Viewliner II - Part 1 - Initial Production and Delivery

[The Davy Crockett]

nickel-and-diming annoys people, Amtrak shouldn't do it...

That train has already left the station.

On the contrary: my fare is still all-inclusive and even quoted after tax!

Yeah, short haul coach has not changed.

However, sleeper and long haul coach pax have already been nickel and dimed. Want coffee on a sleeper other than during a few hours? Its off to the cafe car to BUY it. Want a pillow in coach? Its off to the cafe car... yep, to BUY it. This is what is known as nickel and diming.

 

[neroden]

Well, I was always allergic to Amtrak's pillows anyway..... and I don't drink coffee.

The coffee business is stupid and should be reversed. No savings there.

 

[ronkstevens]

If Pennsylvania comes upon that extra money, personally, I'd like to see an additional service out to Pittsburgh first,

Easy - convert one of the coaches to a generator car, and then you can run the Acelas all the way out to PGH!

yup and provide ladders so that people can get on and off the train at all those low level platform stations too. Another one of those AU solutions looking for a problem I see. Why not do something which will cost way more for no significant additional value. Ah yes those large windows of course. :lol:

Now seeing an Acela round Horseshoe Curve would give additional value

 

[Green Maned Lion]

In order for the Horizons to be used on the NEC, they'd have to be retrofitted with automatic doors. I'd think that manual doors would go over like a lead balloon.

Trust me, that can be achieved way before anyone sees any Acela II arriving.
Also the first tranche of Acela IIs is for increasing service on the spine. There are no plans to move any Acela's to Keystone Corridor or anywhere else. Besides, Pennsylvania has first got to agree to pay the higher price for leasing Acelas. it is not a call for Amtrak to make anyway. If Pennsylvania comes upon that extra money, personally, I'd like to see an additional service out to Pittsburgh first, and restoration of service on Philly - Reading and the Lackawanna from NJ/NY to Scranton and possibly to Binghamton rather than getting fancy Acela sets for a route which does not really need it.

Especially Philly Reading. Reading is the most beautiful city in the whole world. It deserves train service.

 

[MikeM]

Speaking of long in the tooth.... I took the Lake Shore this morning into Chicago, had booked a economy sleeper. Boy howdy, they really are not aging well. The sleeper room itself had lots of chipped paint on the toilet seat, rattled, and about 1/4 of the drape hooks had come out of the lower track. Also the PA system emitted a constant buzzing noise if turned up enough to hear the paging systems. The AC worked fine, and I had a wonderful car attendant, but I really hope that Amtrak has big plans to pull these first generation viewliners in for major shopping when the new ones arrive.

The diner was one of the legacy ones, that had been rebuilt. Service was slow but decent, portion control was definitely enforced (Omlets with fresh veggies - options were tomatos and onions. And cheese. At least it wasn't crowded so I didn't feel bad sitting around visiting with fellow travelers and watching the sights. Then again, I feel for any family that was traveling coach and might want to eat in the diner, pricing seems higher than I remember.

This was the first time I'd been on one of these. Comparatively speaking, the Superliner sleepers seem to be aging far better for some reason - maybe they are being serviced more regularly or something?

I guess in summary, I am really concerned we aren't seeing more movement on LD replacement cars at this time, what we have isn't going to last forever.

 

[William W.]

The Viewliners, as far as I know, have never had their interiors overhauled. Many of the Superliners have, on the other hand.

If I remember correctly, the intention is to take Viewliner Is out of service as the IIs arrive, and rotate them into the shops for an overhaul. I've also heard that they may install the Viewliner II room modules into the Viewliner Is, in order to create consistency across the system.

 

[afigg]

Speaking of long in the tooth.... I took the Lake Shore this morning into Chicago, had booked a economy sleeper. Boy howdy, they really are not aging well. The sleeper room itself had lots of chipped paint on the toilet seat, rattled, and about 1/4 of the drape hooks had come out of the lower track. Also the PA system emitted a constant buzzing noise if turned up enough to hear the paging systems. The AC worked fine, and I had a wonderful car attendant, but I really hope that Amtrak has big plans to pull these first generation viewliners in for major shopping when the new ones arrive.

I was in a Viewliner on the LSL a month ago which appeared to be in good shape. I think you encountered a unit that had been in service longer since the last overhaul. The Chief Mechanical officer report section in the Amtrak's Monthly reports shows that 12 to 13 Viewliner sleepers are overhauled every year. With 50 sleepers, that means the cars are on approximately a 4 year overhaul cycle. So the cars will go from fresh out of the overhaul shop to getting 4 years of use and abuse with maintenance repairs of varying quality before it gets the full fix-up.

When the 50 Viewliner Is will go in for a major refresh with new room & roomette modules after the full set of new Viewliner 2 sleepers are delivered is obviously going to depend on Amtrak's annual capital grant funding levels provided by Congress. Yes, that is a depressing thought.

