When Did You First Meet Amtrak,

NellieBly wrote:Sigh! I'm sorry to see so many of you whose ONLY passenger train experience was with Amtrak. Gentlemen, it used to be much, much better.

I've never loved Amtrak, only regarded it as an unpleasant necessity if there were to be any passenger trains at all. My first "Amtrak" trips were on the Coast Starlight and the Super Chief in August 1971, and they may as well have been trips on the predecessor railroads. I rode in an SP aritculated coach, and in a Santa Fe sleeper, rode in the Pleasure Dome, and ate in a Santa Fe diner. Amtrak had brought the SP "Stairway to the Stars" domes out of storage, so I rode in one of them, too.

The "Rainbow Era" was interesting. I got to ride in lots of cool equipment, like domes from Chicago to Milwaukee, an ex-B&O flat-end obs down the Susquehanna from Harrisburg to Washington, and a dome from Chicago to Charlottesville, VA on the James Whitcomb Riley (dome was going to Newport News). Since C&O never ran domes, to my knowledge, that was really cool.

Amtrak no longer offers me much of a reason to ride. Timekeeping is poor, service is poor and getting poorer, Viewliners are poor replacements for Pullman cars. I'm sorry for those of you who never experienced the rich diversity of passenger rail travel pre-Amtrak.

Well, I have not directly experienced it, but my grandfather has told me all about his adventures in the pre-Amtrak days. He used to take the New York Central trains out of Buffalo as well as worked in the post office behind the BCT where his cousin worked the Railway Express.

For some perspective: A person born on A-Day will be 35 years old this May 1. A person born May 1, 1950 (and 21 years old on A-Day) will be 56 this May 1.

This is the year of my 50th birthday. I was darned fortunate Union Pacific served my grandparents hometown right up to A-Day. I got to ride, and I got to see those wonderful Armour Yellow passenger trains.

AgentSkelly wrote:It was sometime in 1989...I think maybe the spring. My parents took me when I was 3 or 4 years old from Schenectady to NYC. We took a Empire Service train as a recall that was the first one of the day when the station opened up.

Now, the funny thing is, I think we went into Grand Central instead of Penn Station. Did Amtrak operate into Grand Central around that time period?

The connection from the Hudson line to Penn Station is quite recent. Until it was built Empire trains all ran into Grand Central.

george matthews wrote: The connection from the Hudson line to Penn Station is quite recent. Until it was built Empire trains all ran into Grand Central.

Ah, that explains it. How recent did they move ops to Penn Station?

My first trip on Amtrak was in 1974 on the El Capitan (combined El Capitan/Super Chief) from Kansas City to Chicago. I was hooked. It may have been Amtrak's best train at that time, essentially still a Santa Fe operation with separate coach and first class sections combined into one train. Coach was all Santa Fe equipment with a smattering of rainbow era non-Santa Fe equipment in the SuperChief consist. The crew was ex-Santa Fe. Both sections were "first class" operations, at least by the standards of the time.

Good that my second trip, on the chronically-late and ill-maintained National Limited in 1976 between Kansas City and St. Louis, wasn't my first. Penn Central couldn't operate it ontime and Missouri Pacific wouldn't, being nearly as anti-passenger as Southern Pacific in those days.

When did I first meet Amtrak? I really don't remember. My first recollection was from the mid 1970's when I viewed the, then brand new, Amfleet cars in Toronto's Union Station (on, what I guess was, the "Maple Leaf"). I remember thinking they looked cool but, with their tubular shape and small windows, they looked more like aircraft than railroad cars.

It wasn't until many years later that I finally rode an Amtrak train. That was in June 1985 from Boise to Denver aboard "The Pioneer".

AgentSkelly wrote:

george matthews wrote: The connection from the Hudson line to Penn Station is quite recent. Until it was built Empire trains all ran into Grand Central.

Ah, that explains it. How recent did they move ops to Penn Station?

I took a train from Syracuse to New York in 1975 and it arrived in Grand Central. In 1995 I took the Adirondack and it started from Pennsylvania Station. My guess is the connection was made about 1992.

george matthews wrote:I took a train from Syracuse to New York in 1975 and it arrived in Grand Central. In 1995 I took the Adirondack and it started from Pennsylvania Station. My guess is the connection was made about 1992.

The "Westside Connection" in service: April 1991.

Auto train, probably in the late 1980's. That was only once, however -- my grandmother took it regularly, but we typically flew.

