Viewliner II Part 2: Dining Car Production, Delivery, Speculation

[IndyLions]

Thanks - this was officially the dumbest post I've ever made on a forum - ever. I knew CONO was Superliner and had a "Senior moment" at age 51.

I hope Moorman restores decent food on this train. It's one thing to be short of the right equipment - quite another to have appropriate equipment and not utilize it.

 

[lo2e]

Haha, there are some days I'd swear I forget my name, nevermind anything else! Wait, who am I again? :giggle:

 

[Phil S]

Thanks - this was officially the dumbest post I've ever made on a forum - ever. I knew CONO was Superliner and had a "Senior moment" at age 51.

Now, what was I trying to do? Oh yeah. Remember my name!

 

[stappend]

Any news on if the new cars are in service yet or what train they will be used on? While anything is possible and I'm personally hoping for a showing on the LSL by end of June I'm guessing they will swap out the remaining heritage on the Meteor.

 

[Acela150]

Any news on if the new cars are in service yet or what train they will be used on? While anything is possible and I'm personally hoping for a showing on the LSL by end of June I'm guessing they will swap out the remaining heritage on the Meteor.

No. You'll know when something happens. The buffs will go wild.

There won't be a diner on the LSL for quite a while. At least until enough diners are in service and have proven themselves reliable. Currently their are not an extra 3 diners that could supply the LSL with a diner. The LSL was an obvious candidate to remove the diner from. It only serves two meals in each direction compared to the SM and Crescent.

 

[AmtrakLKL]

Any news on if the new cars are in service yet or what train they will be used on? While anything is possible and I'm personally hoping for a showing on the LSL by end of June I'm guessing they will swap out the remaining heritage on the Meteor.

I'd say they'll be hitting the road sooner rather than later (1-2 weeks-ish?) based on their movements within Hialeah unless some major snafu pops up.

 

[George K]

If I've missed it in this thread, please excuse my senior moment.

What's the current status of the Veiwliner II production?

All baggage cars have been delivered, right?

Two (?) diners have been delivered, right? Out of an order of how many?

What's the status of sleepers? What's the timeframe for delivery of those?

 

[Ryan]

3 Diners Delivered.

Annapolis is in service, Augusta and the other A-capital whose name escapes me have been delivered but not placed into revenue service.

 

[George K]

3 Diners Delivered.

Annapolis is in service, Augusta and the other A-capital whose name escapes me have been delivered but not placed into revenue service.

Thanks, Ryan. Any idea how that fits with the "schedule?" I may be wrong, but it seems like about a year since the first diner has been delivered.

 

[brianpmcdonnell17]

3 Diners Delivered.

Annapolis is in service, Augusta and the other A-capital whose name escapes me have been delivered but not placed into revenue service.

The other one is Atlanta.

 

[neroden]

Any news on if the new cars are in service yet or what train they will be used on? While anything is possible and I'm personally hoping for a showing on the LSL by end of June I'm guessing they will swap out the remaining heritage on the Meteor.

No. You'll know when something happens. The buffs will go wild.

There won't be a diner on the LSL for quite a while. At least until enough diners are in service and have proven themselves reliable. Currently their are not an extra 3 diners that could supply the LSL with a diner. The LSL was an obvious candidate to remove the diner from. It only serves two meals in each direction compared to the SM and Crescent.

It actually was the obvious candidate to retain the diner, as it makes more money from it than the other trains -- based on various reports, it appeared to have by far the highest percentage of coach passengers eating in the diner of all the single-level trains. (It's really hard to tell what percentage of sleeper revenue is induced by the dining car service due to the "meals included" pricing, but coach revenue is real.) But I don't think Amtrak management is capable of doing accounting, as they've proven repeatedly.

 

[WoodyinNYC]

What's the current status of the Veiwliner II production?

All baggage cars have been delivered, right?

Two (?) diners have been delivered, right? Out of an order of how many?

What's the status of sleepers? What's the timeframe for delivery of those?

Are we there yet? :giggle:

Not quite.

Yes, 70 baggage cars have been delivered and "almost all" the Heritage bag cars replaced. Three diners so far, one in December, and two more in April, iirc. More are on the way -- this year, maybe this summer, maybe next month, out of the 25 ordered.

Presumably the 10 bag-dorms will be next, followed by 25 Viewliner II sleepers.

The total order was for 130 cars, with an option for 70 more. Unless we can think of a good reason why Amtrak now needs less equipment than it figured in 2010 when placed the order, the Viewliner II fleet will be short by about 70 cars.

Indeed, according to Wikipedia,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viewliner

Amtrak's original intention in the 1980s was to order 500–600 new cars, of which 100 would be sleepers and the rest coaches, diners, and lounges.

Amtrak today has 50 [#number corrected] Viewliner I sleepers, to be joined by 25 Viewliner II sleepers, (and ten bag-dorms, equivalent to 5 more sleepers), perhaps as soon as next year. The 25 new sleepers (plus the bag-dorms) will improve capacity on all single-level trains by adding one more sleeper to each train set. At that point, the sleeper fleet for the Eastern LD trains will [still fall short of] the perceived need in the early 1980s, despite the massive increase in ridership since then.

Tho the option has probably expired, there could still be time to place another order with CAF before the production line shuts down and the expensively trained workforce is dissipated. But with Congress gone crazy ...

