Auto Train
Encyclopedia
Auto Train is an 855 miles (1,376 km) scheduled train service for passengers and their automobiles operated by Amtrak
between Lorton
, Virginia
(near Washington, D.C.
), and Sanford
, Florida
(near Orlando
). Although there are similar services around the world, the Auto Train is the only one of its kind in the United States. The Auto Train is the only Southbound Amtrak train in the east to use Superliner cars.
Passengers ride either in coach seats or private sleeping car
rooms while their vehicles (car, van, sport utility vehicle, motorcycle, small trailer, or jet-ski) are carried in enclosed automobile-carrying freight cars, called autorack
s. The train also includes lounge cars and dining car
s, and is the only Amtrak route to allow smoking while on board the train. The Auto Train service allows its passengers to avoid driving Interstate 95
in Virginia, North Carolina
, South Carolina
, Georgia
, and Florida, while bringing their own vehicle with them.
The service operates as train 53 southbound and 52 northbound, making no station stops between its terminals at Lorton
, Virginia
, and Sanford
, Florida
. Amtrak's Auto Train is the successor to an earlier similarly named service operated by the privately owned Auto-Train Corporation
in the 1970s.
During fiscal year 2010, the Auto Train carried a total of 244,252 passengers, a 4.8% increase from FY 2009's total of 232,955 passengers. The train had a total revenue of $61,012,324, an increase of 4.1% from FY 2009's $58,589,872 total revenue. The Auto Train had the highest revenue of any long-distance train in the Amtrak system.
and Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac tracks. It was operated by Auto-Train Corporation
, a privately owned railroad founded by Eugene K. Garfield
. Garfield had worked at the U.S. Department of Transportation. The Department had funded a study of the practicality of an automobile-train service. Garfield resigned and used the study as the blueprint for his enterprise. The company used its own rolling stock
to provide a unique rail transportation service for both passengers and their automobiles in the United States, operating scheduled service between Lorton, Virginia
(near Washington, D.C.
) and Sanford, Florida
, near Orlando, Florida
.
Passengers rode either in wide coach seats or private first-class sleeping compartments
while their vehicles were carried in enclosed autorack
s. The train included dining car
s and meals were served.
The equipment of the Auto-Train Corporation was painted in red, white, and purple colors. The typical train was equipped with two or three General Electric
U36B
diesel-electric locomotive
s, 75 ft (22.86 m) double-deck auto carriers, streamlined passenger cars, including coaches, dining car
s, sleeping car
s, and 85 ft (25.91 m) full-dome cars, and a caboose
, then an unusual sight on most passenger trains.
Auto-Train Corporation's new service began operations on December 6, 1971. The service was a big hit with travelers. Before long, the ambitious entrepreneurs of Auto-Train were looking to expand into other markets. However, only the Lorton–Sanford service proved successful.
Auto-Train's first auto carriers were acquired used, and started life in the 1950s as an innovation of the Canadian National (CN) Railroad. The CN bi-level autorack
cars had end-doors. They were huge by the standards of the time; each 75-footer could carry 8 vehicles. The cars were a big success and helped lead to the development of today's enclosed autoracks. The former CN autoracks were augmented by new tri-level versions in 1976.
High crew costs, several spectacular accidents with the 58- to 64-car trains, and an unprofitable expansion to Louisville, Kentucky
put Garfield's company into bankruptcy. Auto-Train Corporation was forced to end its services in late April, 1981.
Operating for almost 10 years, Auto-Train had developed a popular following, particularly among older travelers as it ferried passengers and their cars between Virginia and Florida. After its demise, no one else offered a service quite like that which Auto-Train had: transport a car and its passengers together (on the same movement, at the same time) to and from vacation areas.
acquired a fleet of thirteen General Electric
U36B
diesel-electric locomotive
s. These were very similar to ones used by Seaboard Coast Line Railroad
, the host railroad for most of the route's length. The passenger railcars, including coaches, dining car
s, sleeping car
s, and dome cars, were acquired from various major railroads, including Santa Fe, Union Pacific, and Western Pacific
. The Auto-Train's first autorack
s were 75 feet (22.86 m)-long bilevel models with end doors, carrying eight automobiles each. The cars had originally been owned by Canadian National Railway
, the railroad that had pioneered the use of autoracks in the North American freight rail industry beginning in late 1957. The bi-level autoracks were augmented by tri-level ones that were purchased new in 1976.
