Viewliner II Delivery/Production

[electricron]

One of the two still has traction motors under it. Theres only 2 or 3 in bear DE. The two that are east most in the yard are a total mess inside, the cab areas are totally gutted and would require a major rework to make them cab cars again. The body end doors are also removed totally.

Looks like those two are parts donors, unsuitable for restoration into service.

Every automobile junk yard in America exists for the same very reason, or every car would meet the crushers upon arrival to be turned into scrap.

Not every coach and locomotive at Bear is waiting for money to become available for repairs - some are there to be donors for parts so they car repair others.

[Gilbert B Norman]

Meanwhile...back with the V-II's.

Any rumors - maybe a report - regarding "the next drop"?

Thirty-seven to go.

[gokeefe]

I'm feeling more thankful everyday that Amtrak got anything at all ... At least the Heritage cars have finally been taken out of revenue service ...

[bostontrainguy]

Just watched this youtube video that gives a good view of a new Viewliner diner interior (2:50 - 4:28). What really surprised me was that what I thought was a pretty traditional 48 seat diner setup now really only can serve 34 passengers! Once again the crew looks like they are using the two tables closest to the kitchen for setups and their own personal belongings losing 8 seats. And the ADA space is HUGE taking up a table and a half! That's 14 lost seats!!!! No wonder Amtrak is losing money on food service. How can it not? This train often has 5 coaches and 3 sleepers. That's a lot of captive hungry people.

Is there no better way to do this? Can't there be a storage area somewhere so those two setup tables can be used for passengers? Can't some kind of folding seat/table be devised for the occasional wheelchair passenger so they don't lose an additional 6 seats for the possibility that a person in a wheelchair just might show up? What about the handicapped passengers in the other two sleepers? Does only one ADA room occupant have the right to use the diner? Can't room service be supplied instead? We really need some common sense here. How do airlines get away with not having ADA bathrooms but Amtrak has to overcompensate like this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zy971UXrBFE" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[gokeefe]

Found this quote from NARP/RPA news letter in January 2017:

Top Amtrak operational managers are especially hopeful about how the new bag/dorms might help the Cardinal service. Cardinal sleeping rooms are incredibly hard to come by right now, and adding baggage/dorm cars to the fleet should let Amtrak move the on-board service crews out of Cardinal revenue space and sell more rooms.

[gokeefe]

Interestingly enough ... According to this report frl
September 2017 sleepers are next followed by the baggage-dorm cars. (See footnote 29).

[gokeefe]

Photos of the mockups by RailPlan international of the new sleeping car modules ...

RailPlan's scope of supply to the project includes all room types as well as complimentary elements like occasional seats. Manufacturing for the project takes place at RailPlan's Baltimore, Maryland facility.

[gokeefe]

Even more photos of sleeper interiors including the shower module.

[ApproachMedium]

Hopefully these designs and the fact that CAF still has the info on their site shows they are dedicated to finishing the project. As far as crews and diner space goes, i dont know why this was not planned into the design of the car. Unfortunatly, the diner service staff does need space for prep thats out of the way of the kitchen staff. However, with this loss of food service being replaced by box lunches, i think they will soon find they have plenty of space in the kitchen to do their table prep.

[bostontrainguy]

Even more photos of sleeper interiors including the shower module.

Got excited to see the new faucets since the present ones splash all over the place. Then I realized it was the ADA room.

Speaking of which, I don't like that they took the toilet out of the WC. With the present setup, the ADA room can easily be sold as a regular bedroom with attached toilet and shower room. Now you have a toilet in the middle of the room! Those three ADA rooms on the Meteor can't always be sold out to handicapped passengers. Amtrak needs this additional revenue.

[Tadman]

a pretty traditional 48 seat diner setup now really only can serve 34 passengers! Once again the crew looks like they are using the two tables closest to the kitchen for setups and their own personal belongings losing 8 seats. And the ADA space is HUGE taking up a table and a half!

The idiocy continues. Let's take a cash-bleeding diner and make it worse... you can't make this stuff up. This was my exact reaction the first time I had dinner in a new diner, "gee looks like a few less seats". And that's before you consider Employee Comfort Class Seating(tm) otherwise known as two table sets.

[Hamhock]

RailPlan's scope of supply to the project includes all room types as well as complimentary elements like occasional seats.

I'll assume they meant "complementary"....

[Arlington]

I can't believe the crew will leave their personal stuff in The seats (as seen in the linked video of Baton Rouge) and displace patrons. Don't they move that when enough dining customers arrive?

[Tadman]

No, it's pretty much standard these days in diners and cafes to see one or two tables (IE 4-8 seats) taken up by the crew.

[gokeefe]

I wonder if the above practice may be one reason why Amtrak gave up on table service.