Viewliner II Delivery/Production

ngotwalt wrote:I do think it is safe to say that Budd postwar stainless steel cars were the most durable passenger railcars ever produced anywhere. Those four letters when you saw them on a car you knew that was what true quality craftsmanship really was...BUDD.

St. Louis comes close with the Comarrows - perhaps their only stainless cars on or close to Budd caliber.

Jeff Smith wrote:I know there's some overlap, but before we go too far afield:

More on Diners: http://railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=87399" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; Diner Discussion

and: http://railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=152059" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; Heritage Diner Disposal

Thanks Jeff. I think it may have been the heritage bags that Amtrak refused to sell.

scoostraw wrote:
Thanks Jeff. I think it may have been the heritage bags that Amtrak refused to sell.

Those would have been the coach conversion baggage. Amtrak really messed up on those as the true BUDD built baggages had a beefier underframe. The coach conversions had SERIOUS restrictions on where crews could place loads in the cars.

I am going to use the test of this post to answer some recent posts I can't find here at the moment.
As to stainless. The last few years of Pullman building the "heritage cars" saw Pullman realize they messed up. They went to full stainless cars. No garbage cor-ten steel involved. Indeed. it was this process that Pullman used to make the all stainless Superliner 1s

It is one of these Pullman cars that was the LAST "Heritage" diner made. In 1957 ACL ordered a diner shell from Pullman. ALL STAINLESS. But the inside was not completed and it was delivered to ACL this way. It was not completed until 1959 in the ACL shops. It later became AMTK 8091. Never HEPed. It was sold to the ITM museum where it sits untouched. Its got an unusual layout thanks to the railroad fit out.

The systems are a bit odd in the car. It uses household 220/110VAC inside the car rather then the usual 32VDC. because of this, they occasionally light the car up by literally plugging it into a wall socket.

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... ?id=858324" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

D.Carleton wrote:

Champlain Division wrote:Quite frustrating! Can't find anything on YouTube about them. Anybody know where some videos of them are?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSbqyuo ... e=youtu.be

That looks more like the Lake Shore Limited to me. Is that first sleeper a crew car?

bostontrainguy wrote: That looks more like the Lake Shore Limited to me. Is that first sleeper a crew car?

Deadhead move, most likely. The Meteor doesn't normally have that.

scoostraw wrote:Thanks Jeff. I think it may have been the heritage bags that Amtrak refused to sell.

Here's that thread. That would make sense; they were in pretty bad shape.

Champlain Division wrote:Thanks. No way I would have ever found it the way it was titled.

Two more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-YgfJ9ju0c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Wl65o6ePHU

Thanks.

Alcochaser wrote:The last few years of Pullman building the "heritage cars" saw Pullman realize they messed up. They went to full stainless cars. No garbage cor-ten steel involved. Indeed. it was this process that Pullman used to make the all stainless Superliners.

And also NYCT's R46s, still racking up the miles.

Wondering did Pullman purchase rights and license from Budd here? I wonder if St. Louis did so too on the all stainless Silverliner III and Arrow I MUs.

Pictures inside and out from Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/RiverRailPhoto ... =3&theater" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
You need to sign in to Facebook to see.

They were the Atlanta and Augusta in the latest videos! What ever happen to the Albany and Annapolis?

dgvrengineer wrote:Pictures inside and out from Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/RiverRailPhoto ... =3&theater" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
You need to sign in to Facebook to see.

Interesting pics. If my memory serves me well I kind of remember that initially there was a problem with the standard vents under the window that were placed in such a way that the food got cold. Then I remember seeing pics of vents put under the tables which I thought would also be a problem because window passengers would be getting a constant blowing of cold air on their arms and sides. Now it looks like there are two rows of vents - one back under the windows and one under the table as with the first modification. Perhaps this was one of the reasons for the delays. Wonder if one is now heat and the other A/C?

Also noticed that the end doors are single doors. The original Viewliners AND 8400 all have double doors split down the middle.

Also note the pull down shades instead of curtains.

electricron wrote:They were the Atlanta and Augusta in the latest videos! What ever happen to the Albany and Annapolis?

The Annapolis was delivered back in November and has been seen earning her keep: http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=4617400
The Albany went back to Elmira and hasn't been heard from since.

electricron wrote:They were the Atlanta and Augusta in the latest videos! What ever happen to the Albany and Annapolis?

Annapolis is, I believe still roaming the rails.
Albany was the initial one out and then sent back. Current guess is either "next" or "last" because they're making mods to all the others based on what they learned from Albany. (and of course, I'm sure I'll be wrong about "next" or "last"

bostontrainguy wrote:
Interesting pics. If my memory serves me well I kind of remember that initially there was a problem with the standard vents under the window that were placed in such a way that the food got cold. Then I remember seeing pics of vents put under the tables which I thought would also be a problem because window passengers would be getting a constant blowing of cold air on their arms and sides. Now it looks like there are two rows of vents - one back under the windows and one under the table as with the first modification. Perhaps this was one of the reasons for the delays. Wonder if one is now heat and the other A/C?

Also noticed that the end doors are single doors. The original Viewliners AND 8400 all have double doors split down the middle.

Also note the pull down shades instead of curtains.

The vents under the windows would be both heat and ac from the forced air system. There would be no way to split them as its a narrow channel behind the paneling. The reason they did this probably was to disperse the air better. Since the HVAC unit is under the floor all of the forced air comes from the bottom up vs other cars where its from the ceiling down. That was for sure one of the longest delays in the project was the HVAC issues.

All of the new LDSL cars have single end doors because the split doors were a real problem with the mechanisms jamming up or being very slow. ill take the shades over the curtains. In a food service car where you have people with "messy hands" you dont wan that kind of junk accumulating on diner car windows. Probably why all of the heritage diners had pull down shades!