Heritage Diner Disposal

[Greg Moore]

I so would love to have my own private railcar... and then a diner to go with it.

But, unfortunately, I think the only way to make say a million doing that is to start with two.

[Jersey_Mike]

Something tells me private operators that have a sleeper and/or coach, may be interested in these Heritage Diners and would be willing to throw Amtrak some descent cash for the Diners..........In the early 2000's even VIA Rail Canada was eyeing some of the Heritage Diners. Not now though - VIA has surplus equipment with the further reductions in frequency etc. that have occurred there.

Gateway Rail Services will suck up whatever is left over once the higher bidding PV folks pick off what they want.

I so would love to have my own private railcar... and then a diner to go with it.

But, unfortunately, I think the only way to make say a million doing that is to start with two.

Private cars aren't that expensive to buy. A good one only costs a couple hundred grand, about the same as a cabin cruiser and lots of people are able to afford boats. The problem is that private cars are very expensive to run and while Amtrak's fees can always be defrayed by selling tickets and such, any PV owner needs about $50,000 cash on hand for when his car develops a hotbox and is set off in West Nowhere.

[ExCon90]

That's the crux of the problem. If you own a cabin cruiser and it needs a part, you can put in at a marina, and if they don't have it they can probably get it in a day or so. If you own a 60-year-old PV there's nobody you can order a part from, and the guys at the nearest shops have never worked on a car like yours before. I was told by one PV owner that he once had to put his in at a railroad car shop, and the crews were very interested in looking it over because they had never seen one like it.

[ApproachMedium]

It doesnt cost 50K to fix a hotbox.

[R36 Combine Coach]

Any possibility the Heritage Budds will find their way to foreign owners? There are some Budd cars (including RDCs) still operating around the world.

[mtuandrew]

Canadian maybe, and I could see the odd Mexican buyer depending on how Amtrak sells them. Otherwise, that's a big investment. I'd expect to see them go for parts for the most part to keep other passenger cars running.

[David Benton]

Australia has some Budd designed cars, but they date from the early 70's.I don't think they would want older cars.

[CHTT1]

What makes you think these 60-70 year old cars are of interest to anybody but museums and perhaps private car owners? Mexican rail service is practically non-existant. It seems that third world nations are looking to places like China and South Korea for rail equipment, new stuff, not cars that have been run to death.

[gokeefe]

I concur here do not believe that these cars would be of interesting to any railroads in developing nations. However I think a third and obvious option would be in excursion service by tourist operators, which may include foreign excursion operators as well. Diner cars can be difficult to come by, especially working and full equipped. For excursion operators an Amtrak Heritage Diner car may represent an exceptional value when compared to the expenditure of restoring an old car to working condition. Another advantage of these cars is that they are likely grandfathered on all manner of code issues that a restoration would not be.

[Jersey_Mike]

It doesnt cost 50K to fix a hotbox.

When you are by the side of the track in Iowa you have to pay someone to come out and put your car up on blocks to affect the repair. Then there is the cost of the repair and any other materials and then finally you need to get your car put on another train one or more days later. Remember Amtrak charges several grand just for switching moves, of which this would require two extra. I would think that 50k is a good amount to have on hand in case a major repair is needed en route.

[John_Perkowski]

Sadly, I agree with Noel. These cars are old. Any parts bigger than a standard bolt most likely have to be manufactured by hand.

Once upon a time, the railroads had a lot of Budd Co cars. Need a part? Call Budd. Need a part in a hurry? The Passenger Shop Superintendents all knew each other. A part could be on its way from UP in Omaha to PC in Beech Grove that very day ... on the COLA to Chicago, courier across town (either a baggage car or if small enough, cross town on a truck), and on a PC train that evening.

Well, these, along with the ex-ATSF "Top of the Cap" lounges, now the Pacific Parlor Cars, are the very last of the fleet. It's not worth Amtrak's money to tie up inventory in parts. It's really not worth Amtrak's money to manufacture a part one-off.

I suspect they'll be on someone's car auction list real soon now.

[John_Perkowski]

OBTW,

Remember, none of these cars are designed for scratch cooking anymore. They are all in some variant of "heat, and eat."

The dining car of 1950 was a high end restaurant. Soups from scratch, steaks from charcoal, eggs to order.

These are Applebee's, at the very best.

[ApproachMedium]

You COULD still scratch cook in an Amtrak diner, you just need to know how to use the tools provited properly. They do have a hot grill/habachi that raw stuff could be cooked up on. In fact I believe this is how they do most of the meat, eggs etc.

[jp1822]

And back on topic - does anyone know if maintenance and repairs are still ongoing with the Heritage Diners? I presume Amtrak has to be doing at least repairs. Baggage cars I can understand - there are a bunch of completed Viewliner baggage shells in Florida ready to be deployed........But no Diners yet........

In terms of disposal, am I the only one that thinks Amtrak is hypocritical regarding its "going green program" and all the trash (plastic dishes, paper tablecloths, cups etc.) that are tossed from the Amtrak Diners? If they were truly to go "green" the china would be on the table with linens.....Yes, that creates an extra person I suppose, but I can't imagine the trash that is generated is cheap!

[ApproachMedium]

All the table cloths now are paper, recyclable. The plastic plates are also recyclable. Fancy china has to be handled carefully and when it breaks cant be recycled. Linens require laundry process which uses soap, water, heat energy to dry. All of that costs money and uses resources.