Lake Shore Limited Looked Unhealthy

[battalion51]

What It hink should be done with the Amfleet II's is that they be sent to the corridor for use as Business Class cars, more legroom, fewer seats, you get the idea. The coaches are really showing their age, bad retention tanks, water leaks, and so on and so forth. While the rebuilds are helping the interior mood, the problems mechanically are not going away.

 

[Amfleet]

Were the Amfleet II's rebuilt or just referbished. The Capstone 2001 Amfleets used in Acela Regional service I believe were striped down entirely and rebuilt with new retension tanks and the whole nine yards. I like them very much and you can definetly see and tell the difference (not one bad restroom yet).

If Amfleet II's were used for Business Class then I think I would fork over the few extra bucks. They could even show CNN News on the overhead TV monitors. I'me sure that would draw some business.

 

[Viewliner]

I don't see how the Deluxe would be an issue if you get enough of them to have 1 per Silver Service Trainset and have a couple on Stand-by in NYP and MIA, then it wont be a problem, whereas changing the setup of the regular sleeper would screw things up, because what happens if the route with 2 Deluxe's needs a car and only a 3 is available at the last moment.

Here's how I envision it:

Most if not every car has a name

Built by a trusted quality builder like Talgo

Viewliner Baggage:

No windows Viewliner Shell with doors like a Heritage Baggage.

Tile floor so it is somewhat cleaner looking

Better lit than a Heritage Baggage

Shelves so bags can be organized and dont have to remain on the floor

Select Cars with Bike Racks, etc.

61xxx Series

Viewliner Baggage Dorms:

6 Standard bedrooms for the Crew

2 Bathrooms

1 Shower

Rest for baggage

Viewliner Sleepers:

Same Configuration as Current Sleepers but built better

62xxx

Viewliner Deluxe Sleepers:

For use on Silver Service

1 Accessible Room

14 Deluxe Rooms

1 Attendant's Room (If Standard Bedroom Sized, Have another storage, shower or bathroom across from it)

63xxx

Viewliner Diners:

12 Booths (Or 10 with Temoinsa Configuration)

Less Cramped Kitchen than 8400

Better Built than 8400

Counter like in Temoinsa Cars

64xxx

Viewliner Lounges:

Smoking Prohibited (See Below)

"Lounge" Part of car Consists of seats like a Superliner Sightseer

Other Part of Car Booth Seating

Food Service in middle

Windows either like current Viewliners or Superliner Sightseers

68xxx Series with City "View" Names

Enough ordered to allow separate FC Lounge on Select Trains.

Viewliner Coaches:

Designed to have a Comfortable # of seats

2 Bathrooms, at least 1 Accesible

65xxx Series

Viewliner Smoking Coaches:

Comfortable # of Seats

Smoking Room like Concept 2000 Amfleet II Lounges on Separate Ventilation System

Rest of Car Seats

66xxx Series

As for the Amfleet II BC Idea, I think its a good concept.

 

[Viewliner]

Coaches Would only Have 1 Row of windows Due to Luggage Racks.

 

[Amfleet]

I like your plan, but here are a few changes I would make. To save on design costs, why not put the crew up in a regualr sleeper. Also instead of designing a Deluxe Sleeper why not add two more Deluxe Rooms to the existing design, taking away from 4 Standard Rooms. Aslo, I don't think the crew particularly like the Temoinsa design, anf I remember Miami Joe saying the stools on most cars were removed and found to dangerous for passengers. Otherwise good plan.

 

[Viewliner]

Why not make the Deluxe with rooms for the Crew?

I'd settle for your Ideas Amfleet I think we have a good Concept here.

 

[Amfleet]

I guess the crew would be happier with larger rooms with personal toilet and shower. If I were in charge of rebuilding the Amfleets I would use seats similar to the Acela Express Business Class, but with and added calf rest and I would install drop down TV monitors where movies can be shown in the evening and a couple cartoons during the day. If you've ever been on an Airbus aircraft you know what I mean about the drop down TV monitors.

