Viewliner II Part 3: Bag/Dorm Car Production, Delivery, Speculation

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Thirdrail7

Engineer
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Jul 9, 2014
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Well, we have this thread that deals with the history and the baggage cars:

Viewliner II - Part 1 - Initial Production and Delivery

We have the ongoing thread that deals with the dining cars:

Viewliner II - Part 2 - Production and Delivery

We'll need Part 2 since we haven't received all of the first class lounge cars.....errrr, I mean dining cars, but it seems natural that we have part three deal with the third member of the new viewliner fleet: The Bag Dorms.

View3.png+2.png should join a trio of dining cars to HIA next week. I'm not sure what the plans are for these cars. Then again, I'm not sure of much these days.

Whatever happens, the car is coming. Will this usher in a new day of contemporary baggage service...meaning you'll do it yourself, since a great deal of the stations are losing their staff?
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Whatever happens, the car is coming. Will this usher in a new day of contemporary baggage service...meaning you'll do it yourself, since a great deal of the stations are losing their staff?
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If that means I can get a bike on an LD train at Paso Robles, Truckee, Redding, Chico and Burbank, sign me up
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So the end use for these 10 cars are what?

A) Axle count cars.

B) Sliver Meteor Service (4)

C) Crescent Service (4)

What other train still has crew?
More like:

A) Axle count cars (though I doubt that's going to be the focus in the long run)

B) Silver Meteor (4)

C) Silver Star (4)

D) Crescent (3)

E) Cardinal (2) - 3 if it's daily

F) Lake Shore Limited (3)

I personally feel like the ideal routes for the bag-dorms would be the Boston section of the Lake Shore Limited and the Cardinal. Both have very limited sleeper capacity and don't need much baggage capacity, so I think it would be pretty easy to replace the baggage cars with bag-dorms and free up some rooms. The Silver Star is also not a very long train, so I could see them putting extra bag-dorms on that route.
 
If the Bag dorms are acccepted and finished at HIA first only then would any be available before Aug 31st. If diners first same date. and if another 3 not before September 30th.
 
Amtrak cut the order from 25 to 10.

So only 10 Crew-Bagged Cars order. The 15 other were converted to straight bagged cars.

Such a odd number.
I know that. But if you put them on the Cardinal and LSL, you'd only be using up five cars. And if you put them on the Star as well, you'd be using nine. Considering they could likely swap the bag-dorm out with a spare sleeper and baggage car, if necessary, I think they'd all be doable.
 
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If the Cardinal moves the Cafe Lounge LSA and the DC LSA and 2nd person as well as the (is it 2, not sure ?) coach attendants rooms to a bag dorm, you get 5 more potential revenue rooms without an added SCA it's probably 6 on the Lake. These are rooms that become available for sale without adding staff.
 
How about putting a bag dorm on 66 and 67 and returning sleeper service to the NEC? I’m not sure how much baggage those trains carry but the dorm portion of the car would all be revenue space with the exception of one room.
 
the dorm portion of the car would all be revenue space with the exception of one room.
At least two rooms. You have the cafe attendant and SCA, and union rules usually forbid having employees share rooms.
Why would the cafe attendant need a room? They don’t have one now and if I understand it correctly the cafe is open the entire trip.
 
the dorm portion of the car would all be revenue space with the exception of one room.
At least two rooms. You have the cafe attendant and SCA, and union rules usually forbid having employees share rooms.
Why would the cafe attendant need a room? They don’t have one now and if I understand it correctly the cafe is open the entire trip.
Sorry. In my head I was sort of thinking of the Cardinal and the LSA in the diner-lite.
 
I think we can guarantee that one is going on the LSL; it very rarely needs two full baggage cars, and sleeper space on the LSL is super expensive (though the thoughtless trashing of food service is probably reducing those profits).
 
How many dorm rooms does the bag-dorm have? Also, are the dorm rooms the same as a roomette and can they be used for revenue space?

Assuming the answer to that last question is no, then it would seem to me it would be used on the trains with the largest crew size that now occupy revenue space.

So, that eliminates the Cardinal and Star. Next question, will diner lite spread to the Meteor and Crescent. If not, those two trains would be the likely candidates with a full service diner crew as well as lounge car attendant. If those trains do succumb to diner lite (perhaps more accurately called a lounge car with light refreshments) then the trains with the most sleepers would be candidates: Meteor and LSL. That would leave a couple extra.
 
It is not just dorm space. A very important question is whether the baggage capacity is sufficient to swap for a full bag and not pull more cars or if a single b/c train is close to capacity, especially with the increasing bike services. The LSL (when the NYP section is running) pulls 2 bags, You would need to work out Albany logistics because the crew going to the end not served by the B-D would need to move in/out of the rooms.
 
It is not just dorm space. A very important question is whether the baggage capacity is sufficient to swap for a full bag and not pull more cars or if a single b/c train is close to capacity, especially with the increasing bike services. The LSL (when the NYP section is running) pulls 2 bags, You would need to work out Albany logistics because the crew going to the end not served by the B-D would need to move in/out of the rooms.
I'm suggesting you replace the Boston section baggage car with a bag-dorm, but keep the full baggage car on the NY section. Then put the Boston section crew in the bag-dorm and keep the NY section crew in an NY sleeper. That way no one would have to switch rooms during the trip, and you'd get extra sleeper space on the Boston section, which I highly doubt needs a full baggage car.
 
How many dorm rooms does the bag-dorm have? Also, are the dorm rooms the same as a roomette and can they be used for revenue space?
It has eight roomettes. They are the same as the ones in the full V-II sleepers. I imagine they could be used for revenue space. However it might make sense to have bag-dorm pax use the SCA from the adjacent sleeper since it's probably not practical to have another SCA for only a few passengers. Sort of like what they do in the Superliner trans-dorms.
 
I think we can guarantee that one is going on the LSL; it very rarely needs two full baggage cars, and sleeper space on the LSL is super expensive (though the thoughtless trashing of food service is probably reducing those profits).
Exactly. It has two baggage cars because there are two sections. It's not because they need the capacity of two baggage cars.
 
I think we can guarantee that one is going on the LSL; it very rarely needs two full baggage cars, and sleeper space on the LSL is super expensive (though the thoughtless trashing of food service is probably reducing those profits).
Exactly. It has two baggage cars because there are two sections. It's not because they need the capacity of two baggage cars.
But the Empire Builder has only one baggage car for its two sections. So????
 
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