Viewliner II Delivery/Production

Believe 2 more Diners are to be cut loose from CAF shortly.
(Reportedly "Boston" and "Baton Rouge" per TR7's meme infested post up thread(pg 226))

I have to say that picture that Jerry linked to from rrpicturearchives looks pretty impressive to me. Three different types of Viewliners, six cars total. I can ever recall seeing so many "Views" in any consist. Five at most during Thanksgiving on a Silver Service train is probably the max.

Backshophoss wrote:Believe 2 more Diners are to be cut loose from CAF shortly.
(Reportedly "Boston" and "Baton Rouge" per TR7's meme infested post up thread(pg 226))

Hopefully the diners come in soon. It is sorely needed for Amtrak. After the diners and sleepers, it will be nice if Amtrak can redo passenger seats in the coach cars at a minimum such as Auto Train and other trains with the poor seating and then eventual replacement of the coach cars.

The seats on the Auto train I used in coach were horrific and poorly designed and old seats which were not comfortable And I am not sure how seats are on other trains.

A member of another group said yesterday that an Amtrak consist of one car flanked by 2 engines headed south on the former D&H, which would indicate they're coming north today with new diner cars.

As per some other musings, Baton Rouge and Boston headed south on 6/21 on the Meteor.

Funny thing. Last night I stumbled across this live feed from Ashland, VA. Just then I got a phone call.

While on the phone a pretty long Amtrak train went thru - with a lot of viewliners - and what looked to me like more than one diner. It was 97.

From Diner Discussion thread:

chuchubob wrote:Wednesday's train 97 Silver Meteor had AMTK 8400 Indianapolis for the dining car and had newcomers Baton Rouge and Boston deadheading to Hialeah for acceptance testing.

That Phase III already looks dirty and weathered on the 8400! I wonder if they'll eventually just go back to Phase IVb.

My pet theory is that the only reason they went back to the old scheme was to be able to easily tell the new cars apart from the old ones.

Matt Johnson wrote:That Phase III already looks dirty and weathered on the 8400! I wonder if they'll eventually just go back to Phase IVb.

I fail to see any weathering ???

How does stainless steel weather? How does a vinyl wrap weather? Neither rust visually!

Dirty can be fixed easily by a new wash!

Here's another photo of 8400 from yesterday.

electricron wrote:

Matt Johnson wrote:That Phase III already looks dirty and weathered on the 8400! I wonder if they'll eventually just go back to Phase IVb.

I fail to see any weathering ???

How does stainless steel weather? How does a vinyl wrap weather? Neither rust visually!

Dirty can be fixed easily by a new wash!

I knew from past observation that the Phase III wouldn't look as good over time as the Phase IVb. Washing doesn't seem to make a difference after a while. The darker blue decals just fade and wear dirt better!

Indianapolis... That Phase III already looks dirty and weathered on the 8400!

I noticed that too...

http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPictur ... id=4738915

Presented for your viewing pleasure...

AMTK 68004 Baton Rouge...

http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPictur ... id=4738913

AMTK 68005 Boston...

http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPictur ... id=4738916

electricron wrote:

Matt Johnson wrote: How does stainless steel weather? How does a vinyl wrap weather? Neither rust visually!

Dirty can be fixed easily by a new wash!

We must remember that there are all sorts of grades of stainless steel. So the ability to withstand weathering can vary widely. Just look at your cheap SS dinnerware vs expensive. Unless we know the grade used on the cars we cannot judge how they will stand up. All depends on how much nickel and other additives. Anyone with that info ? ?/

While there are many different types or grades of staninless steel, almost all railroad cars use either 301 or 304 stainless steel.
Per Wiki,
Type 304 is the most common grade; the classic 18/8 (18% chromium, 8% nickel) stainless steel. Outside of the US it is commonly known as "A2 stainless steel", in accordance with ISO 3506.
Type 301 (17% chromium, 7% nickel) is highly ductile, for formed products. Also hardens rapidly during mechanical working. Good weldability. Better wear resistance and fatigue strength than 304.
Initially Budd was using Type 304, made by Allegheny Steel. Type 301 was developed later and became popular with railcar manufacturers.
Both of these grades are corrosion resistant and will not rust easily.