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

[SarahZ]

Does anyone know if Viewliner II's are now the only sleeping cars on the NYC portion of the LSL now, or is it still one VI & one VII?

Any word on the Boston section?

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Any word on the Boston section?

I have not heard of any changes to the LSL, so it's probably still just one of the 2 NYC sleepers is a VLII.

 

[joelkfla]

Any word on the Boston section?

I have not heard of any changes to the LSL, so it's probably still just one of the 2 NYC sleepers is a VLII.

Yes, the sleeper behind the engines, which I believe is the Boston one, was a VLI on both the eastbound & westbound trains thru Erie PA this morning.

 

[JP1822]

Lake Shore Limited:

- Boston Viewliner - is a Viewliner I
- NY Viewliner right behind the Sleeper Lounge (aka VIewliner Diner II) - is a Viewliner I (the 4911 or 4811 car)
- NY Viewliner at the far end - is a Viewliner II (the 4912 or 4812 car).

Been that way since September 2021.

I am a bit surprised they didn't go down to ONE NY Viewliner after Jan 17, but the two NY Viewliners help to add capacity for the disconnects, as the Capitol Limited is selling out prior to disconnects and not able to accommodate. A LOT of people were bumped to the Lake Shore that had to get to the East Coast, and originally booked on the Capitol Limited when trains were late or cancelled out of Chicago eastbound back in early January!

 

[GAT]

I'm on car 5000 on the Cardinal and car 1910 on the Crescent in mid-April. I'm presuming they are VL I's. Any chance VL II's will be on either train by mid-April?

 

[jis]

I'm on car 5000 on the Cardinal and car 1910 on the Crescent in mid-April. I'm presuming they are VL I's. Any chance VL II's will be on either train by mid-April?

Quite unlikely.

 

[GAT]

Quite unlikely.

Oh snap! Anyway, I guess I'll survive. Thanks!

 

[danlb_2000]

I was looking at some videos of the Viewliner II roomettes and it looks like the storage cubby up on the wall is smaller then it was on the original cars, can anyone confirm this?

 

[user 14106]

I was looking at some videos of the Viewliner II roomettes and it looks like the storage cubby up on the wall is smaller then it was on the original cars, can anyone confirm this?

Seemed similar to me I am able to fit my bag in both.

 

[jis]

I was looking at some videos of the Viewliner II roomettes and it looks like the storage cubby up on the wall is smaller then it was on the original cars, can anyone confirm this?

Yes. They are smaller.

I have a friend who has a bag that precisely fit in the VL-Is but does not in VL-IIs

 

[Bob Dylan]

Yes. They are smaller.

I have a friend who has a bag that precisely fit in the VL-Is but does not in VL-IIs

Center of Excellence!

 

[jis]

Center of Excellence!

All this happened a decade before anyone even thought out the name of said center. It was early in the Boardman regime when these design choices of the new Sleeper modules were made.

 

[Bob Dylan]

All this happened a decade before anyone even thought out the name of said center. It was early in the Boardman regime when these design choices of the new Sleeper modules were made.

So Joe and his team get the blame for this design mistake!

 

[Dakota 400]

Yes. They are smaller.

I have a friend who has a bag that precisely fit in the VL-Is but does not in VL-IIs

Another example of "change for the sake of change"? Somebody doing something to justify his employment?

 

[jis]

Another example of "change for the sake of change"? Somebody doing something to justify his employment?

That depends. If one assumes that all the drawings of the previous version of the Roomette Modules were available in sufficient detail and were usable in the new design tooling that would be a reasonable conclusion. However, if only conceptual sketches were only available and the detail engineering design had to be done all over then it is not change of anything, it is doing it anew. Unfortunately I have seen a lot of that sort of thing happen because it was impossible to suck in the old designs completely into the new CAD/CAM tools. So one can never be sure why it happened the way it did unless someone does the requisite research to figure out.

 

[joelkfla]

That depends. If one assumes that all the drawings of the previous version of the Roomette Modules were available in sufficient detail and were usable in the new design tooling that would be a reasonable conclusion. However, if only conceptual sketches were only available and the detail engineering design had to be done all over then it is not change of anything, it is doing it anew. Unfortunately I have seen a lot of that sort of thing happen because it was impossible to suck in the old designs completely into the new CAD/CAM tools. So one can never be sure why it happened the way it did unless someone does the requisite research to figure out.

Just speculating: It's been said that the black strip down the center of the VL I's is a cable conduit, which the VL II's lack. Perhaps whatever was running thru there was moved below the roof, occupying some of the space above the corridor that was used by the luggage cubbies.

 

[enviro5609]

Just speculating: It's been said that the black strip down the center of the VL I's is a cable conduit, which the VL II's lack. Perhaps whatever was running thru there was moved below the roof, occupying some of the space above the corridor that was used by the luggage cubbies.

While we are speculating… there also may be modifications to the shell design for modern safety and crush test specifications that take up some of the previously available space.

 

[cocojacoby]

Just speculating: It's been said that the black strip down the center of the VL I's is a cable conduit, which the VL II's lack. Perhaps whatever was running thru there was moved below the roof, occupying some of the space above the corridor that was used by the luggage cubbies.

Are they not as high? Deep? Wide?

 

[danlb_2000]

Are they not as high? Deep? Wide?

They don't look as deep. Best shot I could get from a video.



Another interesting thing, is it looks like they don't all have the bar at the bottom..

 

[west point]

Conduit down the middle? More speculation ==== Possible potable water line(s) to slow freezing?

 

[BBoy]

Has Amtrak started pulling the V-1's out of service for refurbishment to look similar to the V-2's?

 

[jis]

Has Amtrak started pulling the V-1's out of service for refurbishment to look similar to the V-2's?

There is no current program to modify the Viewliner Is.

 

[user 14106]

The ongoing Superliner refresh program includes “refreshing” the Viewliner 1s. In the five year plan document dump Amtrak put out yesterday it did indicate that the refresh will include some elements to make VL1s a bit more consistent with the new cars - possibly things like the seat cushions and maybe some other minor changes. It sounds like a decision has been made to also include retiring and replacing the Viewliner 1s and Superliner 2s in the Superliner 1 replacement program as part of an effort to make a more consistent fleet so the original planned VL1 modifications are likely out the door for good now. The one car type that still seems to be up in the air is Amfleet 2s. Part of the options for the new Siemens ICTs does include a program to replace the Amfleet 2s based on the Amfleet 1 program but they also could end up rolling it into the Superliner/VL1 program. They do plan on continuing to operate the newer VL2 cars with whatever new LD fleet is ordered.

 

[Mailliw]

In that case the VIs could still be used as crew dorms or modified to serve as bag dorms.

 

[Dakota 400]

In that case the VIs could still be used as crew dorms or modified to serve as bag dorms.

That's a good idea regarding the bag dorms. Those could be used for the trains that currently have no Baggage Car.