What's VIA's plan for the Renaissance cars?

[NS VIA Fan]

On a Bi-directional Ocean.....the Budd Coaches will all have reversible seats. The Renaissance Diners are like any other with half facing forward and half backwards. The Lounge seats are benches and grouped with a table:



In a Ren Sleeper......half the rooms are forward facing and half face the rear.

In the Budd Sleepers the Double Bedrooms have movables arm chairs so you can position as you like. The seats in the open Sections are already half and half. Only the Roomettes (Cabin for 1) have the seats in one direction only. (at night when the bed is down.....you could sleep in whatever direction you want)

 

[NS VIA Fan]

Sorry, but I'd take a full size Budd built car any day over those cars. They remind me of narrow-guage cars....

Same size/loading gauge as any cars running on the railways in Britain today.

VIA had mechanical issues with the Rens but they are solid and very smooth riding. The rooms are quiet with a substantial partition between rooms unlike the rattling folding partitions between Budd Bedrooms.

And VIA had to add insulation to the cars. They were built for a milder British climate which would be similar to Halifax in winter......but by the time you reached Rimouski or Riviere-du-Loup on a January or February day......it was cold!

 

[jiml]

Same size/loading gauge as any cars running on the railways in Britain today.

VIA had mechanical issues with the Rens but they are solid and very smooth riding. The rooms are quiet with a substantial partition between rooms unlike the rattling folding partitions between Budd Bedrooms.

And VIA had to add insulation to the cars. They were built for a milder British climate which would be similar to Halifax in winter......but by the time you reached Rimouski or Riviere-du-Loup on a January or February day......it was cold!

Agree on all points, but my understanding was that weather-related problems were still the root cause of VIA's decision to scrap them. Something to do with freeze-thaw cycles and corrosion as a result, weakening the overall structure. IIRC in 2017 they had a third-party company do a study into whether they should consider refurbishing and keeping them, but that didn't turn out well and the die was cast.

 

[jiml]

Sorry, but I'd take a full size Budd built car any day over those cars. They remind me of narrow-guage cars....

They're actually really comfortable inside and, as @NS VIA Fan has suggested, very smooth-riding at high speed - something a Budd car is not. The track between Windsor and Toronto is not the smoothest in the country and the Renaissance coach/VIA 1 cars used to be regulars on that route before being moved to Quebec for maintenance reasons. Even on the Ocean beating parallel highway traffic between Quebec City and Montreal, breakfast in the Ren diner was fine while our Park car rocked all over the place.

 

[NS VIA Fan]

Agree on all points, but my understanding was that weather-related problems were still the root cause of VIA's decision to scrap them. Something to do with freeze-thaw cycles and corrosion as a result, weakening the overall structure. IIRC in 2017 they had a third-party company do a study into whether they should consider refurbishing and keeping them, but that didn't turn out well and the die was cast.

There was corrosion from salt encountered at grade crossings (probably something they wouldn't see in the UK).......also something about the integrity after the skin was opened to add insulation. And I remember reading the warranty would be void if the shell was repainted. Guess that's how we now have VIA Ren Green!

 

[jis]

They're actually really comfortable inside and, as @NS VIA Fan has suggested, very smooth-riding at high speed - something a Budd car is not. The track between Windsor and Toronto is not the smoothest in the country and the Renaissance coach/VIA 1 cars used to be regulars on that route before being moved to Quebec for maintenance reasons. Even on the Ocean beating parallel highway traffic between Quebec City and Montreal, breakfast in the Ren diner was fine while our Park car rocked all over the place.

I agree. In ride quality the Budd cars could not hold a candle to the Renn cars. I have ridden Renn consists both between Montreal and Quebec City and on the Ocean. Both rides as far as ride quality goes, were about the best you can get in North America. I do expect the Acela 21s to be as good or better.

 

[jiml]

Guess that's how we now have VIA Ren Green!

I actually really like the green. It's the best looking VIA locomotive scheme ever.

 

[jiml]

One has to wonder how these cars would have fared in a warmer, more hospitable climate.

 

[Bob Dylan]

One has to wonder how these cars would have fared in a warmer, more hospitable climate.
View attachment 22394

Say in the US to replace the Horizions,Talgos and the Amfleets!

 

[jis]

Say in the US to replace the Horizions,Talgos and the Amfleets!

The Renns would not pass muster of FRA buff strength requirements. They would require a special waiver which would be hard to come by in the US. So no, they would never be suitable as replacements for Amfleet. Even in Canada they need those buffer cars to be acceptable.

 

[Seaboard92]

I could always be in the market for a handful of Rens. I can probably get rock bottom prices for them because no one else will want them. Then if I scrap them I make a decent profit, if I keep them I have a crash pad I can open at YYZ, and YUL. Someone let me know when they come available.

 

[NS VIA Fan]

I'm unfamiliar with VIA operations, why can they no longer turn it in Halifax?

VIA turned the Ocean on a Loop Track at the Container Terminal near the station. Shipping and container traffic has increased so the area where the loop track was located is no longer available.

And here's one of the reasons VIA's Ocean lost the use of the Loop Track. Just so much lay-down area needed for the Containers offloaded from a ship the size of the 'Marco Polo' In Halifax this morning and heading for New York tonight. This thing is huge!......

"For the second time in less than a year, a containership operated by CMA CGM will set size records as the largest boxship to call at ports along the Atlantic Seaboard. The 16,022 TEU CMA CGM Marco Polo will set a total of seven North American big ship records in 11 days"[i/]

https://www.maritime-executive.com/...l-will-set-seven-records-on-atlantic-seaboard