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Discussion of Canadian Passenger Rail Services such as AMT (Montreal), Go Transit (Toronto), VIA Rail, and other Canadian Railways and Transit

Moderator: Ken V

 #1488282  by bdawe
 
electricron wrote:They are only refurbishing four (4) dining cars? Wiki suggests their roster includes 13 dining cars, what do they plan to do with the remaining nine (9) dining cars?
Operate them until next slack season maybe?
 #1488312  by mtuandrew
 
Rail GD is really REALLY small, and very young (5 years.) Like, take a look at their facility out on the Gaspé Peninsula: https://goo.gl/maps/nyycjgeLVnE2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That said - they seem to do really good work according to their website, http://www.railgd.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.
 #1522976  by Mark0f0
 
electricron wrote: Fri Oct 12, 2018 8:05 am They are only refurbishing four (4) dining cars? Wiki suggests their roster includes 13 dining cars, what do they plan to do with the remaining nine (9) dining cars?
~6 are already refurbished and are in operation on The Canadian. The "plan" appears to be to convert The Ocean to Budd equipment as the Renaissance equipment is fully withdrawn in the next few years. VIA has a responsibility to provide a safe workplace for those working in the dining cars, safe food handling, etc., and the older diners are increasingly problematic not to mention asthetically ugly on the inside.

So 6 on The Canadian, 2 on the Hudson Bay, and 2 on The Ocean is how they'll be configured peak season. I suspect the newest refurbs will end up mostly being marshalled forward of the Prestige cars on The Canadian, and the current Canadian equipment will be cycled out to The Ocean, Hudbay, etc.
Last edited by Mark0f0 on Mon Oct 21, 2019 2:27 am, edited 1 time in total.
 #1522978  by Mark0f0
 
gaspeamtrak wrote: Sat Oct 12, 2019 3:17 pm Just wondering if anybody has heard how the refurbishment of these 4 diners is going???
I'm taking a trip on the "Canadian" in February 2020...
The Canadian's diners were refurbished 5-7 years ago or so, and are in excellent shape. Aside from tweaks such as LED lighting, I doubt there will be much of anything noticeable customer wise with this additional batch of refurb'ed diners. The refurbishments had to happen as VIA will apparently be moving to Budd stainless equipment on the Halifax-Montreal "Ocean" train and it would be unfair to customers and staff to use old equipment.
 #1523594  by marquisofmississauga
 
There isn't much information on VIA's site. This is the description of the refurbishment: "Kitchen reconfiguration and modernization of the dining area."

The four being refurbished have left VIA short of dining cars. The two from the Churchill trains have been used on the Canadian this summer season. As has been posted on several sites there have been Skyline cars used as diners on the Churchill run.

There was a computer-generated image of what the kitchen and dining area of the refurbished diners would look like but I don't recall where I saw it and can't find it now. It looked like bench seating would replace the moveable chairs.
 #1523634  by Mark0f0
 
marquisofmississauga wrote: Sun Oct 27, 2019 3:38 pm There isn't much information on VIA's site. This is the description of the refurbishment: "Kitchen reconfiguration and modernization of the dining area."

The four being refurbished have left VIA short of dining cars. The two from the Churchill trains have been used on the Canadian this summer season. As has been posted on several sites there have been Skyline cars used as diners on the Churchill run.
Didn't they have to cobble together another set or something to do the Vancouver-Edmonton-Vancouver service? I know the Prestige Park wasn't in service on the Vancouver-Edmonton-Vancouver runs (nor was the Panorama dome car). So they probably "stole" a Park car from the Churchill train to cover that requirement. And thus to preserve a dome, they'd need to stick a Skyline onto the Churchill train.

Are you suggesting that the 4 being refurbished are being refurbished for the second time this decade?
There was a computer-generated image of what the kitchen and dining area of the refurbished diners would look like but I don't recall where I saw it and can't find it now. It looked like bench seating would replace the moveable chairs.
That would be nice. That moveable chairs and tables area is always underutilized. And occasionally Economy fills up so badly that the Skyline is the overflow, and I think people would prefer sitting on the benches than trying to make do with the tables and chairs.
 #1523914  by marquisofmississauga
 
They didn't have to steal a Park car from the Churchill trains. That service doesn't normally have a Park car except for a few weeks in early autumn, although VIA has been running one on both consists this summer. There are 14 in the fleet, of which four are Prestige. Two are needed for the Jasper-Prince Rupert trains and two for the "Ocean." A friend with VIA told me that one of the Prestige Park cars had a major problem and that is why a non-Prestige Park car was used on the Vancouver-Edmonton trains.

All diners have been refurbished more than once since they were acquired from CP. These four are getting a major refurbishing. Some might call it a "rebuild." VIA has indicated they would like to refurbish more if and when funding is available.
 #1523941  by gaspeamtrak
 
Why spend that amount when Amtrak seems to have a few spare dining cars :):):)
I have traveled recently on the "Lake Shore LTD... and they were very nice !!!
I know externally they are different with the double set of windows but they are brand new !!!
Just my two cents worth...
 #1524081  by mdvle
 
Last thing VIA needs is yet another small fleet of non-standard equipment.

Far better to keep and spend money on cars that have at least some commonality (both in maintenance worker training/procedures and parts inventory) with the exisitng Budd fleet.
Last edited by Ken V on Sun Nov 03, 2019 11:12 pm, edited 1 time in total. Reason: removed redundant quote
 #1524134  by Mark0f0
 
Yup. VIA isn't short on dining cars. They just need the older ones brought up to modern standards so its a dignified experience for the customers, and a reasonably healthy and safe workplace for the staff.
Last edited by Ken V on Mon Nov 04, 2019 10:53 pm, edited 1 time in total. Reason: removed redundant quote of previous post