I think Amtrak’s best President is Dave Gunn becuase Number 1 He has repaired Passenger Cars when rescores are limited, he has reduced the waste in Mangement, he has made the unions work, he has gotting rite of relices, also he has gotton new tracks in on the NEC and he has worked with limited rescorses
HAPPY B-DAY Micheal Jordan
Doggy – I’ll agree with you, and add that he may be the best all around railroad man who’s headed up the shop, in addition. Good guy to work for.
Claytor had to old fashioned flair for railraoding and passengers but Gunn gives Amtrak its best shot for future success! ! (pun intended)!
…I agree with the posts above and list David Gunn as the best knowledgeable railroader manager and steward of resources avail to do the job. Has laid it on the line to the Bush Adminstration if they provide puny [half of what is needed], it will be a shut down budget…!
Gunn has a history of taking railroads ,or transit systems, in deep trouble, and turning them around.
Mr. Gunn is the best president since Graham Claytor. I will still have to vote for Graham Claytor as the best of all time. I have been a fan of his since way back however.
…Graham Claytor was a real railroad man and one who seemed to have Amrak’s interest at heart…I’m pretty sure he and his brother were here in Muncie back some years ago traveling with the 611 and it’s approx. 20 passenger cars excursion run. 611 made quite a few trips here and dropped off hundreds of passengers for several hours for a visit. I also seem to remember one of the brothers was at the controls when 611 pulled out that day and headed norhwest to continue on their tour. Have some beautiful photos I got that day from an overhead bridge and the train coming at me on a long straight stretch of track…It was some sight…and it was really moving out getting up speed.
I recall reading that Gunn has great admiration for Claytor. I was in my flying/driving days when Claytor was running Amtrak, so I wasn’t paying much attention and it would be hard for me to come up with much to compare him to Dave Gunn. I recall, however, that Claytor played hard-ball politics with Congress. “Support our grant requests or explain to your constituents the loss of train service in your state”
I was working on the Illinois Central at the same time Gunn was there and I am not surprised at his accomplishments in his previous transit jobs or at Amtrak. Paul Reistrup was the Amtrak President that got the F40 fleet (Is that the correct model number?), replacing the the aging E’s. It has been said that the F40 was the locomotive that saved Amtrak.
It isall kind of subjective, but few any place have the combination of tools that Gunn has.
Give Gunn some money to see what can be done with it! Claytor would get my vote because that’s when the Superliners and the F40 appeared. HEP conversions kicked out all the ancient steam heat and gave new life to old Heritage cars. Later, the doublestack clearance project would get the Superliners into Washingon.
For the last 20 years, the system has needed a little money to clear out the wreck tracks at Beech Grove.
Gunn, Claytor Reistrup, all great guys in my book. Hard to choose. Amtrak is still around, and that itself says a lot. Dave
…Wasn’t Reistrup our first Amtrak president…or was he the successor from the first one…I can’t think of his name…Perhaps he was Sec. of Transportation before being appointed…Just can’t remember.
Resitrup was not Amtrak 1st President it was Roger Lewis from General Dymanics
Doggy-Right. Paul Reistrup left his job as Sr. VP of Marketing at the Illinois Central in 1975, a few years after Amtrak. Can anyone list the all the Amtrak presidents with service dates?
I’ll through my vote in for Claytor, however, I am impressed with Gunn’s performance.
Claytor, so far, at least. He took a big mess and made it go. If he had a fault, it was lack of vision. Gunn seems to be cut from similar cloth. I’d change my vote to Gunn if he can get the bulk of the money he is asking for from Congress.
…If he doesn’t get the money he indicates he needs…we and the Bush Adminstration can kiss Amtrak goodby…including the NEC. Then let the Admin. hunt for a solution for what that will cause.
David Gunn and his attitude really make the man.
Unlike his two immediete predecessors, he stipulates repeatedly that Amtrak is ONE PACKAGE, not the NEC alone.
I have to tip my hat to him as he is not afraid to stand up to Senator McCain, who is one of Amtrak’s biggest opponents in congress. McCain, who refers to Amtrak as “PORK”, was criticizing Gunn a few months back for the Sunset Limited and some of the other long distance routes costs. Gunn maintained his composure, fired back with his solid facts and proceeded to really irritate the Senator.
NOW THAT’S REFRESHING, FOR A CHANGE!
It was disappointing for me to hear Rush Limbaugh recently “rip” Amtrak and Gunn on the radio as I do agree that Rush makes good (& not so good) points on many issues. Regardless, Amtrak is showing a steady increase in ridership, in spite of the odds. Go Gunn! I’m looking forward to John McCain’s retirement.[:D]
…Rush Limbaugh’s “ripping” up of Amtrak and Pres. Gunn is only normal for his daily thrashing…The results wouldn’t effect him one way or another. From what I’ve heard him blabber about he would not lower him self to ever ride the conveyance.
I thought I’d do 100 in some style. I listened in on the Senate hearing chaired by Senator McCain (R. Az) last Spring when he had Gunn and a few other folks come in to talk about Amtrak. McCain did get a little short with Gunn, asking why the Sunset Limited with its deficit of some $400 per passenger wasn’t just canceled. Gunn and the DOT auditor had already noted that with labor protection payments required by Federal Law eliminating that train or even any or all of the other long distance trains would actually wind up costing more than continued running. Gunn replied to the effect that the existance of long distance trains is essentially a political decision. McCain did not like hearing that said, even though he probably sees it as true. Only an idiot could argue that the Washington-New York corridor is useless. But few in congress would have the guts to tell the folks at home that money was voted to save the NE Corridor, but we had to drop “our” train to come up with the cash.
One has to realise something. Most congressional hearings are not for fact finding. That is something done mostly by congressional staff, communicating behind the scenes with interested parties or their lobby representatives. I personaly believe that hearings are primarily grandstanding opp’s for our beloved Senators and Congressmen. McCain comes from a state that is so cheap that I suspect people would vote down spending money to bring in enough water to drink. In order to get reelected, he has to continually show that he is trying to halt government “wasteful spending”. He is just not in a position to publicly say “OK I see your point”, even when a money spending proposal has great merit. However I have heard that McCain has some repect for Gunn for his openess and honesty. Gunn is not about to cover-up anything, even if perhaps it was the very rare mistake he made himself.
To much in politics is strictly about getting reelected. Take the special interest money, pander to conventional wisdom, ev
Jeaton,
You presented your facts very well. I’m willing to bet that (along with myself) many of us assumed that most congressional meetings were fact finding missions.
Hopefully Mr. Gunn can continue to be a positive influence in Amtrak’s building of quality service and credibility.
As for past presidents, I remember that Paul Reistrup was known as a “good guy”. The deep voiced, Alan S. Boyd was more “no nonsense”, but seemed inflexible when a group of Amtrak employees wanted Amtrak to adopt the name “Spiffy” to the then new SPV 2000 cars to help make them popular with the public. He was not interested. These were the RDC’s replacements. Mr. Warrington was more interested in the NEC.
Again, Thanks a lot Jeaton! Good info!