Viewliner II - Part 1 - Initial Production and Delivery

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No-one outside of the factory really knows, it's all speculation. Even then, once the units start coming out for testing and training, there can be delays due to needed fixes and modifications.

If a much more basic design like a baggage car takes so long to get into service, imagine how long a Diner will take and even longer for a Sleeper!

I'd guesstimate that we will start seeing the Diners show up after the First of the year and then the Bag Dorms by Summer with the Sleeping Cars by Fall!

Always expect contracts like this to double the delivery time promised and of course be way over budget!

Also with the current Amtrak Management cluelesness, and the ongoing bean counter cuts continuing, the answer is Blowing in the Wind!
 
Be curious as to how many of the sleeping car modules that RailPlan is building for the cars have been shipped. They are also doing the galleys for the dining cars. If they have been building and shipping to Elmira, and the sections are waiting to be installed, there is no realistic turning back. They are the largest sub contractor for the project, but really don't have any recent news about the project, just stuff that's been posted for a while.
 
jimhudson said:
No-one outside of the factory really knows, it's all speculation. Even then, once the units start coming out for testing and training, there can be delays due to needed fixes and modifications.

If a much more basic design like a baggage car takes so long to get into service, imagine how long a Diner will take and even longer for a Sleeper!

I'd guesstimate that we will start seeing the Diners show up after the First of the year and then the Bag Dorms by Summer with the Sleeping Cars by Fall!
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Hopefully Amtrak management has some knowledge about when the diner, sleeper, and bag-dorm cars will show up. As for the schedule, remember that a pilot test diner, sleeper, bag-dorm set was out the wild in 2014 for testing on the NEC and at the maintenance facilities. So the other 3 types underwent their first round of testing and evaluation before going back to Elmira, presumably with a list of change orders and mods. Whenever the first of the new diner cars show up again in public, it will be for the second round of testing.

The Amtrak FY15 budget and Five Year plan released in February stated the schedule was to have all 130 cars delivered by April 2016. Of course, the schedule may have slipped since then, but CAF has delivered 58 baggage cars which means they are close to 1/2 way point in delivering completed cars.
 
Now that Amtrak management is taking a parsimonious approach to food service, we must wonder what they are going to do with the new Viewliner diners or how they will use them? Perhaps they will lease them to Mc Donalds and sleeper passengers that contibute the highest revenue to Amtrak, will be rewarded with cheap, greasy chemical laden unhealthy foods...... and the dining cars will still be unprofitable. A better approach would be to lease them to Iowa Pacific as they are serving the best food on the rails right now. In all seriousness what is the real food service plan????
 
This will probably change given how the order has progressed so far, but here is a fairly recent proposed delivery schedule from CAF:

Bag Cars - last delivery scheduled for November 2015
Dining Cars - 25 delivered between February and July 2016
Bag/Dorms - 10 delivered between May and December 2016

Sleepers - 25 delivered between August 2016 and March 2017
 
AmtrakLKL said:
This will probably change given how the order has progressed so far, but here is a fairly recent proposed delivery schedule from CAF:

Bag Cars - last delivery scheduled for November 2015

Dining Cars - 25 delivered between February and July 2016

Bag/Dorms - 10 delivered between May and December 2016

Sleepers - 25 delivered between August 2016 and March 2017
Click to expand...
Thanks.

And Oof. I guess there have been a lot of mods to the other three types. Here's hoping we see the second round of prototypes soon; the schedule will be determined by when the prototypes are satisfactory to Amtrak. The real benefits will only start to be visible when the Heritage cars are retired, which on this schedule won't be until August 2016.

This does mean that the window for extra sleepers to be bought is long, as late as late 2016.
 
So, in case anyone following this thread didn't notice, Amtrak #6(08) was the first California Zephyr to run with a Viewliner II baggage car in revenue service. Apparently, this was an impromptu substitution. More to this story on this thread.

Also, the person that filmed the Fraser, Colorado video on that thread said they hope Amtrak begins advertising the Viewliners' bicycle capabilities out there since Winter Park is the mountain bike capital.

 
So Amtrak is reviving a gaudy 1970's style paint scheme on some 1980's style Viewliners?

