Silver Star - Dining Car ?

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the_traveler

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Did the SS get its DC back? :huh:

A post on Facebook makes it seem so. A person riding it today says it does. Unless that person is confused and is confusing the tables in the cafe with a DC. Or is 1 of the Viewliner DC's deadheading on the SS?
 
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Did the SS get its DC back? :huh:

A post on Facebook makes it seem so. A person riding it today says it does. Unless that person is confused and is confusing the tables in the cafe with a DC. Or is 1 of the Viewliner DC's deadheading on the SS?
Amtrak wouldn't have enough diners available to give it one back, until more Viewliners are delivered and available for daily service. Just speculation, but with equipment sets out of position due to the Hurricane, it seems at least possible that the Silver Star could be running with a Silver Meteor trainset.
 
I saw a car deadheading on 97 yesterday that I’m guessing was a heritage diner. So maybe the SS is deadheading a diner also.

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When I was on the Silver Star recently, I was in the cafe car sharing a table with a first time rider who told me that he was surprised that the train had a dining car. He mistook the cafe car for a dining car. For a new rider, I think it is an easy mistake. BTW, he enjoyed his cafe car cheeseburger.
 
I could see a first time rider confusing the diner car with the cafe car. I'll be in a sleeper on the Star next month. A diner would be most welcome but I don't see it happening

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@Philly

I thought the same thing!

At any rate, someone had posted a video on FB showing a train passing through Stoney Creek, VA. The poster identified the train as the Star. I thought it was the Meteor due to a diner car being part of the consist. However, another commenter mentioned that perhaps the consist was changed due to temporary schedule changes resulting from Hurricane Irma.

Not totally sure though
 
When I was on the Silver Star recently, I was in the cafe car sharing a table with a first time rider who told me that he was surprised that the train had a dining car. He mistook the cafe car for a dining car. For a new rider, I think it is an easy mistake. BTW, he enjoyed his cafe car cheeseburger.
Penny makes an extremely valid point.

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Regardless dining car service in the traditional sense is not returning to the Star. That was not an equipment availability decision, it was a cost savings move.
 
Regardless dining car service in the traditional sense is not returning to the Star. That was not an equipment availability decision, it was a cost savings move.
We'll see. At Amtrak things change randomly at whim of random people. The Diner got removed in the first place without involving the CEO, by the Mica friend CFO. That CFO is now gone.

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Regardless dining car service in the traditional sense is not returning to the Star.
Not ever? Forever??

But if it does return, will the Earth be gobbled up by a black hole? :)
With Amtrak, never doesn't always mean exactly what the dictionary says it means. The Silver Star has lost its diner before only to have it return later. I agree with Jis, things change. Further, I would still argue that Amtrak really hasn't had sufficient dining cars available to restore one to 91/92 even if it wanted to. That'll be one thing that changes...sooner or later.
 
Regardless dining car service in the traditional sense is not returning to the Star.
Not ever? Forever??
But if it does return, will the Earth be gobbled up by a black hole? :)
With Amtrak, never doesn't always mean exactly what the dictionary says it means. The Silver Star has lost its diner before only to have it return later. I agree with Jis, things change. Further, I would still argue that Amtrak really hasn't had sufficient dining cars available to restore one to 91/92 even if it wanted to. That'll be one thing that changes...sooner or later.
The word never was not used. Of course plans can and will change with different leadership. The point is that when all 25 new diners are delivered that by no means that the foregone conclusion is that food service levels are going back to the way they were on the Star or are going to increase on the Cardinal. Viewliner diners could ultimately end up on those routes, maybe replacing the Amfleet II cafes and operating as the single multi-purpose food car. Outcomes that maintain or reduce costs are exponentially more likely than ones that increase costs. Time will tell.
 
There are too many variables to even speculate.

1. Additional V-2 diners delivery schedule that is not disclosed.

2. reducing time from delivery to revenue service for V-2s

3. Any unforeseen problems with V-2s

5. The ability of Heritage diners to continue limping on. Note 4 Heritage went thru some kind of work in May - July per MPRs.

6. Possibility of adding V-2s or Heritage to LSL sometime in near future ? LSL does have the least enroute diner time for the needed 3 diners

7. Putting diners if available on Star from Thanksgiving - New Years to maximize revenue ?

8. no incidents taking any diners out of service.

Maybe some of these variables will become apparent by the end of October or middle of November ?
 
Straight from the top:

Q. Will Train 91, the Silver Star, ever see dining car service restored?

A. No.
Tops change over time
default_tongue.png
So no Top in its right mind can make an eternal promise, unless theya re suffering from a god complex, in which what they say does not matter. They are probably delusional anyway.
default_wink.png
 
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Personally, I would like it if the Viewliner diners were used across the 5 Single-level sleeper routes as lounges and if the current lounges were converted to coaches. There would no longer be diner service, which would upset many people here, but I rarely use it anyway. In return, there would be increased capacity and a greatly improved lounge experience, especially if the seating arrangements were modified to resemble a Superliner.
 
Personally, I would like it if the Viewliner diners were used across the 5 Single-level sleeper routes as lounges and if the current lounges were converted to coaches. There would no longer be diner service, which would upset many people here, but I rarely use it anyway. In return, there would be increased capacity and a greatly improved lounge experience, especially if the seating arrangements were modified to resemble a Superliner.
Sounds good. Then the bean counters could say "Let's eliminate those sleepers as coach now has some nice Lounge Cars."

Once the sleepers are gone, they can say "Who needs Lounge cars? Coach passengers don't pay enough for them. Turn them into revenue cars."
 
OP was 2017.

Can wait into someone ask Amtrak why they would buy those cars if they are not going to use them.
Two separate topics. This question was about Dining Car SERVICE. That being the actual full level of dining car meal service with attendants/servers, chef cooked meals, and such as it was prior. This does not mean a 68000 series Viewliner II will not operate on the Silver Star. If/when a new car does, the car would not be a full service dining car.
 
OP was 2017.

Can wait into someone ask Amtrak why they would buy those cars if they are not going to use them.
Two separate topics. This question was about Dining Car SERVICE. That being the actual full level of dining car meal service with attendants/servers, chef cooked meals, and such as it was prior. This does not mean a 68000 series Viewliner II will not operate on the Silver Star. If/when a new car does, the car would not be a full service dining car.
I would say that if a V-II 680XX is put on the Star, it would be replacing the AM-II 'lounges' currently used. The Viewliner diner layout is very different from those cars and isn't ideal for use as a cafe or lounge. It could be done, but some minor modifications would have to be made, and I don't see why they would be very preferable to what we have today.
 
OP was 2017.

Can wait into someone ask Amtrak why they would buy those cars if they are not going to use them.
Two separate topics. This question was about Dining Car SERVICE. That being the actual full level of dining car meal service with attendants/servers, chef cooked meals, and such as it was prior. This does not mean a 68000 series Viewliner II will not operate on the Silver Star. If/when a new car does, the car would not be a full service dining car.
I would say that if a V-II 680XX is put on the Star, it would be replacing the AM-II 'lounges' currently used. The Viewliner diner layout is very different from those cars and isn't ideal for use as a cafe or lounge. It could be done, but some minor modifications would have to be made, and I don't see why they would be very preferable to what we have today.
Have you not been paying attention to another knowledgable poster as to what is most likely in store for the VLII diners?
 
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