 

[Thirdrail7]

... a Freshly Rehabbed Cab-Car ...

Any further information about this? The cab cars are getting long in the tooth and badly in need of rehab, or indeed total replacement. I had heard rumors that they had weird incompatibilities with the ACS-64 as well.

The rehab has to do with the braking system and mechanical configurations to make the work with the ACS-64s. However, this does nothing to address the fact the cars are still long and the tooth and are known to leak during heavy rain storms.

Yep. Video all over Facebook this morning.

Also, it's not Amtrak's job to keep foamers informed of their rest plans and status. You can't just pick up an brand new car from the factory and throw it into revenue service without any testing, so chill out. They'll be in service when they're ready.

A video of the test runs has been posted to Youtube: Amtrak Viewliner II High Speed Testing @ Princeton Jct (Cab Car LEADS HHP-8). Multiple passes through Princeton Jct with the 3 Viewliners II positioned between a cab car and a HHP-8.

So, yes, the cars are indeed undergoing testing!

Testing has moved to the NED. If all goes well, it will wrap up in a few days and compatibility/clearance testing will commence in WTC before it returning to the factory.

It is interesting seeing push pull sleepers. Maybe they'll sub a sleeper if they're short a business class. ^_^

Maybe Amtrak can exercise an option for cab car sleepers. they can kill two birds with one stone. :giggle:

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

Are the Viewliner IIs currently out for testing carrying full interiors?

 

[jis]

The Viewliners, as far as I know, have never had their interiors overhauled. Many of the Superliners have, on the other hand.

But the Viewliners have been going through interior upgrades even though they have not been stripped down and rebuilt inside. For example, the last Viewliner I was on had LED lighting in many places. I am sure they did not come with those originally.

 

[tricia]

I've also heard that they may install the Viewliner II room modules into the Viewliner Is, in order to create consistency across the system.

That would make sense. Travelers sharing a roomette and expecting the new arrangement of toilet-down-the-hall might be seriously incommoded (sorry--couldn't resist the pun) to find themselves in a roomette with an open toilet, depending on who they're traveling with.

 

[jis]

I've also heard that they may install the Viewliner II room modules into the Viewliner Is, in order to create consistency across the system.

That would make sense. Travelers sharing a roomette and expecting the new arrangement of toilet-down-the-hall might be seriously incommoded (sorry--couldn't resist the pun) to find themselves in a roomette with an open toilet, depending on who they're traveling with.

However, it is likely that it will take more than a year to do that change. BTW, I have also heard from a reliable source that when the Viewliner Is get the new setup, they will also get Phase III livery like the Viewliner IIs, and not before that. When all that will happen will depend on the funding situation. So expect to see a mixed fleet in use for quite a while. Should be interesting to see how they manage the reservations.

 

[neroden]

Maybe Amtrak can exercise an option for cab car sleepers. they can kill two birds with one stone. :giggle:

That would make for a pretty funny configuration. But I can sort of imagine it. Might make Tampa operations more efficient... I think cab-baggage is more likely, though.
On another topic,

...it seems more likely to me that, rather than completely dumping all the hundreds of Viewliner I modules, the Viewliner I roomette modules would be retrofitted to make them like Viewliner IIs (screw down the toilet block permanently, redo the wiring and retrim). The worst 1/12 of them could be tossed during this process.

 

[MikeM]

I've also heard that they may install the Viewliner II room modules into the Viewliner Is, in order to create consistency across the system.

That would make sense. Travelers sharing a roomette and expecting the new arrangement of toilet-down-the-hall might be seriously incommoded (sorry--couldn't resist the pun) to find themselves in a roomette with an open toilet, depending on who they're traveling with.

OTOH, I found on my recent trip that a reoccurring story was I would meet someone in the vestibule and chat with them, and find out they had vacated their room for their roommate to utilize the facilities. Myself, I really think a short hike down the hall would trump worrying that I hadn't got the drapes fully tied down. I think the decision to move the toilet from the rooms really was a smart decision, both for convenience and ease of maintenance.

 

[The Davy Crockett]

OTOH, I found on my recent trip that a reoccurring story was I would meet someone in the vestibule and chat with them, and find out they had vacated their room for their roommate to utilize the facilities. Myself, I really think a short hike down the hall would trump worrying that I hadn't got the drapes fully tied down. I think the decision to move the toilet from the rooms really was a smart decision, both for convenience and ease of maintenance.

:blink: :angry2: :wacko:

Here we go down the ol' toilet hole again.

I miss the hopper toilets, myself. Nothin' like sitting on one on a cold winter's night on the Montrealer.

Besides...

There are two distinct camps on this one.

IMHO: There is a reason only the premium rooms (bedrooms) will have in-room facilities: $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ for Amtrak.

