Viewliner II Prototype

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Nathanael said:
Interestingly, it appears that RailPlan was hired to do the same thing with the Superliner Is, replacing their interiors with new interiors which are modular just like Viewliner interiors:http://www.railplan.com/amtrak-superliner-i-remanufacture.html

But that project seems to have been running slowly. I haven't seen one of the remanufactured Superliner Is -- though I have read some reports of people seeing them -- and I know there are a bunch of unrefurbished Superliner Is out there. Has anyone kept track of how many of the "new interior" Superliner Is are in service?

Anyway, if both of these projects are completed successfully, Amtrak could end up with a very uniform fleet of sleepers.
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Actually the problem with the Superliner's is that they aren't modular.

Viewliner I/II have a large removable "plug" on the exterior of the car and the compartments are built separately from the exterior shell. The Superliner I/II are a more traditional style of building and the rooms are actually built on the exterior shell.

The benefit to the modular design is that the Viewliner cars can be stripped down to an empty shell and then have an all new interior in just a matter of days.

Superliners are tougher to refurbish and the process takes longer. When RailPlan built new bathroom modules for the Superliner I... they are essentially had to sit inside the walls the old bathrooms used.

That and a lack of funds is why some Superliner I's got a complete refurbishment while others only had a minor refurbishment (new seat fabric, carpets and wood grain paneling glued to the walls.)

Also the Superliner II's were never refurbished and to my knowledge there's no plan to do so.
 
The loss of the separate bathroom in the H room is real bummer.

Last year I ended up in the H room coming back from NOL and it was really spacious!

Then again, by the look of an earlier posting, it sound like this new design was made with feedback from the ADA community - they would know better than i what the needs of Wheelchair accessibility are.
 
In the later years, hubby was in a chair, but he could walk a few steps if helped out of the chair. He really liked the separate bathroom--both for privacy (and therefore not feeling rushed), and because it was a smaller space; he could steady himself using the walls.

The toilet right out in the room gives NO privacy, and a caregiver probably wouldn't want to risk being totally outside the room. And, not all caregivers are spouses. But if Amtrak got appropriate input, I won't argue that they made a bad change. But hubby (and I) definitely liked the separate bathroom.
 
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TimSpencer said:
Blackwolf said:
Donctor said:
Blackwolf said:
Now they only need to name the individual sleepers and diners again!
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They are.
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Are they?
At last check, the remnants of the sleeper names were found in various states of peeling off on the car-end doors of some Viewliners and the Superliner I sleepers; all signs of names on the exterior of the cars were taken off some time ago (over a half-decade ago for the Supers and within the last few years for the Views.)

The only cars with their names displayed prominently that I'm aware of are the George M. Pullman sleeper and the Indianapolis diner. If this is changing again to encompass all the cars (all the existing sleepers already do, labeled or not,) then I fully support it!
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I was in Zurich last year. It was really amusing to be on a train named "Albert Einstein" on the side! :)

Unfortunately, I don't feel any smarter after the ride. :(
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Way back I rode an EC from Vienna to Zurich name Mozart. Didn't make me feel more musical either. :) Also rode EC Mantovanni from Roma Termini to Zurich. Absolutely spectacular ride through Ticino up the triple loop and through the Gotthard Tunnel.
In UK last year I rode a Virgin Pendolino named "Penny the Pendolino". Didn't know that our own Penny had gained fame across the pond.
 
The new design is a welcomed change. The cream walls with the red cushions and black trim definatly give off a more high class feel. The removal of the toilet in the roomette can go either way depending on who you talk to, I like that it's gone just from a sanitary aspect.

And it'd be great if all 50 of the Viewliner Is get the new modules, as the current ones are in pretty rough shape.

Maybe, in the near future, the Viewliner prototype "coach" will be done.
 
I also failed to mention (probably because I've never been on a Viewliner before) that the second step to the upper berth is MUCH bigger.

From photos of the Viewliner I it looks like the second step under the folding sink is just a few inches deep. I'm guessing it couldn't be any bigger without making it uncomfortable to sit on the toilet. But on the Viewliner II the step is deep enough to fit your entire foot on the step.

This is great news for a guy like me with bigger feet... it would make it much easier to get a confident step as you climb into the upper berth.
 
I looks like there is a curtain that can be pulled in front of the toilet in the H-room. If you go to the pictures on railplan's website, when the picture for the H-room pops up right click and copy picture, then you can paste it into something like paint and get a much larger version and its clear there is a curtain.
 
On the design of the Viewliner II's, the bathrooms in the H rooms were eliminated and the space used for a public bathroom. No toilets in the roomettes means public bathrooms/showers are now needed.
 
The Sicilian said:
On the design of the Viewliner II's, the bathrooms in the H rooms were eliminated and the space used for a public bathroom. No toilets in the roomettes means public bathrooms/showers are now needed.
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If that is the case and there has been some further redesign, does that mean the 12th roomette that was to be deleted and replaced with a bathroom module will now remain? Or has the plan all along been to put in 2 public bathrooms, one by the H room and one in a roomette slot? Current floor plans for the new sleepers would be of interest, but Amtrak probably won't release them until after the first 4 units have gone through testing.
 
afigg said:
The Sicilian said:
On the design of the Viewliner II's, the bathrooms in the H rooms were eliminated and the space used for a public bathroom. No toilets in the roomettes means public bathrooms/showers are now needed.
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If that is the case and there has been some further redesign, does that mean the 12th roomette that was to be deleted and replaced with a bathroom module will now remain? Or has the plan all along been to put in 2 public bathrooms, one by the H room and one in a roomette slot? Current floor plans for the new sleepers would be of interest, but Amtrak probably won't release them until after the first 4 units have gone through testing.
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Agreed, it'll be interesting to see what they end up doing with that space. Since the shower already exists and the roomette slot is being filled with 2 toilets it can't be for any of those. That's a pretty sizeable piece of real estate in train terms... any other ideas? Maybe a baggage rack like in the Superliners downstairs?
 
