Passenger Trains > Viewliner II sleepers

  Is CAF still delivering Viewliner II diners ?   Anyone know when we'll see the first Viewliner II sleepers ?

The pessimist in me says Anderson is negotiating to get out of the deal, especially for sleepers.  CAF won’t mind and Anderson can continue to kill the LDTs. I type this on a 5 hour late Capitol Limited that has a demoralized crew that has given up. 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/30/18 14:17 by Chessie1963.

What a damned shame.

Chessie1963 Wrote:
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> The pessimist in me says Anderson is negotiating
> to get out of the deal, especially for sleepers.
>  CAF won’t mind and Anderson can continue to
> kill the LDTs. I type this on a 5 hour late
> Capitol Limited that has a demoralized crew that
> has given up. 

Can't blame them for being demoralized.

But where are the union leaders of said employees? Any employee hold overs from the Lake Shore and Capitol Limited from pre-June 1, 2018 are clearly operating under a different environment and less employee count etc. This could easily "spread" to other LD trains. I am just surprised that there is not more of a concerning outcry from the union leaders.......
 

Chessie1963 Wrote:
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> The pessimist in me says Anderson is negotiating
> to get out of the deal, especially for sleepers.
>  CAF won’t mind and Anderson can continue to
> kill the LDTs. I type this on a 5 hour late
> Capitol Limited that has a demoralized crew that
> has given up. 

Realistically, when would you expect the sleeper order to be complete?

Jack

I doubt that absence of substantial tip income would be grounds for any action.

Unlike many "tipped" restaurant employees, my understanding is Amtrak F&B staff is fully paid and receives benefits.

Posted from Android

ts1457 Wrote:
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> Realistically, when would you expect the sleeper
> order to be complete?

3 years ago is what I thought was realistic.  Reality is really sad.

I was planning design work with Amtrak in 2009-2011 on the premise of additional sleepers being added to train consists by 2015.

abyler Wrote:
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> 3 years ago is what I thought was realistic. 
> Reality is really sad.
>
> I was planning design work with Amtrak in
> 2009-2011 on the premise of additional sleepers
> being added to train consists by 2015.

At the rate things are going, it will probably be yet another three years in the future.

Jack

But those new baggage cars are nice. 

andersonb109 Wrote:
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> But those new baggage cars are nice. 

Nice for for a sell off to BNSF or UP or any freight railroad too. 

The entire Viewliner order is such a saga.....and starts in the 1980s. Can't go back in time, but an entire order of Viewliner Diners, Sleepers, Dorm/Baggage, Baggage, and even what could have been with lounge/cafe cars just was a roller coaster of execution. Trains magazine had a great article recently. Amtrak never did a proper transition between the long distance Heritage fleet and what was needed for their replacement on a 1:1 basis. Too few Viewliner sleepers right from the start. Even if Amtrak wanted to, not enough equipment was ordered to retain service for an overnight Montrealer, Broadway Limited, and others in the East that met a chopping block fate. The extended Pennsylvanian that ran Philly to Chicago via Pittsburgh during M&E days had no sleeper even when on an overnight schedule eastbound. It's been a hodge-podge of single level Heritage car replacements East of the Mississippi since the start. 

I doubt we'll we'll see the Viewliner II sleepers......or the Dorm/Baggage. Wouldn't be surprised of the Viewliner II's are sent to Beech Grove for modification into a diner/cafe/lounge. Instead of using and promoting the Viewliner II diners as built (beautiful cars to have a nice sit down hot meal in and to watch passing scenery) coupled with additional sleepers per consist so as to increase revenues, current Amtrak management seems too busy trying to figure out how to serve a boxed lunch to as few passengers as possible. 

I know not too many people get to ride baggage cars and few have ridden the Viewliner II diners.

Apart from teething problems with the diner's AC and other equipment, do the CAF cars ride well and are holding up or are they rattletraps from the get-go?

Jack