 

[CCC1007]

What's the current status of the Veiwliner II production?

All baggage cars have been delivered, right?

Two (?) diners have been delivered, right? Out of an order of how many?

What's the status of sleepers? What's the timeframe for delivery of those?

Are we there yet? :giggle:
Not quite.

Yes, 70 baggage cars have been delivered and "almost all" the Heritage bag cars replaced. Three diners so far, one in December, and two more in April, iirc. More are on the way -- this year, maybe this summer, maybe next month, out of the 25 ordered.

Presumably the 10 bag-dorms will be next, followed by 25 Viewliner II sleepers.

The total order was for 130 cars, with an option for 70 more. Unless we can think of a good reason why Amtrak now needs less equipment than it figured in 2010 when placed the order, the Viewliner II fleet will be short by about 70 cars.

Indeed, according to Wikipedia,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viewliner

Amtrak's original intention in the 1980s was to order 500–600 new cars, of which 100 would be sleepers and the rest coaches, diners, and lounges.

Amtrak today has 25 Viewliner I sleepers, to be joined by 25 Viewliner II sleepers, (and ten bag-dorms, equivalent to 5 more sleepers), perhaps as soon as next year. The 25 new sleepers (plus the bag-dorms) will improve capacity on all single-level trains by adding one more sleeper to each train set. At that point, the sleeper fleet for the Eastern LD trains will be barely half of the perceived need in the early 1980s, despite the massive increase in ridership since then.
Tho the option has probably expired, there could still be time to place another order with CAF before the production line shuts down and the expensively trained workforce is dissipated. But with Congress gone crazy ...

Don't they have 50 sleepers in service with 25 more on the way?

 

[WoodyinNYC]

What's the current status of the Veiwliner II production?

All baggage cars have been delivered, right?

Two (?) diners have been delivered, right? Out of an order of how many?

What's the status of sleepers? What's the timeframe for delivery of those?

Are we there yet? :giggle:
Not quite.

Yes, 70 baggage cars have been delivered and "almost all" the Heritage bag cars replaced. Three diners so far, one in December, and two more in April, iirc. More are on the way -- this year, maybe this summer, maybe next month -- out of the 25 ordered.

Presumably the 10 bag-dorms will be next, followed by 25 Viewliner II sleepers.

The total order was for 130 cars, with an option for 70 more. Unless we can think of a good reason why Amtrak now needs less equipment than it figured in 2010 when it placed the order, the Viewliner II fleet will be short by about 70 cars.

Indeed, according to Wikipedia,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viewliner

Amtrak's original intention in the 1980s was to order 500–600 new cars, of which 100 would be sleepers and the rest coaches, diners, and lounges.

Amtrak today has 50 [# corrected] Viewliner I sleepers, to be joined by 25 Viewliner II sleepers, (and ten bag-dorms, equivalent to 5 more sleepers), perhaps as soon as next year. The 25 new sleepers (plus the bag-dorms) will improve capacity on all single-level trains by adding one more sleeper to each train set. At that point, the sleeper fleet for the Eastern LD trains will [still fall short] of the perceived need in the early 1980s, despite the massive increase in ridership since then.
Tho the option has probably expired, there could still be time to place another order with CAF before the production line shuts down and the expensively trained workforce is dissipated. But with Congress gone crazy ...

Don't they have 50 sleepers in service with 25 more on the way?

Yes, of course. Thanks. I should have gone to sleep some time ago.

Edited my post to fix the error.

 

[lo2e]

Nevermind - too early in the morning, not enough coffee yet!

 

[Thirdrail7]

Speaking of the Meteor, Wednesday is the moment for Ryan and Blue to shine. Hopefully they can grab some pictures of the cargo on the rear.

59675328.jpg

Are you still accepting missions? If all goes according to plan, keep a sharp on the meteor shower Monday morning. It looks like breakfast, Maine style..which beats that Sbarro's you have in Union station.

Perhaps Pennyk will advise us on Sunday?

 

[Acela150]

Penny is on a trip to points unknown :lol: and unable to enlighten us. But this guy may be able to help out. Providing I wake up in time.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Speaking of the Meteor, Wednesday is the moment for Ryan and Blue to shine. Hopefully they can grab some pictures of the cargo on the rear.

59675328.jpg

Are you still accepting missions? If all goes according to plan, keep a sharp on the meteor shower Monday morning. It looks like breakfast, Maine style..which beats that Sbarro's you have in Union station.

Perhaps Pennyk will advise us on Sunday?

Penny left the country Hope there isn't a wall to block her reentry.

 

[Ryan]

I actually have Monday morning off, since I'm getting on a plane later that afternoon.

Now I know what I'll be doing with all of my free time.

 

[Thirdrail7]

Augusta is going live.

 

[StriderGDM]

Excellent news!

 

[Acela150]

I actually have Monday morning off, since I'm getting on a plane later that afternoon.

Now I know what I'll be doing with all of my free time.

You're such a buff! :lol: LOL!! Weather looks pretty crummy here so I may or may not go. We'll see.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

I'll have to wait till it returns on 97 - assuming it's going to stay on the SM.

 

[Acela150]

If ThirdRail convinces the power desk to have 642 leading it from DC, then I'd for sure go out! LOL!!!

 

[KnightRail]

642 has better things to do this week, like clowning around one final time.