Since the form and function of the autoracks went far beyond the form and function of baggage cars on an ordinary passenger train, the Auto-Train, like the Amtrak Auto Train of today, can be considered to have been not a pure passenger train but rather a mixed train, meaning one that includes both passenger and freight railcars. Like many mixed trains of the time, but unlike virtually all pure passenger trains of any era, the Auto-Train included a caboose
at the end. Like the rest of the equipment, the cabooses were painted in a red, white, and purple color scheme.
A typical Auto-Train was made up of 30 to 64 cars pulled by two or three locomotives.
, to Sanford, was inaugurated in May 1974. It operated only until September 1977, however, reportedly having lost millions of dollars. Two Auto-Train derailments in 1976 and a major derailment two years later in Florence, South Carolina
in which 25 passengers were injured after 19 cars went off the tracks on February 24, 1978, disrupted service, and cost the company more than $6 million in lost revenue. Debts accumulated, including millions in taxes, leading to cutbacks in maintenance that slowed operations. Eventually the company was forced into bankruptcy; and though the Auto-Train retained much of its popularity to the end, it terminated its services in late April 1981.
Several smaller companies scrambled to pick up the Auto-Train's former customers. A company operating as Auto-Bus carried its customers in buses and their cars in trucks, operating between Pennsylvania and Florida. Another company, Autolog Corporation, offered a service to carry cars by truck between the Northeast and Florida, though not providing transportation for the customers themselves. There were also several companies that hired drivers to take cars individually to their owners' destinations. No one else, however, offered a service quite like that of the Auto-Train, namely transporting a car and its passengers simultaneously to and from Florida.
While their service ultimately failed (as so many American passenger train services had previously failed in the decades prior to Amtrak's startup in 1971), Garfield and Auto-Train Corporation had identified a service that people wanted.
, the corporation that operates most intercity passenger trains in the United States. Amtrak acquired the terminals in Lorton and Sanford and some of the Auto-Train equipment. On October 30, 1983, it introduced its new version of the service (under the slightly modified name "Auto Train") on a triweekly basis. Daily service was introduced a year later.
Amtrak continued to use the bi-level and the tri-level autorack
s that Auto-Train had used. For passenger equipment, it initially used a mixture of former Auto-Train railcars and mid-century long-distance railcars from Amtrak's general fleet, all rebuilt to Amtrak's "Heritage Fleet" standards. In the mid 1990s, Amtrak replaced all these passenger railcars, which were of the conventional single-level type, with its newer, bi-level Superliner
I and II equipment. In 2006, the aging bi-level, tri-level, and "van" autorack
s were phased out and replaced with 80 new autoracks. Unlike the old racks, the new racks have uniform heights, and are most similar to the "vans" of the previous fleet. , an Auto Train consist
is normally made up of two General Electric
P42 diesel-electric locomotive
s (and sometimes a third engine) and forty or more railcars (passenger and autorack), for a total length of a 3/4 mi or more. A typical train has: 1 transition sleeper (for the crew), 6 sleepers (including a deluxe sleeper), 1 diner and 1 lounge for sleeper passengers, 4 coach cars, and 2 diners and 1 lounge for coach passengers. The autorack
s run on the rear. There is no caboose.
Amtrak's Auto Train is often said to have the longest passenger train in the world, although (as mentioned above) it may be best regarded as a mixed train, rather than as a pure passenger train. Currently, two Auto Train consists are in simultaneous operation each day. At 4:00 p.m., there are departures from both the Lorton and Sanford terminals. Florence, South Carolina
is the only scheduled stop on the 855 miles (1,376 km) run: at this stop, the train is refueled and serviced and the engine crew and conductors are changed, but no passengers are entrained or detrained. Each train is scheduled to arrive at the other end the next morning at 9:30 a.m., for an endpoint-to-endpoint average speed of about 49 miles per hour (79 km/h).
