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  • Viewliner II Delivery/Production

  • Discussion related to Amtrak also known as the National Railroad Passenger Corp.
Discussion related to Amtrak also known as the National Railroad Passenger Corp.

Moderators: GirlOnTheTrain, mtuandrew, Tadman

 #1554780  by Backshophoss
 
The 737 maxes have much bigger Tech based glitches to still deal with than the remaining View II's at CAF.
SW air will still be waiting like the rest of the airlines for them to be cleared.
 #1554788  by Gilbert B Norman
 
Mr. Backshop, while not even the appropriate site to address this further, allow it to be noted that the two fatal incidents occurred on foreign flag carriers; one of which "not exactly known" for its safety record.

The MAX has had serious design flaws; and that Boeing pitched it to airlines that no "sim" training beyond that ordinarily required was indeed "reckless". The judiciary has and will hold them accountable for such. There was a lengthy New York Times Magazine article printed during September '19 regarding the whole debacle. Within it was noted how on the Indonesian airline, a potentially fatal incident was avoided. The system started to "act up", however, there was a Check Pilot on the Flight Deck who knew what to do. He simply threw a switch disabling the system, and the assigned Officers simply flew the aircraft to destination without further incident.

As far as I'm concerned (and maybe I say this because "I haven't got long to go"), yank an aircraft off the storage line, round up a certified flight crew, gas 'er up, and let's go for a spin.

But the point of my comment was simply that, in view of how eleven V-II Diners and so far as I know eleven Sleepers, are stored and otherwise not available for revenue service, neither American, Southwest, or United (Delta never ordered the MAX) are in any rush to have any new aircraft delivered, as is Amtrak regarding the V-II's.

So, read this before it gets killed.
 #1554793  by STrRedWolf
 
Gilbert B Norman wrote: Fri Oct 16, 2020 11:11 am As far as I'm concerned (and maybe I say this because "I haven't got long to go"), yank an aircraft off the storage line, round up a certified flight crew, gas 'er up, and let's go for a spin.
That's what the head of the FAA did with the latest fixes.
But the point of my comment was simply that, in view of how eleven V-II Diners and so far as I know eleven Sleepers, are stored and otherwise not available for revenue service, neither American, Southwest, or United (Delta never ordered the MAX) are in any rush to have any new aircraft delivered, as is Amtrak regarding the V-II's.
Lets be more clear about the point: Until demand comes back up to require the new equipment (plane/train), it's all parked. That's the pandemic for you.
 #1554847  by lordsigma12345
 
Gilbert B Norman wrote: Thu Oct 15, 2020 6:28 am Messrs. Anderson and Flynn were hired by the Amtrak Board to execute the policies they set forth, one of which is to finally fifty years later get rid of what was simply to be a transitional "ease the pain" product.
In my opinion I believe the policy you are describing is more likely described as a mandate for Amtrak to minimize impact to the taxpayer and operate more as a business and try to maximize the corridor business while minimizing long distance losses. I think there is a desire for some network changes but not necessarily the complete elimination you are implying. But as Mr. Anderson at one point described I think they feel the number of the present long distance trains you'd have in a "reformed" network would be somewhere between 5-10 instead of the present 15. I think that's the desired direction, but they'd probably settle with running all 15 if congress gave them enough money to do so AND develop corridors they'd like as well as address deferred maintenance on the corridor. If they have to keep running all of them in order to get the rest of gateway funded for instance, trust me they will do it.
 #1554933  by Greg Moore
 
STrRedWolf wrote: Fri Oct 16, 2020 12:15 pm
But the point of my comment was simply that, in view of how eleven V-II Diners and so far as I know eleven Sleepers, are stored and otherwise not available for revenue service, neither American, Southwest, or United (Delta never ordered the MAX) are in any rush to have any new aircraft delivered, as is Amtrak regarding the V-II's.
Lets be more clear about the point: Until demand comes back up to require the new equipment (plane/train), it's all parked. That's the pandemic for you.
I would mostly agree, but from what I've heard, at least for the LSL the demand for sleeper space is there, perhaps more than ever. I can see a lot of folks wanting a private space for any sort of travel these days.
 #1554946  by ApproachMedium
 
The demand for private space is there for sure. And training is not an issue. The bag dorms have nearly the same components and technical details and would satisfy most if not nearly all the needs for training on new cars. I think it would make more sense to put them in service right away and get some of the old viewliners into storage so that newer cheaper to maintain equipment is available. esp with the impending cold weather. The old cars DO NOT do well in cold weather!
 #1554947  by mtuandrew
 
Mr. Moore: I’ve read that the Cardinal was fully sold out recently too.

