NS VIA Fan Report post #1 Posted October 10, 2018 (edited) VIA has issued a media advisory for an announcement to be made later today in New Richmond, Quebec regarding additional fleet renovations....and speculation is it will now be the diners. Here's a Virtual Tour: http://envirtuel.com/via_rail/ The tour shows mostly the kitchen area but what you can see of the seating area appears to be booths replacing individual chairs....and that Wine Rack reminds me of what they did in the Prestige Parks! Work would be done at Rail GD in New Richmond (which is along the route of the former 'Chaleur' to Gaspe) http://railgd.com/ https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/media-advisory---via-rail-will-announce-investment-for-train-car-renovation-696243691.html Edited October 10, 2018 by NS VIA Fan 1 cirdan reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bob Dylan Report post #2 Posted October 10, 2018 Too bad about "Booths" replacing the individual Chairs in the Diners, but as with all things now-a-days, the Lawyers and the "Nervous Nellie" Safety Crowd Rules.😣 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cpotisch Report post #3 Posted October 10, 2018 Too bad about "Booths" replacing the individual Chairs in the Diners, but as with all things now-a-days, the Lawyers and the "Nervous Nellie" Safety Crowd Rules. How were they ever even allowed to have individual chairs on a train? I get that it's Canada, and that having actual chairs must be nice, but that still always struck me as a pretty bad idea. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mystic River Dragon Report post #4 Posted October 10, 2018 cpotisch-- If you live in a country where you could be eaten by a polar bear any minute, I think you can handle chairs that might move a bit . 6 cpotisch, Rail Freak, BuffaloBoy and 3 others reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bob Dylan Report post #5 Posted October 10, 2018 cpotisch-- If you live in a country where you could be eaten by a polar bear any minute, I think you can handle chairs that might move a bit . Priceless!😙 2 Steve4031 and caravanman reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gaspeamtrak Report post #6 Posted October 10, 2018 VIA has issued a media advisory for an announcement to be made later today in New Richmond, Quebec regarding additional fleet renovations....and speculation is it will now be the diners. Here's a Virtual Tour: http://envirtuel.com/via_rail/ The tour shows mostly the kitchen area but what you can see of the seating area appears to be booths replacing individual chairs....and that Wine Rack reminds me of what they did in the Prestige Parks! Work would be done at Rail GD in New Richmond (which is along the route of the former 'Chaleur' to Gaspe) http://railgd.com/ https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/media-advisory---via-rail-will-announce-investment-for-train-car-renovation-696243691.html Thank you for that info. Just wondering if you have any info on how repairs to the line from Matpedia to Gaspe are progressing??? If I'm correct New Richmond is about half way to Gaspe give or take a few miles... I know there was and anouncement by the Quebec government that they were going to invest $100 million on the line to upgrade it. They are appearantly trucking those windmill blades and other related stuff from Gaspe to either Port Daniel or New Richmond to load onto flatcars. Also there is some kind of "cement " plant that needs rail transport in Port Daniel? Sorry if it sounds like I 'm hijacking your"topic" Thank you... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Steve4031 Report post #7 Posted October 10, 2018 There used to be chairs in the Amtrak diners before the the steam heated cars were converted to hep. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JRR Report post #8 Posted October 10, 2018 Too bad about "Booths" replacing the individual Chairs in the Diners, but as with all things now-a-days, the Lawyers and the "Nervous Nellie" Safety Crowd Rules.How were they ever even allowed to have individual chairs on a train? I get that it's Canada, and that having actual chairs must be nice, but that still always struck me as a pretty bad idea. In the bedroom on the Canadian, the two seats are “chairs” which can be moved so you can face in with direction. 1 cpotisch reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
railiner Report post #9 Posted October 10, 2018 (edited) Besides diner's, lounge cars in the heritage era also sometimes contained chairs. Both those, and the ones in the diner, were weighted, and rather hefty...they didn't move around too easily. But, yes, in the event of an accident, chairs firmly anchored to the floor are considerably safer. Edited October 10, 2018 by railiner Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MikefromCrete Report post #10 Posted October 10, 2018 Too bad about "Booths" replacing the individual Chairs in the Diners, but as with all things now-a-days, the Lawyers and the "Nervous Nellie" Safety Crowd Rules. Yeah, I always enjoy getting hit in the head by a flying chair during a derailment. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Seaboard92 Report post #11 Posted October 10, 2018 One reason we can't operate our private cars in regular service in the case a private contractor takes over a long distance or corridor train similar to what IPH did in Indiana. Is that our cars have loose seats. Personally I have trouble with it. But come a wreck it's much safer to have things firmly secured to the floor. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zephyr17 Report post #12 Posted October 10, 2018 (edited) Too bad about "Booths" replacing the individual Chairs in the Diners, but as with all things now-a-days, the Lawyers and the "Nervous Nellie" Safety Crowd Rules. How were they ever even allowed to have individual chairs on a train? I get that it's Canada, and that having actual chairs must be nice, but that still always struck me as a pretty bad idea. Almost all diners had individual seats, the Budd diners for the Canadian were the norm, and were, in fact, pretty much built to the California Zephyr plans and were identical in interior layout to the CZ's. The requirement to have fixed seating came in after Amtrak in the US, and the diners were retrofitted. It apparently still wasn't a requirement in Canada in 1992 when Via's Budd cars went through an extensive refurbishment when they were HEP'd, as they kept their chairs then. Edited October 10, 2018 by zephyr17 1 cpotisch reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zephyr17 Report post #13 Posted October 10, 2018 They better not get rid of the etched glass partitions. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NS VIA Fan Report post #14 Posted October 10, 2018 .......It apparently still wasn't a requirement in Canada in 1992 when Via's Budd cars went through an extensive refurbishment when they were HEP'd, as they kept their chairs then. The Renaissance Diners on the Ocean have booth seating and the individual chairs in the Prestige Parks have been replaced with sofas. 2 railiner and Dakota 400 reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
railiner Report post #15 Posted October 11, 2018 Beautiful interior's....not quite like the original furnishing's, but still serve the same function, and look very contemporary..... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Anderson Report post #16 Posted October 11, 2018 The Parks also had a seating reduction (in the context of the Prestige product) when that happened. Sigh. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites