by D.Carleton
The MK Viewliner shells were made at the former Pullman plant in Chicago. There is a lovely picture of one, albeit reversed, on page 29 of the Sept. 2009 issue of Trains.
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David Benton wrote:i suspect the main reason for choosing stainless is to reduce the amount of reverse engineering required .It works for AmericanAirlines!
with modern metal treatment and paints i don't believe stainless has that much of an advantage over other materials . it certainly has some disadvantages , probably the main one being its simply a bitch to work with .
Dare i say the bare metal look of amtrak's cars looks old fashioned these days , what would really stand out as new , would be a nice classy paintjob .
"The specification gives the builder the flexibility for enhancements and upgrades, but we did not require the cars to have the same shape."At this rate, maybe the new cars will look like this?
Trust me, the cars are fully welded including skins. Look up National Geographic show entitled, "New York City Subway Car." They show the hold process of how Alstom welds the entire R160 carshell in Lapa, Brazil and then performs final assembly in Hornell, NY. No glue.What is the reason stainless carbody welding has been driven overseas? It is just the labour costs or are there environmental issues? I remember talking to Phil about this and he suspected it was environmental.