As far as my re-introduction to Amtrak? Somewhere on the NEC in 2002... probably from NWK to PHL -- my most common trip -- for work (near Lindenwold).

i rode it once from philadelphia to washington when i was like 3, but too young to appreciate it. as i fell in love with it a year later my parents would not let me ride it again for many reasons. waving goodbye to parents and friends, but never actually riding myself. Finally when i was eight, i rode again, same route.

It would be another 3 years until my next trip, after which i was allowed to ride more often.

after all those years, i look back on it and laugh from my viewliner roomette.

Late May, 1971 in Ft. Worth taking the Texas Chief from Ft. Worth to Houston and then the Sunset from Houston to New Orleans. The Chief was still a total Santa Fe operation- in fact I had not even heard of Amtrak at the time and the only notice about it were the pins the crew members were wearing on there uniforms- white, as I recall with the arrow and "the tracks are back" slogan. I seem to recall a high level diner, but my memory is going on such things. The Sunset the next day looked like a SP train, and I remember the lounge/diner- yes there was a diner- having a very western decor- lots of leather on the walls, etc. As I recall were were about 3 hours late into NO- a tradition was already started, though I was told at he time that the SP was always late, even the years before Amtrak. Can't vouch for that, but that is what I was told.

All through the early 70's got to ride the Texas Chief, the National Ltd- (8 hours late on the PC in '72), the Crescent (I know, not Amtrak), the Piedmont, the original Inter-American, and a lot of trains between Wash. and NYP, including on real parlor cars. (Yes, Amtrak had them) Actually, other then baking on a very late National Ltd, with no steam, hence no A/C on the whole train in August, I remember all of those trips fondly.

NellieBly wrote:Sigh! I'm sorry to see so many of you whose ONLY passenger train experience was with Amtrak. Gentlemen, it used to be much, much better.

Sometimes. Especially so if you were out west.

One of the reasons I didn't get to experience passenger rail travel sooner was because of my dad's memories of PRR passenger service circa 1952 or so. He was dumped onto a nondescript PRR train in Harrisburg from Fort Indiantown Gap, and his memories of surly conductors and grouchy attendants were such that he hasn't ridden an intercity passenger train since.

Mind you, when he was sent to Guam, he had a roomette on the original California Zephyr!

As I said, the PRR experience soured him such, that when he started buying and selling surplus electronic equipment, and had to make trips to New York, Allegheny Airlines was his first choice, and not the Pennsy.

Well, yes, "The Big Red Subway" was just that -- not very luxurious. Still, there were parlor-obs cars on some trains (we usually got the day drawing room), and a few diners. I have one memory of walking past the barber shop on the "Congressional".

But I'm a railfan because I grew up riding the NY to Florida trains, both ACL and SAL. They offered terrific service right up to the end -- and then Amtrak proceeded to trash the Florida service. I get nauseous when I see Amtrak's pathetic little trains (four coaches, two sleepers) in the high season! I remember the "Florida Special" with 18 sleepers and three coaches, two diners, and two lounge cars.

After all those years of riding the Florida trains, in 1968 my grandmother took me to California, and we rode the Zephyr (the REAL Zephyr) from Oakland 3rd Street to Chicago. That was an absolutely magical experience I remember vividly to this day. We had a bedroom, but I hardly slept.

Amtrak has never given me a ride like that. Never.

But I'm a railfan because I grew up riding the NY to Florida trains, both ACL and SAL. They offered terrific service right up to the end -- and then Amtrak proceeded to trash the Florida service

What was Amtrak's subsidy back then, and how would it have been able to maintain the "terrific service" that Seaboard and Atlantic Coast had previously offered on that money...? (Of course, the attitude and composition of the Amtrak BOD from back then can be brought into account.)

I haven't taken Amtrak in years, but my first ride was from Grand Central Station in NYC to Rochester, NY back in 1987 (8-hour ride). It was cool, saw a lot of Conrail freight action along the way. The ride was pretty comfortable, and at that time the Amfleet coaches were relatively new and shiny. Honestly, it's hearing those negative stories about Amtrak these days (most recently from my aunt when she took Amtrak from Buffalo to NYC two years ago, when she found the Amfleet coaches dirty and in poor repair) that's really preventing me from riding Amtrak more.

The thing I remember most was the scenery along the banks of the Hudson River from NYC to Albany-- It was spectacular. Wish I had a camera back then.