Viewliner II - Part 1 - Initial Production and Delivery

[MARC Rider]

May 22, 6:55 PM

#97 just pulled into WAS with 5 VL2 baggage cars at the rear. Also, for what it's worth, the cioaches are at the rear, which I guess means the sleepers are in the front.

 

[Ryan]

Yep! Here she is rolling through Odenton:

(although today is the 21st )

 

[Thirdrail7]

97(22) should have the rest of the bags.

 

[neroden]

You mean the other 5, or the REST of the bags?

 

[afigg]

You mean the other 5, or the REST of the bags?

Pretty sure Thirdrail7 means the remaining 5 cars from this batch. They are not wasting time moving the cars down to Hialeah. If the next 5 go south on #97(22), that means all 10 baggage cars will be in Hialeah by Saturday night. I expect that the next high profile step will be for a bunch of new baggage cars to make their way west of Chicago for training at the maintenance shops and crew change stops. One new baggage car is reportedly already in Seattle for training.

 

[CCC1007]

Two

While the first was in Seattle, a second went west on the builder

 

[tommylicious]

where are the pax cars??

If you mean coach cars (I assume that's what you mean by pax), there are none ordered at this time.

He may mean sleepers

Yeah where are the sleepers?? The bags are cool but bring on the sleepers!!! Where are they?

 

[Ryan]

They're coming last.

 

[mgl1978]

Amtrak 97-22 with 5 more baggages for delivery.

 

[WoodyinNYC]

You mean the other 5, or the REST of the bags?

The post from mgl1978 shows a "half batch", LOL.

So we're up to 48. I figure one car a week now, gets us to the full 70-bag-car order by the end of this fiscal year (maybe one or two short at worst).

Then the diners, crucial for cost cutting. Get a "batch" of 10 by the holidays? What a nice present that would be! Get the rest of the diners by this time next year, barring some problem bigger than under-performing shelving or over-performing heating units.

Get the short order for 15 bag-dorms by the end of Fiscal 2016. Begin getting sleepers in Fiscal 2017.

So we wait until FY 2017 to see added capacity, more revenues, greater utilization of diners, etc. But hey, we've waited this long, another couple of years won't hurt too bad.

Still hoping for part of the 70-car option order. We probably don't need the full 70, because rail funding was shut off by Congress. So we don't have any more frequencies or new routes to use them all. But a handful of diners and bag dorms, and another 20 or 25 sleepers would be great for even the near term.

Perhaps get enuff new cars (along with the handful used in the Midwest and Cali that will be replaced by bi-level cars in 2017) to change the Capitol Ltd. into a single-level train, and send its three sets of equipment out West to the Superliner trains while they wait and wait and wait for a replacement order for their aging fleet. There's still enuff time to find some more money.

 

[CHamilton]

New baggage car in King Street Station, Seattle, yesterday afternoon.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Nice pics Charlie! Thanks for sharing!

Its s shame that these shiney new cars will be in the consist with the ratty, dirty, tired Superliners from the Builder and Starlight!

Wouldn't it be great to see an All New Superliner train pull into the station?

Reminds me of back in the day when the Superliners were brand new!

 

[George K]

Its s shame that these shiney new cars will be in the consist with the ratty, dirty, tired Superliners from the Builder and Starlight!

Yeah, but....

Look at how nice the ratty, dirty, tired Superliners looked compared to the rattier, dirtier, more tired bags they used to have!

#glasshalfffull

 

[neroden]

Still hoping for part of the 70-car option order. We probably don't need the full 70, because rail funding was shut off by Congress. So we don't have any more frequencies or new routes to use them all. But a handful of diners and bag dorms, and another 20 or 25 sleepers would be great for even the near term.

The sleepers would sink right into the existing trains. When I was trying to figure out how many options Amtrak should exercise, I came up with one or two diners at most, enough bag-dorms to make a reasonably-sized class of cars (which means 10), and as many sleepers as Amtrak can get their hands on.

