Later yesterday I was able to get confirmation that the Budd consist will indeed be on until some time in mid-May. There isn't an exact date yet, because it seems to be a bit in flux based on when the MMC thinks they can have the work on the other Ren set done. Apparently the issues are related to trainline wiring, which was causing problems with things like bearing monitors, door indicators, etc. Sounds like they may have had to go through each car individually to try to identify where the issues were. I certainly hope they've had the chance to do a bit of cosmetic work while they were at it (I believe that's the set that suffered quite a bit of damage during an ice storm in New Brunswick this winter), but we'll see.
The Canadian will indeed be up to 4 consists as of the start of May, but will they really need all of the Manors right away? I had in mind that the earlier peak season trains were still a little bit shorter and expanded as the season progressed and traffic picked up anyway. When I was on #1 last week we only had 6 Manors (plus one Prestige sleeper), so 4 sets at that length would only need 24 of the 40 in-service cars.
Even with 3 of them in service on the Ocean, VIA could still run up to 9 Manors per Canadian consist. As long as they only keep running them on the Ocean for a few more weeks, there really shouldn't be an issue. But of course they could always swap in a few more Chateaus - there are definitely plenty sitting around, though I don't know how many are close at hand. I saw quite a few in Winnipeg and Vancouver.
The Canadian will indeed be up to 4 consists as of the start of May, but will they really need all of the Manors right away? I had in mind that the earlier peak season trains were still a little bit shorter and expanded as the season progressed and traffic picked up anyway. When I was on #1 last week we only had 6 Manors (plus one Prestige sleeper), so 4 sets at that length would only need 24 of the 40 in-service cars.
Even with 3 of them in service on the Ocean, VIA could still run up to 9 Manors per Canadian consist. As long as they only keep running them on the Ocean for a few more weeks, there really shouldn't be an issue. But of course they could always swap in a few more Chateaus - there are definitely plenty sitting around, though I don't know how many are close at hand. I saw quite a few in Winnipeg and Vancouver.
Tim
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Can't
Beat
Canadian Railways
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Can't
Beat
Canadian Railways
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------