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

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I take a Lake Shore Limited train from Chicago to Albany Rensselaer NY on Wed night at 9:30.
What is the chance I will get a Viewliner II train rather than a Viewliner I?
 
I take a Lake Shore Limited train from Chicago to Albany Rensselaer NY on Wed night at 9:30.
What is the chance I will get a Viewliner II train rather than a Viewliner I?
What's the car number on your ticket? If it's 4812, then that should be a VLII
 
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Unless my eyes played tricks on me this evening (and the 🍷affected my comprehension), when I saw today's 92 pass north of Orlando, it appeared that there were only 2 VII sleepers and 3 VI sleepers (10 and 14 were new and 11, 12 and 13 were old), which is not the "usual" consist.
 
Unless my eyes played tricks on me this evening (and the 🍷affected my comprehension), when I saw today's 92 pass north of Orlando, it appeared that there were only 2 VII sleepers and 3 VI sleepers (10 and 14 were new and 11, 12 and 13 were old), which is not the "usual" consist.
Confirmed on Plant City railcam. So it was just 9212 that was abnormal; they probably had to swap in a spare VL I for a bad-ordered VL II.
 
Does anyone have a diagram of the current Viewliner II trains?

I have one where the roomettes are 12 but I was told by an Amtrak rep that they have 10 now.
 
I recently took an overnight trip in a roomette on the Crescent and was pleasantly surprised to find myself in a Viewliner II sleeping car. I didn't even realize that the IIs ran on this route yet and the SCA (who was great) mentioned that he rarely sees them and referred to them as "Florida cars". This was my first time in a Viewliner II roomette and I loved the improvements - from the lighting to the huge foldout tray and the more modern appearance in general, they are great cars.

My concern however is the fact that the interiors don't seem to be holding up very well to daily wear and tear. I noticed cracks in the plastic next to where the tray table folds down, large cracks next to the cupholders, and cracks in the light covers. I peeked into a few empty roomettes and saw that some of them had cracking in the same areas that was covered over by what looked like tape and glue. Even in the shower, there were already areas that looked like the plastic had started to separate and were had large areas that were filled in by a ton of caulk. My concern is that these cars are only 2-3 years old and are looking more worn than some of the Viewliner I interiors. I hope they look as good as the Is do 30 years from now! Has anyone else noticed this or did I just have a bad car?
 
My concern however is the fact that the interiors don't seem to be holding up very well to daily wear and tear. I noticed cracks in the plastic next to where the tray table folds down, large cracks next to the cupholders, and cracks in the light covers. I peeked into a few empty roomettes and saw that some of them had cracking in the same areas that was covered over by what looked like tape and glue. Even in the shower, there were already areas that looked like the plastic had started to separate and were had large areas that were filled in by a ton of caulk. My concern is that these cars are only 2-3 years old and are looking more worn than some of the Viewliner I interiors. I hope they look as good as the Is do 30 years from now! Has anyone else noticed this or did I just have a bad car?
Yes. IMO, people will naturally put their weight on that area when getting up from the seat, and it was not designed to support that. It's metal in the VL I.

Also, the thermostats are falling off the wall, and the electrically operated doors to the H-room either don't work, or continuously cycle open and closed until turned off with the override switch.
 
Sorry I haven't been paying closer attention – but which cars on train 97 are the VLII's these days? I'm on 97 Wednesday out of Richmond. Right now I'm in 9710. Last year that was typically a VLII...
 
I gather from some previous posts that VLII's are made bit on the cheap side. You'd think by getting rid of the commodes in the Roomettes, they could have put the $ saved into some more durable furnishings.

But, then again . . . . .
 
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