In fiscal year 2006, Amtrak's Auto Train carried about 207,444 passengers, including 87,802 sleeper passengers. The train is notable, especially within the Amtrak system, for the high quality of its equipment and of its customer service. The train grossed $49,351,664 in ticket revenue in Fiscal Year 2006, making it Amtrak's highest grossing single train. With total expenses of $62.1 million, it is Amtrak's best-paying long distance train in terms of income in comparison with operating expenses. This popularity has Amtrak exploring other possible routes for this service, with a Chicago-Phoenix route being considered, among others.
Auto Train operates on the same route it and its predecessor have always used, the route now being owned by CSX Transportation
. The trains are known by their route numbers (53 Southbound, 52 Northbound) internal to Amtrak. When communicating on the CSX road channels, they are known by their CSX designations: P-053xx and P-052xx, where xx is the 2-digit date at which the train departed its origin station. So a Southbound train that departed on the 23rd of the month would be known as CSX P-05323 on the road channels. This allows for unique identification in the event that 2 trains on the same route are operating simultaneously.
In the January 2011 issue of Trains Magazine, this route was listed as one of five routes to be looked at by Amtrak in FY 2012 and examined like previous routes (Sunset, Eagle, Zephyr, Capitol, and Cardinal) were examined in FY 2010.
Boarding begins at 2:30 pm. At 3 pm, a wine and cheese tasting is offered in the lounge cars.
The last vehicles and passengers are accepted at 3 pm, at which time the autoracks are closed and coupled together, the passenger cars are coupled together in the case of Sanford departures, and the autoracks are coupled to the rear of the consist. At 4 pm, the locomotive engineer is given clearance to occupy the main line, and the train departs the station to begin its run.
There are 2 or 3 dinner seatings, depending on how full the train is. Dinner (included in the ticket price) is served in the dining cars at 5, 7, and when there is a third seating, 9 pm. Each seating is announced over the intercoms in each car, and in each sleeping compartment. After the first dinner seating, a recent movie is shown on televisions in the lounge cars, which is repeated later in the evening. After midnight, the train arrives in Florence, South Carolina, where it stops briefly to be refueled and re-watered. A crew change also occurs here for the locomotive.
At 6 am, the dining car crew serves breakfast. No announcement is made for this seating until 7 am, however. Breakfast is served until 8 am.
As the train approaches the destination station, announcements are made concerning arrival time updates, and a general call for the passengers to gather up their personal belongings. At 9:30 am the train arrives in the destination station. Passengers may not immediately detrain at this point, as the autoracks are first decoupled from the consist, and in the case of the Sanford station, the passenger cars are split into 2 sections to fit on Sanford's shorter platforms. At this point the passengers are then allowed to detrain and move to the auto claim area. Cleaning crews move into the train once all passengers are off, and the train is re-supplied with that day's food and water.
The autoracks are further split into 4–6 sections and each section is lined up with a loading ramp (see picture). The doors between each are opened, and connecting ramps are lowered to allow vehicles to move between cars. At this point vehicles begin to roll off the autoracks and around to the claim area, where they are identified and announced by a vehicle number that was attached to the vehicle at the origin station. Vehicles are not unloaded in the same order they were loaded the previous day. It normally takes 2 hours to unload all vehicles from a full train.
is about a half-hour drive south of Washington, D.C.
, just off Interstate 95 in Northern Virginia
. Amtrak's new Lorton terminal opened in early 2000 as a replacement for the original station built during the 1970s, and features a large, modern waiting area with high glass walls. The station was designed by architect Hanny Hassan. The suspended sculpture in the lobby was designed by Patrick Sheridan. Outside the waiting room are the tracks where passenger cars are set out for boarding. The platform is 1480 feet (451 m) long.
Lorton was selected as site of the northern terminal because the 20 in 2 in (6.15 m) height autoracks were too tall
to pass through the First Street Tunnel into Washington, D.C.
is the southern terminus and is about a half-hour drive north of Orlando
. The original facility was an older and smaller facility than the terminal at Lorton. Currently, the Auto Train loads its passengers on two tracks in Sanford, as no one track is long enough to accommodate all the passenger railcars. Sanford's operation is also unique in that a railroad crossing runs through the middle of the rail yard. This complicates some switching procedures and also produces the need for a three-man yard conductor crew – conductor, assistant conductor, and footboards – as opposed to Lorton's two-man operation (conductor and assistant conductor). Both yards operate with one engineer. Sanford serves as the main mechanical and maintenance location for Auto Train, with diesel and car shops to service the fleet. Superliners and engines needing to be rotated out of Auto Train service are usually deadheaded to Lorton and then swapped out through an extra move to Ivy City in Washington.
