Viewliner II Part 2: Dining Car Production, Delivery, Speculation

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cpotisch said:
At this point, do yall think there is any actual chance the LSL gets a diner by Feb. 21?

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No chance by Feb 21st.

Clues to when it would start. A deadhead move of a dinner to Chicago for the shop to get uptrained on the equipment. Sure they have been working on baggage cars for a bit. But rumor has it, the dinners have stuff inside of it that might need to be serviced by Chicago.
 
AmtrakBlue said:
cpotisch said:
At this point, do y’all think there is any actual chance the LSL gets a diner by Feb. 21?

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Are you going to change your travel plans if the answer is no?
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Nope, but I'm gonna cry non-stop for 14 days.
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Palmetto said:
Just-Thinking-51 said:
cpotisch said:
At this point, do yall think there is any actual chance the LSL gets a diner by Feb. 21?

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum
Click to expand...
No chance by Feb 21st.

Clues to when it would start. A deadhead move of a dinner to Chicago for the shop to get uptrained on the equipment. Sure they have been working on baggage cars for a bit. But rumor has it, the dinners have stuff inside of it that might need to be serviced by Chicago.
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I sure hope not, given the crappy work that Chicago has been doing. And one would think that if the rumor were true, then all diners will have to go to Chicago at some point for service. I can't imagine anything that Chicago can do that Hialeah cannot.
 
Palmetto said:
Just-Thinking-51 said:
cpotisch said:
At this point, do yall think there is any actual chance the LSL gets a diner by Feb. 21?

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum
Click to expand...
No chance by Feb 21st.

Clues to when it would start. A deadhead move of a dinner to Chicago for the shop to get uptrained on the equipment. Sure they have been working on baggage cars for a bit. But rumor has it, the dinners have stuff inside of it that might need to be serviced by Chicago.
Click to expand...
I sure hope not, given the crappy work that Chicago has been doing. And one would think that if the rumor were true, then all diners will have to go to Chicago at some point for service. I can't imagine anything that Chicago can do that Hialeah cannot.
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It's not about making Chicago a second maintenance base for the Viewliners, but to provide them the training and parts needed to fix something that needs to be fixed in order to get a car back in service. If the Lake Shore arrives in Chicago with a diner that has HVAC issues, or a power problem, or whatever, they either fix it in Chicago or the return train does without a working diner.
 
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Palmland said:
I was surprised to see Annapolis -8400 deadheading on 98-09 at Jacksonville (behind the baggage car). Lights were on but it was unoccupied. Is this in regular service now - perhaps headed to the Crescent?
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So, it was either 8400 - Indianapolis or 68001 - Annapolis.

Which one did you see?
 
Palmland said:
I was surprised to see Annapolis -8400 deadheading on 98-09 at Jacksonville (behind the baggage car). Lights were on but it was unoccupied. Is this in regular service now - perhaps headed to the Crescent?
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Both had entered revenue service a long time ago. 8400 isn't currently in service, however, so that's probably what you saw.
 
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Thirdrail7 said:
cpotisch said:
Ngotwalt said:
Mady and Monty have left the building.

Nick
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Coming up on the one month anniversary of the release of Madison/Montgomery from CAF. We can probably expect them out of Hialeah in a few days.
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Actually, Madison has been released and ready to go since the 9th. It just doesn't really have anywhere to go so it is protecting in HIA.
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TR, Is it safe to say that Amtrak is releasing the diners in to protect service first and then placed on trains?
 
Acela150 said:
Thirdrail7 said:
cpotisch said:
Ngotwalt said:
Mady and Monty have left the building.

Nick
Click to expand...
Coming up on the one month anniversary of the release of Madison/Montgomery from CAF. We can probably expect them out of Hialeah in a few days.
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Actually, Madison has been released and ready to go since the 9th. It just doesn't really have anywhere to go so it is protecting in HIA.
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TR, Is it safe to say that Amtrak is releasing the diners in to protect service first and then placed on trains?
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Obviously I'm not Thirdrail, but it seems that that's been the case for all the recent diners. But again, I'm most definitely not TR7.
 
Lonestar648 said:
Is Amtrak pooling a group plus protection units before say adding them to the LSL? I am not sure how many "extra" Diners are in the system ready to be used.
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Including 8400, there are currently 14 Viewliner Diners. When Montgomery is done, it'll be 15. Eight are currently in use, so there are currently six protects.
 
Lonestar648 said:
With 6 protects, still not quite enough to outfit the LSL and have its protects.
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Should be plenty. In theory, you shouldn’t need more than two or three for a fleet of that size. LSL requires three train sets, so that would still leave three spares.

Of course, while equipment availability may have been the reason the LSL lost its diner most recently, absent a recent announcement from Amtrak, I’m not convinced equipment availability is what’s holding back restoration of same.
 
Hotblack Desiato said:
Lonestar648 said:
With 6 protects, still not quite enough to outfit the LSL and have its protects.
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Should be plenty. In theory, you shouldn’t need more than two or three for a fleet of that size. LSL requires three train sets, so that would still leave three spares.

Of course, while equipment availability may have been the reason the LSL lost its diner most recently, absent a recent announcement from Amtrak, I’m not convinced equipment availability is what’s holding back restoration of same.
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Though If the reason is they have changed their minds and want to keep the current "diner-lite" setup, technically there is nothing forcing them to restore a full menu even with the Viewliner diners. I could see them putting the new cars on the LSL and Cardinal but keeping the same current menu. One way Amtrak could alter its diner operations is to use a diner-lite style menu at off peak times of the year and then offer a fuller menu at peak times that takes full advantage of the car's facilities. One could argue it makes sense for them to still replace the old rolling stock with the new Viewliner cars on those trains even if they don't want to resume a full Diner menu. This is of course just speculation, but they aren't necessarily forced to expand the menu immediately just by using the physical car on the train.
 
It’s been a while since I’ve been on either train (Cardina or LSL). Does the diner lite Amfleet car on those trains also serve as the cafe car, or is a separate car used? If it’s a separate car, then it could probably be replaced by a Viewliner, but as I recall, the current Viewliner configuration doesn’t really lend itself very well to being used as a cafe car because of the lack of a good counter space for passengers to walk up and order stuff.
 

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