Viewliners currently required for regular service:
Crescent - 4 train sets x 2 Viewliners = 8 Viewliners
Lake Shore Limited - 3 train sets x 3 Viewliners = 9 Viewliners
Cardinal - 2 train sets x 1 Viewliner = 2 Viewliners
Silver Star - 4 train sets x 3 Viewliners = 12 Viewliners *
Silver Meteor - 4 train sets x 2 Viewliners = 8 Viewliners *
TOTAL VIEWLINERS REQUIRED FOR SERVICE = 39 Viewliners
* Silver Star operates southbound with three Viewliners, northbound with two Viewliners
* Silver Meteor operates southbound with two Viewliners, northbound with three Viewliners
So for the purposes of the calculation, I assigned the three Viewliners to the Silver Star
Keep in mind, the Silver Meteor and Silver Star were supposed to operate with three Viewliners north and southbound, but this has not happened from my observations at NYP. Also, no train sets have a same day turn at Sunnyside, likey they used to, and still is the practice at Chicago. Amtrak could free up an entire Silver Meteor train set if they pushed the southbound departure time of the Meteor back to its old time of 7:00 p.m., rather than 3:15 p.m. At present the 3:15 p.m. is the last train of the day out of NYC to make it to Richmond, VA. It would seem a 7:00 p.m. departure would allow a more time in NYC before heading to Richmond (and yes, Amtrak could get a slot at 7:00 p.m. for the Meteor if it wanted to) - otherwise, passengers can take an earlier train to Richmond that is close to the 3:15 p.m. Meteor departure. Also by allowing the Meteor to depart later southbound out of Penn Station (and arriving northbound within the 10 a.m. hour), you'd get more passengers from connecting trains (especially if the conecting trains were operating late).
So out of 50 Viewliners, only 39 are in regular required daily operation. Three Viewliners are likely in for routine inspections. So that leavs 42 Viewliners that are booked for service. To say that Amtrak does not have 2 Viewliners to spare for NEC sleeper car operation, doesn't seem to work into this calculation too well. Now we get to the 44 number of Viewliners in service (as two would be required to operate on the NEC if one Viewliner is used per train set), leading 6 Viewliners for either spares or shuffling around the system. For a pool of Viewliners that are centered on the East Coast, and largely a mid-point of Sunnyside Yard NY, this seems reasonable to have at least 6 Viewliners as spares. Currenty, Amtrak seems to be operating only 75% of its Viewliner fleet. That seems very low.
If Amtrak wants to get more bang for its buck with the Viewliners - the could operate them as day rooms between Boston-NYP or Washington DC-NYP during the day. Placing a cafe car adjacent for meal service durding the day would help augment and build pricing. Just as long as the Viewliners are serviced and placed back into position by 9 or 10 p.m. at their end points of Washington DC or Boston, this will work.
Again, I think 60 Massachussetts Ave. is complacent with the status quo regarding the eastern long distance trains. The Night Owl/Twilight Shoreliner often ran with 2 Viewliners on each train set at one time. But during the Warrington years, the Viewliners started to get spread thin around the system to at least offer overnight sleeper car service on longer distance routes.
The NEC sleeper car service would sort of be an extension of Acela Express First Class service. But it would provide a "hotel on wheels" so to speak for those on the northern and southern most end of the corridor to "sleep through" the mid-section of the corridor.