On March 13, 2009, it was announced that $10.5M would be spent to rebuild the aging Auto-Train facilities in Sanford. Amtrak, the State of Florida, Seminole County and the City of Sanford coordinated their efforts to rebuild the facility. Groundbreaking for the new terminal took place on May 18, 2009. The new terminal opened on October 18, 2010, and is four times larger than the original station. It includes a gift shop, cafe, and a waiting area that can accommodate up to 600 passengers.
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...
between Lorton
Lorton, Virginia
Lorton is a census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. The population is 27,709 as of the 2008 census estimate.-History:...
, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
(near Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
), and Sanford
Sanford, Florida
Sanford is a city in, and the county seat of, Seminole County, Florida, United States. The population was 38,291 at the 2000 census. As of 2009, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau was 50,998...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
(near Orlando
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
). Although there are similar services around the world, the Auto Train is the only one of its kind in the United States. The Auto Train is the only Southbound Amtrak train in the east to use Superliner cars.
Passengers ride either in coach seats or private sleeping car
Sleeping car
The sleeping car or sleeper is a railway/railroad passenger car that can accommodate all its passengers in beds of one kind or another, primarily for the purpose of making nighttime travel more restful. The first such cars saw sporadic use on American railroads in the 1830s and could be configured...
rooms while their vehicles (car, van, sport utility vehicle, motorcycle, small trailer, or jet-ski) are carried in enclosed automobile-carrying freight cars, called autorack
Autorack
An autorack, also known as an auto carrier, is a specialized piece of railroad rolling stock used to transport automobiles and light trucks, generally from factories to automotive distributors...
s. The train also includes lounge cars and dining car
Dining car
A dining car or restaurant carriage , also diner, is a railroad passenger car that serves meals in the manner of a full-service, sit-down restaurant....
s, and is the only Amtrak route to allow smoking while on board the train. The Auto Train service allows its passengers to avoid driving Interstate 95
Interstate 95
Interstate 95 is the main highway on the East Coast of the United States, running parallel to the Atlantic Ocean from Maine to Florida and serving some of the most populated urban areas in the country, including Boston, Providence, New Haven, New York City, Newark, Philadelphia, Baltimore,...
in Virginia, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
, South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, and Florida, while bringing their own vehicle with them.
The service operates as train 53 southbound and 52 northbound, making no station stops between its terminals at Lorton
Lorton, Virginia
Lorton is a census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. The population is 27,709 as of the 2008 census estimate.-History:...
, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, and Sanford
Sanford, Florida
Sanford is a city in, and the county seat of, Seminole County, Florida, United States. The population was 38,291 at the 2000 census. As of 2009, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau was 50,998...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. Amtrak's Auto Train is the successor to an earlier similarly named service operated by the privately owned Auto-Train Corporation
Auto-Train Corporation
Auto-Train Corporation was a privately owned railroad which used its own rolling stock, and traveled on rails leased from major railroads along the route of its trains, serving central Florida from points in the Mid-Atlantic region near Washington, DC, and the Mid-West near Louisville, Kentucky,...
in the 1970s.
During fiscal year 2010, the Auto Train carried a total of 244,252 passengers, a 4.8% increase from FY 2009's total of 232,955 passengers. The train had a total revenue of $61,012,324, an increase of 4.1% from FY 2009's $58,589,872 total revenue. The Auto Train had the highest revenue of any long-distance train in the Amtrak system.
Auto-Train Corporation
The original Auto-Train operated on Seaboard Coast Line RailroadSeaboard Coast Line Railroad
The Seaboard Coast Line Railroad was a former Class I railroad company operating in the Southeastern United States beginning in 1967. Its passenger operations were taken over by Amtrak in 1971...
and Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac tracks. It was operated by Auto-Train Corporation
Auto-Train Corporation
Auto-Train Corporation was a privately owned railroad which used its own rolling stock, and traveled on rails leased from major railroads along the route of its trains, serving central Florida from points in the Mid-Atlantic region near Washington, DC, and the Mid-West near Louisville, Kentucky,...