Might as well tell me that Ronnie Raygun was reanimated as the lead singer for a new disco band.
 
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Question for someone who has looked carefully at the inside of a car. You will notice that the side doors are not symmetrical on the car. At one end the door is over the car trucks and other end is just toward center of car instead over the truck.

1. Are the doors at the same location on both sides of car ?

2. Which end is the brake ("B") end ?

3. How is the interior of each end different ?

4. Could this layout give a hint of how bag - dorms will be designed ?
 
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Agent said:
So, in case anyone following this thread didn't notice, Amtrak #6(08) was the first California Zephyr to run with a Viewliner II baggage car in revenue service. Apparently, this was an impromptu substitution. More to this story on this thread.

Also, the person that filmed the Fraser, Colorado video on that thread said they hope Amtrak begins advertising the Viewliners' bicycle capabilities out there since Winter Park is the mountain bike capital.
Click to expand...
Oh wow! Finally #5/#6 got them! #7/#8 have had them for many weeks now.
 
In answer to west points question if the doors on each side are in the same location. They are in the same spot on 1 end at least. Picture from Chicago Train Day.

DSC_0706e1.jpg
 
jis said:
Agent said:
So, in case anyone following this thread didn't notice, Amtrak #6(08) was the first California Zephyr to run with a Viewliner II baggage car in revenue service. Apparently, this was an impromptu substitution. More to this story on this thread.

Also, the person that filmed the Fraser, Colorado video on that thread said they hope Amtrak begins advertising the Viewliners' bicycle capabilities out there since Winter Park is the mountain bike capital.
Click to expand...
Oh wow! Finally #5/#6 got them! #7/#8 have had them for many weeks now.
Click to expand...
This was a last minute decision because the regular baggage car was bad-ordered.
 
west point said:
Question for someone who has looked carefully at the inside of a car. You will notice that the side doors are not symmetrical on the car. At one end the door is over the car trucks and other end is just toward center of car instead over the truck.

1. Are the doors at the same location on both sides of car ?

2. Which end is the brake ("B") end ?

3. How is the interior of each end different ?

4. Could this layout give a hint of how bag - dorms will be designed ?
Click to expand...
Does this help in giving you a hint as to what a the Baggage Dorm will look like? Found with an extremely simple google search: http://www.railpictures.net/images/d2/4/0/4/2404.1405065010.jpg

peter
 
west point said:
Question for someone who has looked carefully at the inside of a car. You will notice that the side doors are not symmetrical on the car. At one end the door is over the car trucks and other end is just toward center of car instead over the truck.

1. Are the doors at the same location on both sides of car ?

2. Which end is the brake ("B") end ?

3. How is the interior of each end different ?

4. Could this layout give a hint of how bag - dorms will be designed ?
Click to expand...
The end with the door above the truck is the A end. The interior space on the A end goes all the way to the end wall. The B end has the electrical locker in one corner and gun locker in the other corner. A dividing wall on each side separates the two lockers from the rest of the car. The baggage space from the B end doors to those walls is the same as the space from the doors to the end wall on the A end, if that makes sense.
 
AmtrakLKL said:
This will probably change given how the order has progressed so far, but here is a fairly recent proposed delivery schedule from CAF:

Bag Cars - last delivery scheduled for November 2015

Dining Cars - 25 delivered between February and July 2016

Bag/Dorms - 10 delivered between May and December 2016

Sleepers - 25 delivered between August 2016 and March 2017
Click to expand...
Thanks for posting this, but I hope CAF is not that far behind schedule. They have delivered 58 baggage cars with 12 more to go. Even if the last 12 baggage cars get delivered in November, stretching the delivery of the diner cars into next July and the sleepers into 2017 is a huge schedule slip from the all 130 cars by April 2016 2017 in the FY15 budget and 5 year plan published as recently as February. If the last sleeper does indeed shipped in March 2017, that is, what, 3? years behind the original contract schedule. Not good.

Edit: fixed typo.
 
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KL Does make sense.. thanks for the info. Bag - dorms door over car truck. That might indicate no gun locker ?
 
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