Passenger Trains > Viewliner II Diner on San Joaquin

It was reported today that Viewdiner II diner 68022 "Richmond" was on a Bakersfield-bound San Joaquin.

Of course this was not to provide an enhanced dining experience, but to provide extra axles for
reliable triggering of grade crossing protection.

Meanwhile, work is proceeding on solving the Amtrak non-activation problem with grade crossings.
It has been established that it is not a Canadian National problem.  It is not a Union Pacific problem.
It is not a BNSF problem.

It is an Amtrak problem.

Amtrak adopted a new wheel profile that is supposed to improve the ride on its passenger equipment. It
does that.  But it also makes less contact with the rail (no, I am not making fun of the Amtrak Mouthpiece
Cliché about "losing contact with the rail") and thus is less effective at shunting the rails and thus
triggering grade crossing protection devices.

May be true, Gene... But my “once great” Mainline of Mid-America IC/CN has the greatest example of track problems that fails to basically shunt the rail — sad!!!!!!
Oh well!! There will never ever be another “Mainline of Mid-America, anyway!”

So...what doesnt seem to add up........on UP (IDK about the others), a pair of 4 axle light engines is authorized at passenger speeds.  A pair of GP-40's shunts better than a charger and 4 or 5 coaches.  ?      Just asking

True about no more "Main Line of Mid-America..."  How much double track and parallel routings have been torn out of it?

ANYWAY, I think Amtrak showed unconscionable arrogance in adopting the new wheel profile without adequate testing of something that is unquestionably safety-related.  Now they are working on developing an "active" shunting system that can be installed in locomotives, which presumably every Amtrak train will have...until Anderson's DMUs come to reality.

But really...could anyone, even Anderson, come up with a more worthless use of brand-new, expensive equipment???

Yes, Boeing.

GenePoon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------


> But really...could anyone, even Anderson, come up
> with a more worthless use of brand-new, expensive
> equipment???

I rode behind the Richmond diner and California Comet car Feather River Express on Friday 11/15/19  from Fresno to Oakland riding train #711. The actual food service was in the Antelope Valley. When the California cars were first introduced there were 2 attendants in the cafe car so full tray meal service was available. In a cost cutting move well  prior to "Delta Dick" running (ruining) Amtrak, they discontinued offering full tray meals and cut the 2nd attendant. 

Jeff Geldner
Sequoia National Park, CA

Great use of tax payer dollars. Even if used in food service, those new diners it seems will never serve (oops, pun) their intended purpose.

jeffgeldner Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I rode behind the Richmond diner and California
> Comet car Feather River Express on Friday
> 11/15/19  from Fresno to Oakland riding train
> #711. The actual food service was in the Antelope
> Valley. When the California cars were first
> introduced there were 2 attendants in the cafe car
> so full tray meal service was available. In a cost
> cutting move well  prior to "Delta Dick" running
> (ruining) Amtrak, they discontinued offering full
> tray meals and cut the 2nd attendant. 

Doesn't Caltran get to determine how much LSA staff there is ?

After Indiana DOT gave Amtrak the finger salute for the outraguous sum of $3.7 Million to run that puny train 4 days a week for not even 200 miles, I'd like to see a major route be taken from Amtrak as well,and make their corridor happytalk and Steven Gardner look all the more stupid, having authored PRIIA to start with, then engraving their fraudulant accounting into stone, in this case a tomb stone. 
 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/17/19 06:35 by joemvcnj.

And funny how this only seems to be a restriction out mid west/ west.  No such thing on the east coast, NO problems signal shunting whatsoever.

KV1guy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> And funny how this only seems to be a restriction
> out mid west/ west.  No such thing on the east
> coast, NO problems signal shunting whatsoever.

The Empire Corridor trains, two of which head into Canada on the CN, are mostly 5 cars, the Springfield locals are 2 cars, the Keystones are 5 cars - all Amfleet-1 (the latter two with Metroliner cab car), and no Cabbage-40. Maybe they did not screw with the wheel profile on those assigned to the Northeast. 

Anderson is such a phony when he tells us he is only cost cutting by not using these new diners as intended.

By banning coach passengers, he is denying these cars any revenue - thus making them a non-revenue producing asset
which must still be carried on the books at approx.$3 million each - and there are 25 of them. ($75M).

Oh, but he says by eliminating the dining car employees he is saving $2M a year.   Ridiculous, because--
This very tiny savings is totally wiped out because he converted these cars into a $75 million non-revenue producing dead asset.

BTW, he downgraded the service in the process of achieving this "saving".  
 

if they are running these cars, let me sell coffee rolls juice sandwiches and newspapers etc on them

dan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> if they are running these cars, let me sell coffee
> rolls juice sandwiches and newspapers etc on them

Sure, but how are you going to bridge the gap between the low level diner and the High Level California Cars?

pdt Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> So...what doesnt seem to add up........on UP (IDK
> about the others), a pair of 4 axle light engines
> is authorized at passenger speeds.  A pair of
> GP-40's shunts better than a charger and 4 or 5
> coaches.  ?      Just asking

UP rules require anything with 12 axles or less to approach crossings prepared to stop in case warning devices aren't functioning properly. 

PHall Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> dan Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > if they are running these cars, let me sell
> coffee
> > rolls juice sandwiches and newspapers etc on
> them
>
> Sure, but how are you going to bridge the gap
> between the low level diner and the High Level
> California Cars?

well i guess the new single level cars will negate axle count cars as consists will get bigger, but in the mean time I could try and lease mesa verde?

SP4360 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yes, Boeing.
>
> GenePoon Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
>
> > But really...could anyone, even Anderson, come
> up
> > with a more worthless use of brand-new,
> expensive
> > equipment???

Come on....the MAX will be in service by 2021 for sure!

dan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> if they are running these cars, let me sell coffee
> rolls juice sandwiches and newspapers etc on them


Thomas Edison gave away peanuts and sold drinks on a train. He earned enough to have a small laboratory in the baggage car.

A private vendor on an Amtrak train today would have a very large and expensive gauntlet of regulations to satisfy to sell stuff on a train today.

The upstairs food service area of the superliner lounge car would be good for a private vendor. I have never seen this area in use on any trip I have been on.

Did anyone in California think of building a few Transition-Coach cars ? Since there is always a low level set or two running around northern and southern California, be a nice flexibility to add a Amfleet/Horizon car when capacity is needed, but still have mostly all bi-level consists

Use of low level cars in regular service will be history, by early 2021 in California.

I suspect the new cars will not be able to provide a real useful adequate food service.

The present food service cars on the San Joaquin do the job for this route, except they
need to have the tray meals back.  They do not need two attendants has has been posted to provide this service under normal passenger loading's.
Their was one attendant, now deceased, you promoted the tray meals and would sell the 75 meals stocked every trip he was on. Story I got was
75 meals is all that could be stored.  I doubt this but...its Amtrak afterall.

Understood, but I meant back in the day when they were building California and Surfliner cars.

Posted from Android