Has Amtrak Made Any New Superliner cars ???

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Not in several years. The newest trains are the Acela Express trains, followed by the Viewliner Sleepers.
 
Well, the last delivery of Superliners was the delivery of the Superliner II's back in 1994-1996. Whether or not you would consider that new or not I don't know. One thing is they are a bit cleaner and in better shape than the Superliner I's delivered back in 1978.
 
Actually the 60 Surfliners (compatable with Superliners) are newer than the Viewliners.
 
pismobum said:
Actually the 60 Surfliners (compatable with Superliners) are newer than the Viewliners.
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Pismobum,

You're quite right, I forgot all about the Surfliners. :eek: Since I live on the east coast, I guess it's like they say "Out of Sight, Out of Mind". :unsure:
 
And the Talgo equipment used in the Northwest is relatively new as well.

Should we ever see a Superliner III sleeper in our lifetimes, I suspect it would combine some of the features of the Superliner II and the Viewliner.
 
If the Surfliner cars are there so should the California Cars. BTW does anyone know what if any differences there are between the Surfliner and California cars?
 
Superliner Diner said:
And the Talgo equipment used in the Northwest is relatively new as well.
Should we ever see a Superliner III sleeper in our lifetimes, I suspect it would combine some of the features of the Superliner II and the Viewliner.
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First lets worry about a complete and large Viewliner Fleet.
 
tp49 said:
BTW does anyone know what if any differences there are between the Surfliner and California cars?
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On the exterior, the paint job.

On the interior, the most obvious difference is the overhead racks. On the California Cars the racks have doors on them like airplanes.

They both have automatic air-operated doors. They are both compatible for operation with Superliners.
 
The California Cars also have more uncomfortable seats that do not recline. Also instead of a snack bar on the lower level of one of the coaches there is a whole car designated as a lounge.
 
California and Surfliner cars are actually ALL California Cars. The ones being dubbed "Surfliner" cars are actually just newer California Cars with a few modifications. These newer California cars are slowly but surely being added to the Capitols and San Joaquin routes. Many of the Capitol trains already have the newer "Surfliner" California cars on them. They are not painted blue like the Surfliners though, they are the new cars but are still painted blue with orange.

This can be compared with Superliner I and Superliner II. The II's are newer. In this case, the California cars should be called "California I's" and "California II's". :blink:
 
Amfleet said:
The California Cars also have more uncomfortable seats that do not recline.
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The Pacific Surfliner cars do have reclining seats as -- I am quite sure -- do the newer California cars assigned to the Capitols and San Joaquins.

Amfleet said:
Also instead of a snack bar on the lower level of one of the coaches there is a whole car designated as a lounge.
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The older California lounges are designated as Diner/Lounges, with galleys on the lower level.
 
Ok then the Surfliner cars are essentially the 6000 series California cars with a different paint job. That makes sense.
 
Surfliners and California Cars are 2 totally different animals. 50 surfliners were bought by Amtrak for southern calif service. California did a contract "addon" for 10 more cars to expand the San Joaquin and Capitols equipment pools and painted them to match the existing california cars. They are the same in that they are both high-level and they are both designed for short haul vs long haul, but there is no way they are a super 1/super 2 variation where you need to check closely to see which is which. If you go in each, you would never mistake one for the other, any more than you would mistake a horizon for an amfleet.
 
pismobum said:
Surfliners and California Cars are 2 totally different animals. 50 surfliners were bought by Amtrak for southern calif service. California did a contract "addon" for 10 more cars to expand the San Joaquin and Capitols equipment pools and painted them to match the existing california cars. They are the same in that they are both high-level and they are both designed for short haul vs long haul, but there is no way they are a super 1/super 2 variation where you need to check closely to see which is which. If you go in each, you would never mistake one for the other, any more than you would mistake a horizon for an amfleet.
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What are the interior differences between the Surfliner cars and the 6000 series Amtrak California "add on's," or are these cars similar to the Surfliners save for interior color choices, etc?
 
Interior differences:

Original California Cars: "Dummy seats" that do not recline, overhead baggage bins have doors on them, straight stairway at each end of car, restroom downstairs, blue cloth seats, one piece tables located throughout cars with two seats on each side of each table.

Newer California Cars: Reclining seats, open overhead baggage bins, same straight stairway at each end of car, large restroom downstairs and small one upstairs, blue cloth seats, tables are much smaller than the original cars and sides closest to the seats fold in toward the middle to allow for more room for passengers who don't want to use the tables.

That's about all I can think of. Both the original and newer California coaches are used on the Capitols and San Joaquins, and I consider them to fit well together. They are still very similar despite the differences I mentioned. You can tell the newer cars from the original ones clearly, but it is not nearly as dramatic as going from a Superliner into a California car. Both the newer and original California cars have similar layouts and color schemes, granted the cafe is downstairs on one of the coaches on the newer California cars instead of being its very own car like on the original California cars.

I definitely do not see them as two completely differents breeds of cat, though. :blink:
 
I understand that much and we probably forgot to mention the 8000 series (older California cars) have stationary tables and armrests that move up while the newer 6000 series cars have tables where 1/3 of it folds toward the center and stationary armrests. I was questioning an earlier post that stated the Surfliner car and California car were different breeds. Anyone know where I could find a picture if the interior of a Surfliner online somewhere?
 
Viewliner said:
Trainweb.com might have a 360x360 tour of the train if you go and check, but I'm not 100% sure.
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Viewliner is correct, they do indeed have 360 pics of the cars. Just click here to go to the main photo page. Then choose which type of car you want to see.

Note: You may be required to download a small program to view these 360 photos. The program is a supplement to Internet Explorer or Netscape and integrates with your browser.
 
The 6000 series addons in norcal are the same layout as the surfliners in the south except for the paint job. The california cars are in the 8000 series. I previously said there were 10 cars (5 cabcars and 5 coaches) but forgot they added two cafe cars at the last minute (total of 12 surfliners in Calcar paint). Those 2 cafe cars are coach seating upstairs unlike the cal car diners, which have no revenue seating.
 
I like the newer California Cafe cars with the downstairs snack bar and upstairs standard coach seating, but a better form of advertising (then the current small paper sign at the top of the stairs) needs to be adopted to remind passengers that the cafe is there. Caltrans and Amtrak reports that the purchases from the downstairs cafes are much lower than the older cars which have the cafes upstairs. It would be nice if the trains had a brief automated anouncement system after every stop that welcomed the passengers aboard from (the town they just stopped at) and that they invite the passengers to visit the cafe on the lower level of car (the car number) and that they are open and serving snacks, beverages, etc. I think this alone would dramatically drum up the cafe's business. You can't depend on the cafe attendant to make the announcements since they would actually rather not have the increased business and are content without it. Commissions for the attendants on the number of items sold might help change this attitude.

:rolleyes: :D
 
I like the newer California Cafe cars with the downstairs snack bar and upstairs standard coach seating, but a better form of advertising (then the current small paper sign at the top of the stairs) needs to be adopted to remind passengers that the cafe is there.
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What, you don't like the window decals that say hungry now every couple of rows of seats? While the downstairs lounges are nicer and probably better for the attendant they are not as convenient as the upper level lounges...but that's just my laziness talking.
 
Yeah, but they can fit another 80 people in the coach seating above it and it expands the train's capacity. That's the good part.
 
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