This is a summary of the routes served by Amtrak when it began operating on May 1st, 1971, and focuses on the ownership of the track used at the time. For information on traveling with Amtrak, please see their Website.
I am listing each route by the current ownership of the track and May 1971 ownership (in blue), as well as mileage by state, and a discription of changes to the route since 1971. This is followed by a summary of the long distance passenger trains operated by some of the freight railroads after May 1971.
The passenger trains that were being operated by America’s Railroads on April 30, 1971 are covered by this Trains article. Amtrak’s original system was made up of 19,233 route miles covering 43 States and the District of Columbia. By the end of 1971, the system had grown to 21,528 miles. At the present time Amtrak now has a system of 21,157 miles, in 46 States. I have a summary of today’s Amtrak system covered on Amtrak’s Current Routes. Since 1971, Amtrak has abandoned a total of 14,075 miles, and these are covered on Amtrak’s Abandoned Routes.
I can’t do graphics, but there is a pretty good Amtrak map showing the original routes in the June 1991 Trains. I’ll add station stops to make the routes clearer.
Nice list. Good article explaining the James Whitcomb Riley/Cardinal routes across Indiana.
The Floridian was also a victim of the Penn Central’s decay in the 1970’s.
Somewhere in the mid-1970’s (sometime after the Evansville-Nashville route and before 1977, when I rode it first), the Floridian was moved to the L&N (Monon) route from Chicago to Louisville, with stops in Lafayette (Lahr Hotel, while street running) and Bloomington. It kept that route until it was cancelled.
At the same time it saddens me a bit to see that we had more service 30 years ago than today. I remember seeing the Champion and the Floridian. Tampa Union Station had six trains a day then. Today, it’s down to 2. One Northbound and one Southbound Silver Star, which often run packed.
Obviously quite a number of these passengers are not big fans of Greyhound, air travel, or the highway.