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Amtrak bringing back Phase III paint for new Viewliner II?

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Posted by Deggesty on Tuesday, October 29, 2013 2:53 PM

And, considering that no baggage is to weigh more than fifty pounds (years ago, 250 pounds was the weight limit; Amtrak employs weaklings), what reason is there for such a heavy floor?

Johnny

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Posted by oltmannd on Tuesday, October 29, 2013 2:59 PM

So, here's my speculation of why new baggage cars instead of conversion.  It's equipment, so the Mechanical Department held sway.

The existing baggage cars and diners had to go or go through a top-to-bottom rebuilding.  The trucks are a good design, but ancient.  Parts are tough, but not impossible.  Steel castings last forever.  They are the odd-balls of the fleet.  There's probably some fatigue and other structural issues rearing their heads with greater frequency.  Lots of custom repair work.  They are a huge pain in the neck.  All could be addressed with a solid, capital rebuilding, though.

Amfleet, Heritage and Superliner are just fine as is.  No big issues with parts or structure.  We like them.

So, I COULD convert existing equipment to baggage service and get new coaches, except....

This means a program I have to schedule - using manpower and facilities I really don't have.  Bear and Beech Grove don't have a lot of slack  - particularly man-power.  So, hiring, training, putting work space, tooling in place.

AND, I have to take coaches out of service to do the conversion, which means I can't even get started until the new stuff starts to show up.  That means two more years of duct tape and bailing wire.

I could contract the work out....perhaps.... but still have the time lag and now union headaches on "who owns the work" and the added headache of contract administration.

So, that's my guess.  That it would have been hard for Mechanical still doesn't justify it in my opinion...

-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/

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Posted by blue streak 1 on Tuesday, October 29, 2013 3:25 PM

IMHO paint schemes, templates, stick on paint jobs are not what is important.  Mechanical persons working for CAF need to de bug these new cars !.  Amtrak and CAF certainly do not want another major problem like what happened to the Horizon cars in very cold winter weather freezing up.

The structre of these cars certainly apears to be more robust than any rebuild of present coaches would be..  Amtrak should build for any future use that may happen as retro fit is very expensive..  I can see the possibility that modular containers may be in the future for use in new baggage cars.  One especially possible item might be for spare dinning car supplies and maybe even frozen foods be carried.in the new baggage cars.

Note:  On some legs of my just coompleted trip I coould not believe the amount of checked baggage.  

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Posted by oltmannd on Tuesday, October 29, 2013 4:17 PM

blue streak 1
Amtrak and CAF certainly do not want another major problem like what happened to the Horizon cars in very cold winter weather freezing up.

Likely not a design issue.  Likely lack of maintenance and/or poor repair/mod work.

blue streak 1
The structre of these cars certainly apears to be more robust than any rebuild of present coaches would be..

Structure?  They're basically Viewliners.  Same as existing.  The interiors and under car stuff can be different, though.

-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/

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Posted by blue streak 1 on Tuesday, October 29, 2013 6:07 PM

oltmannd

blue streak 1
Amtrak and CAF certainly do not want another major problem like what happened to the Horizon cars in very cold winter weather freezing up.

Likely not a design issue.  Likely lack of maintenance and/or poor repair/mod work.

Don:  In this case it was a design issue.   For several years after they were delivered the water systems all froze up.  I believe one year many were sent to NOL to thaw out and rerote the ater lines. Anyone with more details ?

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Posted by oltmannd on Tuesday, October 29, 2013 6:43 PM

blue streak 1

oltmannd

blue streak 1
Amtrak and CAF certainly do not want another major problem like what happened to the Horizon cars in very cold winter weather freezing up.

Likely not a design issue.  Likely lack of maintenance and/or poor repair/mod work.

Don:  In this case it was a design issue.   For several years after they were delivered the water systems all froze up.  I believe one year many were sent to NOL to thaw out and rerote the ater lines. Anyone with more details ?

That could be... I was remembering trouble in the past several years that was due to poor maintenance.

-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/

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Posted by CMStPnP on Tuesday, October 29, 2013 7:28 PM

schlimm

Not my question.  Are forklifts being used on Amtrak baggage cars now?   What is being transported that would require a forklift?   Amtrak's mission does not include freight or express.   You saw the inside of the baggage car on an LD train and there were not even a few suitcases (steamer trunks have been extinct for 50 years or so).   

Amtrak carries LTL express shipments including palletized loads via the baggage car.     Check out their rates they are pretty cheap compared to UPS or Fed Ex.      They also carry human remains but to be honest most human remains are flown these days.

I think it is something like $50 for each 100 lbs.     Each box is limited to 50 lbs and each shipment 500 lbs but you can have as many shipments as you want.      Amtrak will palletize the load for you and shrink wrap it as well.     They only hold the shipment for 48 hours at the destination but you can gain additional time by having the sending station delay the shipment not all stations will do this.     I believe it is $3 a box (50 lbs) per day for storage if you exceed the deadline for pickup.

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Posted by D.Carleton on Tuesday, October 29, 2013 9:09 PM

oltmannd

D.Carleton

schlimm

Is Amtrak transporting express, coffins, freight along with suitcases?   So the heavier floor is unnecessary.

When driving a forklift onto the baggage car, yes, the heavier floor is necessary. And I have had experience with all of the above. 

Sure, to distribute the load out over the cars's structure.  What's under the floor is the same....

Actually, no, there are differences; the plot gets thicker... or thinner in this case.
 
After making sure everything was properly blue flagged I crawled under some of our equipment today. Just about all of the cars, baggage, diner, rebuilt sleepers, have a center sill that is 15" high and 20" wide. Not so for our former Union Pacific coach which has a center sill only 8" high and 12" wide. At least a half dozen of these series of coaches were repurposed into baggage cars and expected to handle the same loads as a purpose built baggage car. I am beginning to appreciate the heartburn caused by this move.
 
I have no idea what the center sill dimensions are for an Amfleet or Horizon/Comet car.

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Posted by D.Carleton on Tuesday, October 29, 2013 9:20 PM

schlimm
Not my question.  Are forklifts being used on Amtrak baggage cars now?   What is being transported that would require a forklift?   Amtrak's mission does not include freight or express.   You saw the inside of the baggage car on an LD train and there were not even a few suitcases (steamer trunks have been extinct for 50 years or so).   

The death of Amtrak Express has been greatly exaggerated: http://www.amtrak.com/express-shipping

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Posted by blue streak 1 on Friday, March 28, 2014 10:38 AM

081552

There's a great Amtrak video that goes along with this blog post that shows the new cars under construction and complete.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHAGdl5J0uw&feature=player_embedded

There may be a problem with the new Viewliners.   Rumors which are always very suspect abound on other sites that there are major problems.  There has been no movement towards testing or more built.  Maybe a frame problem ?  IMHO it appears that maybe Amtrak should put out some kind of announcement about  their status.  

Maybe Trains should investigate ? ?

 

  

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Posted by South Texas on Friday, March 28, 2014 12:17 PM

And, please don't forget Bryan / College Station, Tyler, Sherman / Denison, Victoria, Arlington, or San Angelo. Amtrak cannot claim to have anything close to a national passenger rail system. And then there's always the service three times a week to the nation's fourth largest city. Would be funny if it weren't so utterly pathetic and so utterly correctable with a little non-political horse sense.

 

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