Perhaps get enuff new cars (along with the handful used in the Midwest and Cali that will be replaced by bi-level cars in 2017) to change the Capitol Ltd. into a single-level train, and send its three sets of equipment out West to the Superliner trains while they wait and wait and wait for a replacement order for their aging fleet. There's still enuff time to find some more money.

 

[StriderGDM]

Still hoping for part of the 70-car option order. We probably don't need the full 70, because rail funding was shut off by Congress. So we don't have any more frequencies or new routes to use them all. But a handful of diners and bag dorms, and another 20 or 25 sleepers would be great for even the near term.

The sleepers would sink right into the existing trains. When I was trying to figure out how many options Amtrak should exercise, I came up with one or two diners at most, enough bag-dorms to make a reasonably-sized class of cars (which means 10), and as many sleepers as Amtrak can get their hands on.

Perhaps get enuff new cars (along with the handful used in the Midwest and Cali that will be replaced by bi-level cars in 2017) to change the Capitol Ltd. into a single-level train, and send its three sets of equipment out West to the Superliner trains while they wait and wait and wait for a replacement order for their aging fleet. There's still enuff time to find some more money.

Maybe.

Amtrak would have 1 or 2 possible options:

Extend the Palmetto back into a full Silver Service train.

Add a sleeper back the 66/67 (ok, an existing train, but new service).

Recreate the 3 Rivers to Chicago.

Beyond that, yeah, hard to see completely new service (perhaps an overnight Montrealer?)

 

[NE933]

So, anything moving with the Viewliner II's? Any news?

 

[TylerP42]

Saw Viewliner II Baggage 61007 Today at Toledo on 49 LSL. Video soon(ish)

 

[CCC1007]

61004 was on 8(10)

 

[Acela150]

So, anything moving with the Viewliner II's? Any news?

Nothing new. You'd hear.

 

[WoodyinNYC]

So, anything moving with the Viewliner II's? Any news?

Nothing new. You'd hear.

It hasn't been that long since a batch of 10 left CAF. Are they being completed only once a week, or once a week on both lines? If it's two per week, they'll need five weeks to get another 10-batch ready.

Dutch Rail Nut, post # 2043 above, on May 20 reported a batch of 10 heading to Hialeah. So by my crude calculations, we'll probably see 10 more by the end of June.

We're now at 38 out of the 70 order, another 10 would get us to 48. Two more batches during July, August, and September. We should be able to declare victory in the baggage car battle by the beginning of Fiscal 2016 on October 1.

But my crystal ball clouds over at that point!

 

[neroden]

At some point the revised "pilot" diner, bag-dorm, and sleeper should return for second-round testing. (Remember, they came out, were tested, and went back.) We have no way of knowing when that will happen but it should be the next big milestone.

 

[Thirdrail7]

So, anything moving with the Viewliner II's? Any news?

Modifications on the bags that were previously released for revenue service continues. The latest batch from the factory is in the process of being deployed for western operations.

In fact, if anyone wants to mosey out track side, 29(13) is supposed to have a group on the head end for western revenue deployment. Additionally, 29 and 30 is supposed to go over to the viewliner bags next week.

 

[Acela150]

Thank you for the information TR7. You're always of help!

 

[afigg]

We're now at 38 out of the 70 order, another 10 would get us to 48. Two more batches during July, August, and September. We should be able to declare victory in the baggage car battle by the beginning of Fiscal 2016 on October 1.

CAF has shipped a total of 48 baggage cars, not 38. There were 38 baggage cars on the roster as of May 1 and the circa May 20 delivery shipped 10 more. If you look back to the May 20 equipment move reports, the highest car number was 61047. So there are 22 more baggage cars to be delivered out of Elmira plus however many previously shipped baggage cars undergoing field mods before being released to revenue service.
If there will be enough new cars soon for deployment to the western LD trains, which one would switch over first? The Empire builder?

 

[neroden]

I'm guessing all the western trains will get the new cars nearly simultaneously; that's what happened to the eastern trains.

Although it really depends on when training finishes, which depends on when training *starts*. We've seen a Viewliner baggage car at Seattle. If we don't see a Viewliner baggage car at Oakland or LA for a while, then the Empire Builder is definitely getting them first!