I've never seen the enclosed bathroom in the H room. Was it large enough to maneuver from a wheelchair to the toilet? The only thing I can think of is that it wasn't big enough for those who can't walk and need to slide over from their chair, so they left the area open. That's pure speculation, though. I've never seen one. Can anyone chime in on that?
 
In the attached picture from RailPlan's website you can see it appears that at least some of the former bathroom area in the accessible room will now be used for a small shower.

On RailPlan's blog you can see they are working with the ADA community to get feedback on the layout of the room.

Also remember that the Superliner I/II sleeping cars have the toilet area separated from the seating area by a curtain.

3334544_orig.png


Courtesy: RailPlan
 
Hmm... so from what I'm reading at least one of the roomettes has been eliminated to allow for the public toilet. Does this mean that a train like the Cardinal will have fewer roomettes than it already does? That would be a bummer since they sell out so fast. Or will the Cardinal perhaps pull two sleepers? That would certainly be nice.
 
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Linda T said:
Hmm... so from what I'm reading at least one of the roomettes has been eliminated to allow for the public toilet. Does this mean that a train like the Cardinal will have fewer roomettes than it already does? That would be a bummer since they sell out so fast. Or will the Cardinal perhaps pull two sleepers? That would certainly be nice.
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The Cardinal at a minimum should get a baggage-dorm car which will free up the roomettes currently occupied by the crew. Once all or enough of the Viewliner IIs have been delivered and accepted for revenue service, I expect Amtrak will upgrade the Cardinal to a "full service" LD train with a baggage-dorm, 2 sleepers, and a diner car.
 
I should be able to give details about the separate H bathroom on the Viewliners, but I don't think I have a picture that includes it, and I don't recall every little detail. Here's what I can recall: It truly is a separate room and has a regular, substantial door on hinges, not a sliding one. The toilet is to the left of the sink, if you are about to enter, (or perhaps in the back left corner?-idk), and the sink is along the righthand side, not facing the door, but facing toward the left side of the room. There is a shower head, but we never used it (accidentally or otherwise, LOL). I doubt there is room beside the toilet to slide from the side of a chair onto it. From what I recall, I don't know how there would be that much space. I believe hubby's chair would fit through the door into the room, facing the toilet, but he could walk a few steps so I don't know for sure. But for a train (or plane), it's pretty good size. I think it will be greatly missed!!

The entire bathroom is "outside" the rest of the H unit, leaving a spacious rectangular bedroom. In other words, it's not cut out of a corner of the bedroom. The sofa faces forward and faces both the bathroom door ® and the exterior door into the hall (L). The exterior and bathroom doors are side by side facing the sofa. There is a window to the hall on the L, perpendicular to the sofa, and the outside window is perpendicular to the sofa, on the R.

The hall makes an L-shape at the corner, so it's both in front of, and to the left side of, the bedroom and the sofa.

Wish I could be more specific or describe it better.
 
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That description is accurate and thorough of the H room. It would be a mistake to remove the full bathroom, especially the toilet, because as I'm learning, a mobility impaired passenger may not be easilly enabled to withstand multiple trips to an outside restroom, waiting for an occupied facility to clear while the train is doing high speeds.
 
I'd also be extremely surprised if the H room didn't have an enclosed restroom. It's not as if the restroom is right outside, either--it's the far end of the car! Amtrak would likely be vulnerable to litigation under the circumstances.
 
Amtrak has a great virtual tour of the Viewliner I online: http://www.amtrak.com/media/train_tour/viewliner/viewliner.html

Just click Floor Plan > accessible bedroom & bath

In the animation you'll see the room is exactly as you described... but from the limited photo's we have it looks like the "H room" in the Viewliner II will be different (but similar to the arrangement in the Superliner I/II sleeping cars.)
 
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It's my understanding that the new H room will have the toilet and sink inside the room, but not in an additional, separate area as is done now. Perhaps there's a curtain, but that's not the same as walls. It does seem a downgrade to the H unit to me, but maybe the new design allows more space for transferring to the toilet from a chair. ?? Hubby could walk a little, so that wasn't an issue for us.

Ricky, thanks for the link. I'd forgotten the website had views of all the rooms.
 
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At the same time it could be a move to "standardize" the fleet a little bit more. Since Room H in the Superliner fleet doesn't have a separate restroom facility it creates an imbalance in the types of facilities found on one type of equipment to the other. Granted, the same isn't true for the sinks in Viewliner to Superliner, but...

Additionally, I believe that the ADA laws have progressed a lot since the early 90's when Viewliner I's were produced. So the design changes could be due not only to feedback from passengers, but changes in the law itself. It looks like RailPlan, CAF, and Amtrak did it the right way though by getting feedback from members of the disabled community. Not everything will please every passenger, but baby steps.
 
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