers for the past few months. However, I don't know if that is the long term goal. They were considering using them as day rooms and adding them to corridor trains but I don't think that is allowed anymore.

You certainly can't add the bag-dorms in revenue use to a train which doesn't have at least *one* accessible room. I suspect you could get permission to add them for partial revenue service if they were attached to trains which already had mulitple Viewliner sleepers (with accessible room), but definitely not to a train with no accessible rooms.

 

[neroden]

Will be need a deployment plan soon enough. The change of bathroom set up will be interesting to see how they address it.

They randomly intermix Superliner Is and Superliner IIs, so I wouldn't be surprised if they just use both Viewliner Is and Viewliner IIs interchangeably on the same train.

It would perhaps make the most sense if they deployed them all on one route to start with. And that route should be the Lake Shore Limited, since surveys showed that the in-room bathrooms were least liked on that route, and more liked on the Star and Meteor (I have no idea why), and also the Viewliner IIs are supposed to be more cold-resistant than the Viewliner Is.

I expect this to not happen because Messrs. Anderson and Gardner seem to have a multi-year agenda to screw over Lake Shore Limited customers, probably in order to suppress ridership and revenue. Very, very odd -- even their proposed "corridors" include the LSL corridor, but they're treating the route extremely badly.

 

[Agent]

Video from yesterday by Jayy Glizzy of two Viewliner sleeping cars on the end of the Silver Meteor as it leaves Newark Penn Station.

 

[printman2000]

So, without reading through this entire thread, are there actually any Viewliner II Full Sleepers in service yet?

 

[pennyk]

So, without reading through this entire thread, are there actually any Viewliner II Full Sleepers in service yet?

NO

 

[me_little_me]

And not until they can fully replace the old cars for every copy of that train plus spares as there is a major change to the roomettes.

 

[Suze10860]

I know there are a couple of threads here already talking about the new Viewliner II equipment, but I just don't understand them. Or at least I can't figure out how to ascertain the information I'm looking for. That's my bad...

Any idea of when the new Viewliner II sleeper cars will be in-service on the Lake Shore Limited? I've read that they will be rolled-out during 2020 and that they will augment the existing Viewliner cars.

Any specific information and/or dates available out there? Thanks.

(We're on the LSL in early April...I'm just curious.)