, a privately owned railroad founded by Eugene K. Garfield
Eugene K. Garfield
Eugene Kerik Garfield was an American lawyer who founded the Auto-Train Corporation. Auto-Train became what is now known as Amtrak's Auto Train...
. Garfield had worked at the U.S. Department of Transportation. The Department had funded a study of the practicality of an automobile-train service. Garfield resigned and used the study as the blueprint for his enterprise. The company used its own rolling stock
Rolling stock
Rolling stock comprises all the vehicles that move on a railway. It usually includes both powered and unpowered vehicles, for example locomotives, railroad cars, coaches and wagons...
to provide a unique rail transportation service for both passengers and their automobiles in the United States, operating scheduled service between Lorton, Virginia
Lorton, Virginia
Lorton is a census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. The population is 27,709 as of the 2008 census estimate.-History:...
(near Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
) and Sanford, Florida
Sanford, Florida
Sanford is a city in, and the county seat of, Seminole County, Florida, United States. The population was 38,291 at the 2000 census. As of 2009, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau was 50,998...
, near Orlando, Florida
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
.
Passengers rode either in wide coach seats or private first-class sleeping compartments
Sleeping car
The sleeping car or sleeper is a railway/railroad passenger car that can accommodate all its passengers in beds of one kind or another, primarily for the purpose of making nighttime travel more restful. The first such cars saw sporadic use on American railroads in the 1830s and could be configured...
while their vehicles were carried in enclosed autorack
Autorack
An autorack, also known as an auto carrier, is a specialized piece of railroad rolling stock used to transport automobiles and light trucks, generally from factories to automotive distributors...
s. The train included dining car
Dining car
A dining car or restaurant carriage , also diner, is a railroad passenger car that serves meals in the manner of a full-service, sit-down restaurant....
s and meals were served.
The equipment of the Auto-Train Corporation was painted in red, white, and purple colors. The typical train was equipped with two or three General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
U36B
GE U36B
GE U36B was a diesel locomotive produced by General Electric beginning in 1969. The U36B was GE's 3600 horsepower answer to the power race with EMD. Only 3 railroads bought this locomotive.-History:...
diesel-electric locomotive
Locomotive
A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
s, 75 ft (22.86 m) double-deck auto carriers, streamlined passenger cars, including coaches, dining car
Dining car
A dining car or restaurant carriage , also diner, is a railroad passenger car that serves meals in the manner of a full-service, sit-down restaurant....
s, sleeping car
Sleeping car
The sleeping car or sleeper is a railway/railroad passenger car that can accommodate all its passengers in beds of one kind or another, primarily for the purpose of making nighttime travel more restful. The first such cars saw sporadic use on American railroads in the 1830s and could be configured...
s, and 85 ft (25.91 m) full-dome cars, and a caboose
Caboose
A caboose is a manned North American rail transport vehicle coupled at the end of a freight train. Although cabooses were once used on nearly every freight train, their use has declined and they are seldom seen on trains, except on locals and smaller railroads.-Function:The caboose provided the...
, then an unusual sight on most passenger trains.
Auto-Train Corporation's new service began operations on December 6, 1971. The service was a big hit with travelers. Before long, the ambitious entrepreneurs of Auto-Train were looking to expand into other markets. However, only the Lorton–Sanford service proved successful.
Auto-Train's first auto carriers were acquired used, and started life in the 1950s as an innovation of the Canadian National (CN) Railroad. The CN bi-level autorack
Autorack
An autorack, also known as an auto carrier, is a specialized piece of railroad rolling stock used to transport automobiles and light trucks, generally from factories to automotive distributors...
cars had end-doors. They were huge by the standards of the time; each 75-footer could carry 8 vehicles. The cars were a big success and helped lead to the development of today's enclosed autoracks. The former CN autoracks were augmented by new tri-level versions in 1976.
High crew costs, several spectacular accidents with the 58- to 64-car trains, and an unprofitable expansion to Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
put Garfield's company into bankruptcy. Auto-Train Corporation was forced to end its services in late April, 1981.