 

[battalion51]

(Boeing aircraft have drop downs at the fron of the cabin). Here's my qualm with your system tough, first Baggage Dorms, never going to work, down here we usually fill the entire car with bags, much less having half the car taken up with dorm space. Second, shelves and tile, not a good idea. If you've ever tried to unload/load bags with just the floor its bad enough, much less trying to get the stuff off of shelves. Tile, not a bright idea either, slipping would occur when the car gets icy/wet, the current sysem of a metal floor with holes for draining works pretty well, but lighting is definitely needed. Next, Smoking coaches, not a bright idea either, I know that in the summer time we usually fill all four cars with PAX's by the time we're out of Rocky Mount. My idea for a smoking area, use the unused half of the dorm as your smoking area, and just put the dorm on the bottom with the baggage car (or bag, dorm, coaches, food service, sleepers). Next your numbering system makes very little sense. Here's how it should be:

Baggage 61xxx

Sleepers 62xxx

Deluxe Sleepers 625xx

Lounges 63xxx

Coaches 64xxx

Diners 68xxx

Dorms 69xxx

This numbering system will be more constant with that of the Superliners (that's why the current Viewliner fleet was numbered in the 62xxx series, to be constant with the Superliner fleet of 32xxx).

 

[Amfleet]

I have to disagree with a few things. The floor on the baggage could be a non-slip vynal material and the way the shelve system can work is have all the bags ready at the door before the station, then at the station the bags being loaded can be placed near the other door and once the train departs everything can be organized on the shelves.

As for the Smoking Coach you could in a sense take all the old Amfleet II Lounges, put Coach seats in at one end, remove the snack bar, add windows, and put an eclosed smoking lounge at the other. Then each train could have a Smoking Coach, plus 4-5 regular Amfleet II coaches. Plus with having the smoking lounge at the end of the train would mean Sleeping Car passengers would have to walk a long way. There is an easier solution though, ban smoking on all trains.

 

[Viewliner]

The Numbering System was adapted to current cars really, but I guess that works.

If we get new cars, the Coach Smoker would be a fifth or sixth vs the typical 4 car set, rather than replace one full coach. Seating maybe capacity similar to Heritage Coaches (46 I believe), so there's more room. The whole idea of new cars is to have more extras than now. However if a dorm were built I guess the smoking room would work, but I don't know the crew would like that. The Lounge definitely should be

Maybe the Baggage car would be better with a metal floor, but I think the shelves could allow for a little more organization, but maybe you're right about those too.

 

[battalion51]

The one thing I've learned about baggage is this, there is no such thing as a small bag. Some bags may be lightweight, but all are bulky. The other thing you have to realize too is this, when a Conductor comes on duty he typically "breaks down" the car. He organizes all the bags to where he wants them, makes sure that everything is in the right pile, so you don't get carry by bags, shelving would just inhibit this process. Another thing about the cars is this, the cars must have two doors, that slide, roll up doors are impossible. Some cars you have to get out the crow bar before and after every stop to get it up or down. As for the smoking coach, I'm still a little skeptical, I'd feel bad for the PAX's in the car, with all the foot traffic in there all day long. The smoking lounge works well in the lounge car so the smokers that get liqoured up don't have to travel too far, and the bartenders like it that way. But I like Amfleet's idea the best, no smoking period, you can get off at big stations and smoke there.

 

[Amfleet]

Well how about this. Large and heavy bags can be placed on the floor, but about 5 feet off the floor shelves can hold smaller items. I also like Viewliners idea of having bicycle racks at one end. I do think there needs to be two doors, one for loading, one for unloading. The baggages with slide ups were origionally for mail and express only, but that changed and some got put into the pool of baggages.

 

[Viewliner]

I'd settle for that, Smoking Prohibited entirely on the train at designated stops as announced by crew smoking will be permitted, but PAX's should stay where they can hear the "All Aboard" call.

I guess the stops could be PHL, WDC, RVR, SAV, JAX to name a few.

I like Amfleets Idea.

 

[battalion51]

Well most of the time you only are working one door per station, there are only four stations I can think of on our route that would use load/unload, NYP, WAS, JAX, and ORL. What many Conductors do with the two doors is this, between doors is your staging area for short haul bags or your next stop, the ends are for long hauls, Carolina's on one side, Northeast on the other, this works pretty well. One obstacle with the shelves though is this, perfect them to the point where you have a lip so bags don't fall off, but you can get them up there.