Amtrak Heritage Diners Thread

[ApproachMedium]

They are in the track to indy so they can go there to be stored and disposed of whatever they decide to do.

[Tadman]

Makes sense. I have a day in Indy next week but probably not enough time to run down to Beech. I am, however, taking the Hoosier State 2.0 so we'll see how that goes. Report to follow.

[Jeff Smith]

News posted elsewhere in the forum in other threads (Viewliner and Lakeshore):

Times Union

Amtrak replaces dining cars used on Lake Shore Limited
Frame cracks found in old units, replacement dinettes made in 1980s

The postwar-era dining cars on the Lake Shore Limited that Amtrak inherited from freight railroads in 1971 have been removed from service, an Amtrak spokesman confirmed this week.

They've been replaced by newer Amfleet II dinettes, which date from the early 1980s.

The Empire State Passengers Association, a rail advocacy organization, said that cracks had been discovered in the frames of several of the dining cars, raising safety concerns that forced their removal from service.
...

[ApproachMedium]

I have been seeing these old diners getting sent south from NY to DC, not sure if they make it past DC or all the way to miami but ive seen at least twice train 97 with a heritage diner on the rear.

[R36 Combine Coach]

News posted elsewhere in the forum in other threads
Times Union

Amtrak replaces dining cars used on Lake Shore Limited
Frame cracks found in old units, replacement dinettes made in 1980s

The postwar dining cars on the Lake Shore Limited that Amtrak inherited from freight railroads in 1971 have been removed from service, confirmed this week. They've been replaced by newer Amfleet II dinettes, which date from the early 1980s.

Apparently the Amfleet II overhaul as part of the Diner Lite program might pay off after all given delays on the new diners.

[MBTA3247]

They are in the track to indy so they can go there to be stored and disposed of whatever they decide to do.

Those cars are still there today. A few tracks over is a trio of H-bags.

[Ken W2KB]

Saw the cars there this afternoon.

[MBTA3247]

Numbers of the diners sitting in Chicago are 8551, 8552, 8504, 8558, and 8502.

[ApproachMedium]

Seems to be the ones i see in use still are ones that all had the interior rebuilds.

[Morning Zephyr]

Does withdrawal of diners from first the Silver Star and now the Lake Shore Limited (and Cardinal long ago) portend that the other single level trains are also going to lose diners soon? Crescent, Meteor?

[CHTT1]

Sure, it does. Those Heritage diners aren't getting any younger and easier to fix. The only rescue will be the delivery of those long-promised diners from CAF. And who knows when that will be.

[chrsjrcj]

"Amtraks popular low cost no food sleeping car service now expanded to Meteor and Crescent, because funds to replace 60 year old equipmnet is instead being used to replace 15 year old equipment."

[chuchubob]

Please enlighten me. Are you implying that the Viewliner II diner order was cancelled to help fund the Acela II?

[Backshophoss]

The Viewliner II order was not cancelled,believe the Acela II(aka"Liberty")is "funded" thru another loan program.

[BandA]

"Amtraks popular low cost no food sleeping car service now expanded to Meteor and Crescent, because funds to replace 60 year old equipmnet is instead being used to replace 15 year old equipment."

Please enlighten me. Are you implying that the Viewliner II diner order was cancelled to help fund the Acela II?

HHP-8's are 15-17 yo, apparently. chrsjrcj is implying, I think, that the Viewliner II order was delayed in favor of the Siemens ACS-64 order. The 130(70 options) Viewliner II's were ordered in July 2010 and the 70(any options?) Siemens ACS-64 were ordered in October 2010, according to Wikipaedia.


So it took Seimens less than 3 1/2 years to get the first engine in service, but it took CAF more than 4 1/2 years to get the first baggage car in service, with baggage cars being much less complex than a locomotive.