Operating for almost 10 years, Auto-Train had developed a popular following, particularly among older travelers as it ferried passengers and their cars between Virginia and Florida. After its demise, no one else offered a service quite like that which Auto-Train had: transport a car and its passengers together (on the same movement, at the same time) to and from vacation areas.
Locomotives and railcars
The Auto-Train CorporationAuto-Train Corporation
Auto-Train Corporation was a privately owned railroad which used its own rolling stock, and traveled on rails leased from major railroads along the route of its trains, serving central Florida from points in the Mid-Atlantic region near Washington, DC, and the Mid-West near Louisville, Kentucky,...
acquired a fleet of thirteen General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
U36B
GE U36B
GE U36B was a diesel locomotive produced by General Electric beginning in 1969. The U36B was GE's 3600 horsepower answer to the power race with EMD. Only 3 railroads bought this locomotive.-History:...
diesel-electric locomotive
Locomotive
A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
s. These were very similar to ones used by Seaboard Coast Line Railroad
Seaboard Coast Line Railroad
The Seaboard Coast Line Railroad was a former Class I railroad company operating in the Southeastern United States beginning in 1967. Its passenger operations were taken over by Amtrak in 1971...
, the host railroad for most of the route's length. The passenger railcars, including coaches, dining car
Dining car
A dining car or restaurant carriage , also diner, is a railroad passenger car that serves meals in the manner of a full-service, sit-down restaurant....
s, sleeping car
Sleeping car
The sleeping car or sleeper is a railway/railroad passenger car that can accommodate all its passengers in beds of one kind or another, primarily for the purpose of making nighttime travel more restful. The first such cars saw sporadic use on American railroads in the 1830s and could be configured...
s, and dome cars, were acquired from various major railroads, including Santa Fe, Union Pacific, and Western Pacific
Western Pacific Railroad
The Western Pacific Railroad was a Class I railroad in the United States. It was formed in 1903 as an attempt to break the near-monopoly the Southern Pacific Railroad had on rail service into northern California...
. The Auto-Train's first autorack
Autorack
An autorack, also known as an auto carrier, is a specialized piece of railroad rolling stock used to transport automobiles and light trucks, generally from factories to automotive distributors...
s were 75 feet (22.86 m)-long bilevel models with end doors, carrying eight automobiles each. The cars had originally been owned by Canadian National Railway
Canadian National Railway
The Canadian National Railway Company is a Canadian Class I railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. CN's slogan is "North America's Railroad"....
, the railroad that had pioneered the use of autoracks in the North American freight rail industry beginning in late 1957. The bi-level autoracks were augmented by tri-level ones that were purchased new in 1976.
Since the form and function of the autoracks went far beyond the form and function of baggage cars on an ordinary passenger train, the Auto-Train, like the Amtrak Auto Train of today, can be considered to have been not a pure passenger train but rather a mixed train, meaning one that includes both passenger and freight railcars. Like many mixed trains of the time, but unlike virtually all pure passenger trains of any era, the Auto-Train included a caboose
Caboose
A caboose is a manned North American rail transport vehicle coupled at the end of a freight train. Although cabooses were once used on nearly every freight train, their use has declined and they are seldom seen on trains, except on locals and smaller railroads.-Function:The caboose provided the...
at the end. Like the rest of the equipment, the cabooses were painted in a red, white, and purple color scheme.
A typical Auto-Train was made up of 30 to 64 cars pulled by two or three locomotives.
Business success and failure
The Auto-Train began operations on December 6, 1971. The service enjoyed remarkable success with travelers, and reported profits for the first few years. Before long, the Auto-Train Corporation's ambitious leadership was looking to expand into other markets. A second service, from Louisville, KentuckyLouisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
, to Sanford, was inaugurated in May 1974. It operated only until September 1977, however, reportedly having lost millions of dollars. Two Auto-Train derailments in 1976 and a major derailment two years later in Florence, South Carolina
Florence, South Carolina
-Municipal government and politics:The City of Florence has a council-manager form of government. The mayor and city council are elected every four years, with no term limits...
in which 25 passengers were injured after 19 cars went off the tracks on February 24, 1978, disrupted service, and cost the company more than $6 million in lost revenue. Debts accumulated, including millions in taxes, leading to cutbacks in maintenance that slowed operations. Eventually the company was forced into bankruptcy; and though the Auto-Train retained much of its popularity to the end, it terminated its services in late April 1981.
