Today marks Amtrak’s 45th year of operation. I was in Cleveland Union Terminal to see the last of the Penn-Central trains depart for Chicago or New York. It was months before Cleveland had any passenger service.
I took this photo in St. Petersburg in 1972. Note the green flags!
Every year since it has been a struggle for Amtrak to get the necessary funding to survive.
Does any one else have any recollections of what they were doing on Amtrak (Railpax) day in 1971?
Regards, Ed
Did you get your Winter / Spring National Timetable (effective 1/11/2016) yet? It is supposed to be the last printed National timetable that Amtrak will ever produce. All new Amtrak National timetables will be available only as downloadable online pdf files on the Amtrak website. By the way, I have a couple First Day covers marked for Railpax. It wasn’t called Railpax for very long.
If the Professional Iconoclast was still around writing columns in Trains Magazine the header would probably be “The Big Lie of '71 Still Rolls On”.
I think surviving for 45 years of yearly financial cuts and resistance from the freight railroads says a lot about Amtrak.
The 1972 E8 picture says it all about Amtrak’s roots! This week’s YouTube also pokes some fun with newscasters mispronouncing Amtrak’s “Acela.”
Unfortunately, the only time they would make sure they get the name right is if an Acela Train wrecks. That’s all the press cares about. Someone (I honestly can’t remember who) coined the phrase “If it doesn’t bleed it doesn’t lead”.
Not even then…
I cringe every time I hear a talking head say that there are “tanker cars” or “flatbed” cars involved in a wreck.
No effort at all to research the story. A parrot would make a better newscaster.
[soapbox] Ed
No need to cringe since some modern railroaders call them that. I first heard “tanker train” from a retired NS engineer when he was talking about oil trains.
Overheard at a Mom and Pop restaurant in Bellevue.
"Seen Jimmy the other day and his last run was pulling a tanker train.The other retired railroader said “That’s no way to retire pulling a oil can.”
I was 14 and my mom and I rode the D&H Laurentian from Fort Edward NY to Montreal and back the week or two before Amtrak. I remember the famous Alco PAs on the point. Good memories, though very faded.
Ted
Their job isn’t do research. Their job is the read the news. That’s all they are there for.
Regerttably Amtrak has pulled National Train Day. It was a lot of fun.