...well, if you don't count the sink in the Viewliner II roomettes h34r: h34r:

:giggle:

 

[afigg]

There are several new videos on Youtube of the Viewliner 2 test train on the northern half of the NEC in daylight.

1:45 long video at Stamford with a close-up view of the new cars passing by at the beginning and then MNRR equipment pulling in and out of the station: Amtrak Viewliner 2 Test Train @ Stamford with full house.

34 second video at Port Chester, but goes out of focus in the last half: Amtrak Xtra 651 w/ Viewliner II's @ Port Chester

 

[William W.]

OTOH, I found on my recent trip that a reoccurring story was I would meet someone in the vestibule and chat with them, and find out they had vacated their room for their roommate to utilize the facilities. Myself, I really think a short hike down the hall would trump worrying that I hadn't got the drapes fully tied down. I think the decision to move the toilet from the rooms really was a smart decision, both for convenience and ease of maintenance.

:blink: :angry2: :wacko:

Here we go down the ol' toilet hole again.

I miss the hopper toilets, myself. Nothin' like sitting on one on a cold winter's night on the Montrealer.

Besides...

There are two distinct camps on this one.

IMHO: There is a reason only the premium rooms (bedrooms) will have in-room facilities: $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ for Amtrak.

...well, if you don't count the sink in the Viewliner II roomettes h34r: h34r:

:giggle:

That could have something to do with it, but I think that it is more about simplification. That's 10 fewer septic connections. Plus, having toilets in the roomettes always seemed like a strange idea, at least to me. While it's convenient to not have to leave your room, there isn't much space, and the seats are right next to you...

 

[Guest]

Especially Philly Reading. Reading is the most beautiful city in the whole world. It deserves train service.

I would like to see passenger service using the NS rail (I think its mostly NS) for Harrisburg-Reading-Topton-Emmaus-Phillipsburg-NJ/NY.

 

[neroden]

The Viewliners, as far as I know, have never had their interiors overhauled. Many of the Superliners have, on the other hand.

But the Viewliners have been going through interior upgrades even though they have not been stripped down and rebuilt inside. For example, the last Viewliner I was on had LED lighting in many places. I am sure they did not come with those originally.

Oooh, good.

One of the things about the modular design of the Viewliners is that overhauling is apparently substantially easier work than in the Superliners.

 

[neroden]

That could have something to do with it, but I think that it is more about simplification. That's 10 fewer septic connections.

Certainly less plumbing work.

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

There are several new videos on Youtube of the Viewliner 2 test train on the northern half of the NEC in daylight.

1:45 long video at Stamford with a close-up view of the new cars passing by at the beginning and then MNRR equipment pulling in and out of the station: Amtrak Viewliner 2 Test Train @ Stamford with full house.

34 second video at Port Chester, but goes out of focus in the last half: Amtrak Xtra 651 w/ Viewliner II's @ Port Chester

With the tinted windows it is hard to see what, if any interior components are in place. Are the cars running fully kitted out, partially kitted or bare so engineers can easily see how the structure handles the tests?

 

[Andrew Ziolo]

Amtrak nickel & diming, bagage fees, food cuts etc. This may work short term. As mentioned above, air travel, travel by car, or no travel at all may result in limited degrees. But, what about the future? Things will probably not stay the same. Automated driving appears to be making great strides very quickly. Why endure limited services when you can travel in your own autonomous vehicle overnight?

Alternatives for travel will be better in the near future. Amtrak ought to become more consumer friendly. Amtrak should also treat its best and most loyal customers aka "foamers" with the information they value. Would it hurt, cost, or impede Amtrak operations to do so?

 

[William W.]

If you record 20 Amtrak trains from no-tresspassing areas, you automatically receive Select Plus status.

#You'reAFoamerIf

 

[Thirdrail7]

There are several new videos on Youtube of the Viewliner 2 test train on the northern half of the NEC in daylight.

1:45 long video at Stamford with a close-up view of the new cars passing by at the beginning and then MNRR equipment pulling in and out of the station: Amtrak Viewliner 2 Test Train @ Stamford with full house.

34 second video at Port Chester, but goes out of focus in the last half: Amtrak Xtra 651 w/ Viewliner II's @ Port Chester

With the tinted windows it is hard to see what, if any interior components are in place. Are the cars running fully kitted out, partially kitted or bare so engineers can easily see how the structure handles the tests?

Are the Viewliner IIs currently out for testing carrying full interiors?

The cars are fully equipped and set up. I'm not a fan of the sleeper colors.

 

[afigg]

If you record 20 Amtrak trains from no-tresspassing areas, you automatically receive Select Plus status.

#You'reAFoamerIf

If you are referring to the Stamford video, it appears that the video was shot from the very end of the platform between tracks 2 and 4. So the videographer was standing in a legal area.