AM: right, I agree. With demand down for the foreseeable future, I would heartily support Federal funding for a full renovation of the V-I fleet. Amtrak isn’t getting more sleepers anytime soon, except possibly as a Superliner replacement.
 #1554951  by ApproachMedium
 
mtuandrew wrote: Sun Oct 18, 2020 1:13 pm Mr. Moore: I’ve read that the Cardinal was fully sold out recently too.

AM: right, I agree. With demand down for the foreseeable future, I would heartily support Federal funding for a full renovation of the V-I fleet. Amtrak isn’t getting more sleepers anytime soon, except possibly as a Superliner replacement.
I was on the cardinal last week. Every stop to Philadelphia the thing was like a clown car with people getting off the train. With the lack of short haul flights to rural areas the use of the long distance trains has increased.
 #1554957  by gokeefe
 
Interesting to see what's going on right now given current airline service trends. Amtrak may have an opening at the market for longer than we would expect ...

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

 #1554961  by STrRedWolf
 
So you got Amtrak dropping down service because it's not getting enough cash in...

...but trains are getting booked full (to COVID limits) because the airlines are cutting service as well.

This is going to be an interesting (read: train wreck) in how transportation funding is going to play out.
 #1554990  by mtuandrew
 
I see why the Cardinal was sold out - it just passed Long Bridge eastbound to WAS, with a grand total of three coaches, a cafe, one sleeper and a baggage car (might have been a bag-dorm, I didn’t look carefully.)

That’s ridiculous.
 #1554993  by Gilbert B Norman
 
I'm sure our "sleuths" within viewing range around here will BOTL for a V-II in revenue service. But before the foam starts excreting from nose and mouth, let us note that there is at least one V-I, 62043 - New River, in Phase 3 livery.
 #1555008  by bostontrainguy
 
Gilbert B Norman wrote: Mon Oct 19, 2020 8:52 am I'm sure our "sleuths" within viewing range around here will BOTL for a V-II in revenue service. But before the foam starts excreting from nose and mouth, let us note that there is at least one V-I, 62043 - New River, in Phase 3 livery.
Anyone know how or why that happened? Was the interior modified at all?
62043B.jpg
62043B.jpg (437.57 KiB) Viewed 1417 times
 #1555010  by Gilbert B Norman
 
Thanks for locating that photo, Mr. Trainguy. I could guess why so liveried, but I'll defer to others.

Of possible interest is that one morning during April '18, I actually railfanned. I was taking a two night "road trip" home to Atlanta so that I could stock my cooler with some Virginia wines - particularly their Viognier (VA wines are not sold within or shipped to IL), which is of "to die for" standing with several wine critics I regularly review. After having visited some four wineries (including a "drive by" of a vineyard owned by the 45th POTUS), I "tied up" in Danville VA.

Since that's an "easy drive" to Atlanta for Dinnertime with friends, next morning I went to Train Status and saw #20, Crescent , was some 240ML - or par for the course.

I bid Mr. Hilton's Hampton farewell, and found the train station. #20 shows up and darned if there wasn't a Phase III liveried Viewliner in the consist. It was that car.

So much for railfanning; "gas up and get it on".
 #1555728  by Jeff Smith
 
Backshophoss wrote: Fri Oct 16, 2020 9:43 am The 737 maxes have much bigger Tech based glitches to still deal with than the remaining View II's at CAF.
SW air will still be waiting like the rest of the airlines for them to be cleared.
Bigger tech glitches than the M8's and PTC on MNRR? :P
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