Are some or most of the Amtrak "Viewliner" passenger cars rebuilds of former Santa Fe high-level equipment?

Thanks in advance.

Scott

The Viewliners? No--those are new single-level cars build by Amerail in
1995-1996 from a design by Amtrak and Budd.

Did you mean the Superliners? If so, then no true Superliners were rebuilt from ATSF bi-levels, but a few bilevel El Capitan coaches were refurbished and converted to HEP to serve as transition coaches on the end of Superliner consists--low end door and diaphram on one end, high on the other. There was one in the consist of the California Zephyr when I rode it in 1984.

Also, one ATSF hi-level coach was rebuilt into the first-class lounge car for the Coast Starlight.

The AT&SF "step-down/transition cars" were rebuilds of stepdown coaches and were configured with dormitory space in the forward section in the upper level and coach seating to the rear of the stairwell to the lower level.

The "Pacific Parlour" cars were rebuilt El Capitan hi-level lounges, they never were coaches.

A number of the El Cap "straight coaches" were rebuilt and operated in Superliner consists. Non retention toilets doomed most of these cars although several were rebuilt to comply with the retention toilet requirements and even got ADA seating in the lower level. A couple operated on the Chicago to Louisville train (with vending machines) when it first began service with hi-level/Superliner equipment.

Don C.

The veiewliner cars look somewhat like smaller versions of the first two prototype Hi Level cars built by Budd for the Santa Fe. These two cars looked like the regular Hi Levels, but has tapered sides at the top. Last time I checked, they were still at Illinois Transit Assembly Corp.

I rode in one of the reconditioned Hi Levels from Louisville to Chicago back in 2000. The service has since been discontinued. After rebuild they became esentially idential to Superliners, save for the shorter height, vending machines, and lack of sliding doors at the end of the car.

Yes, of course, I meant to say "Superliner".

Thanks to all.

Scott

The ATSF Hi-level cars date to two prototypes built by Budd in 1954, and production runs in 1956 and 1962, both to re-equip the El Capitan. When the 1962 cars arrived the 1956 cars went to provide the coaches for the Chief (CHI-LA) and San Francisco Chief (CHI-SF)

These served as the inspiration for Amtrak's Superliners but the Superliners were higher and hold more. The Hi-level cars did not have seats on the lower level while the Superliner coaches and sleepers do; the Hi-level lounges and diners are more like their Superliner equivalents. The upper levels are at different heights and you have to step up from a Hi-level car to a Superliner.

As cited by Eric, the Hi-level cars remained in service until the Superliner II cars arrived. The transition Hi-level cars (conventional height door at one end and Hi-level door at the other) had been rebuilt into transition-dorms with revenue coach space at the high level end and were the transition cars until the Superliner II sleeper-dorms arrived. Today only the Hi-level lounge cars remain in Amtrak service as the Pacific Parlor cars on the Coast Starlight.