by Mcoov
Will there be any obvious differences both inside and outside between the two generations of Viewliner cars? Like on Superliners, the trucks on Is look very different from those on IIs.
Railroad Forums
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BuddSilverliner269 wrote:Dutch , the confusion isn't about corridor cars, you said that new Viewliners were being built when in fact I posted proof that they are. You said the confusion is about corridor cars which we all know haven't been ordered yet but you stated no viewliners.ok my mistake, no need to make a federal case out of it
R36 Combine Coach wrote:I saw the diner mockup in that issue earlier. It seems to depart a bit from the conventional Budd diner by having the second row of windows on top, which seems (to me) "too open" and lacking (or robbing) the romantic diner feel.For a standing passenger, the windows certainly do lend a Viewliner diner a far more inviting and open feel. In any case, there was never a "romantic diner feel," or rightly so, since strangers are frequently seated together.
neroden wrote:We also know that it's a 5-year contract and that (so far) Amtrak is paying for it one year at a time out of revenues, with the first year paid for. This means I can roughly estimate that the production of 26 cars are paid for. (Yes, I know it doesn't work exactly that way.)The Viewliners are designed to be modular cars which can be converted from one configuration to another. If CAF has several final assembly areas, one could be for installing the components for diners, the other dorm-baggage and baggage cars. The delivery sequence has not been made public as far as I know, but Amtrak may have asked for them to be in intermixed order so they can fit out one single level LD train service at a time with the new Viewliner IIs.
We also know that the first car will come off the line circa October 2012 and that it will be a diner (from the latest Amtrak Ink).
What we don't know is what order the subtypes will be produced in. I think we can assume that all cars of one type will be produced, then all cars of another type -- it makes no sense to set up the assembly line any other way. If the first car is a diner, we can expect all 25 diners to be produced first, which makes sense given the Heritage diner problems.
But what I don't know, which I'm curious about, is what order the *rest* of the cars will be built in. I would guess dorm/bag, then sleeper, then baggage, but I haven't actually seen any official statements.
(Incidentally, with the Viewliner prototype, that's 26 diners; current service apparently requires 15 in service; which means there might be room to add diner service to one more single-level train.)
Champlain Division wrote:IMHO, the Adirondack could use one. I mean, beautiful scenery and eating.....who knew?What the Adirondack and the other single level medium distance day trains need are Viewliner II sight-seer style lounge cars. The CAF production line will be open for four more years, so there is time for Amtrak - once the budget wars are more settled - to place the order for Amfleet II replacements and add in a bunch of lounge cars into the order if they are inclined to do so.