Several smaller companies scrambled to pick up the Auto-Train's former customers. A company operating as Auto-Bus carried its customers in buses and their cars in trucks, operating between Pennsylvania and Florida. Another company, Autolog Corporation, offered a service to carry cars by truck between the Northeast and Florida, though not providing transportation for the customers themselves. There were also several companies that hired drivers to take cars individually to their owners' destinations. No one else, however, offered a service quite like that of the Auto-Train, namely transporting a car and its passengers simultaneously to and from Florida.
While their service ultimately failed (as so many American passenger train services had previously failed in the decades prior to Amtrak's startup in 1971), Garfield and Auto-Train Corporation had identified a service that people wanted.
Amtrak steps in to fill the gap
After a period of 22 months without service, the service was revived by the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, better known as AmtrakAmtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...
, the corporation that operates most intercity passenger trains in the United States. Amtrak acquired the terminals in Lorton and Sanford and some of the Auto-Train equipment. On October 30, 1983, it introduced its new version of the service (under the slightly modified name "Auto Train") on a triweekly basis. Daily service was introduced a year later.
Amtrak continued to use the bi-level and the tri-level autorack
Autorack
An autorack, also known as an auto carrier, is a specialized piece of railroad rolling stock used to transport automobiles and light trucks, generally from factories to automotive distributors...
s that Auto-Train had used. For passenger equipment, it initially used a mixture of former Auto-Train railcars and mid-century long-distance railcars from Amtrak's general fleet, all rebuilt to Amtrak's "Heritage Fleet" standards. In the mid 1990s, Amtrak replaced all these passenger railcars, which were of the conventional single-level type, with its newer, bi-level Superliner
Superliner (railcar)
The Superliner is a double decker passenger car used by Amtrak on long haul trains that do not use the Northeast Corridor. The initial cars were built by Pullman-Standard in the late 1970s and a second order was built in the mid 1990s by Bombardier Transportation...
I and II equipment. In 2006, the aging bi-level, tri-level, and "van" autorack
Autorack
An autorack, also known as an auto carrier, is a specialized piece of railroad rolling stock used to transport automobiles and light trucks, generally from factories to automotive distributors...
s were phased out and replaced with 80 new autoracks. Unlike the old racks, the new racks have uniform heights, and are most similar to the "vans" of the previous fleet. , an Auto Train consist
Consist
A consist , in North American railway terminology, is used as a noun to describe the group of rail vehicles that make up a train. A near-equivalent UK term is rake but this excludes the locomotive....
is normally made up of two General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
P42 diesel-electric locomotive
Locomotive
A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
s (and sometimes a third engine) and forty or more railcars (passenger and autorack), for a total length of a 3/4 mi or more. A typical train has: 1 transition sleeper (for the crew), 6 sleepers (including a deluxe sleeper), 1 diner and 1 lounge for sleeper passengers, 4 coach cars, and 2 diners and 1 lounge for coach passengers. The autorack
Autorack
An autorack, also known as an auto carrier, is a specialized piece of railroad rolling stock used to transport automobiles and light trucks, generally from factories to automotive distributors...
s run on the rear. There is no caboose.
Amtrak's Auto Train is often said to have the longest passenger train in the world, although (as mentioned above) it may be best regarded as a mixed train, rather than as a pure passenger train. Currently, two Auto Train consists are in simultaneous operation each day. At 4:00 p.m., there are departures from both the Lorton and Sanford terminals. Florence, South Carolina
Florence, South Carolina
-Municipal government and politics:The City of Florence has a council-manager form of government. The mayor and city council are elected every four years, with no term limits...
is the only scheduled stop on the 855 miles (1,376 km) run: at this stop, the train is refueled and serviced and the engine crew and conductors are changed, but no passengers are entrained or detrained. Each train is scheduled to arrive at the other end the next morning at 9:30 a.m., for an endpoint-to-endpoint average speed of about 49 miles per hour (79 km/h).
In fiscal year 2006, Amtrak's Auto Train carried about 207,444 passengers, including 87,802 sleeper passengers. The train is notable, especially within the Amtrak system, for the high quality of its equipment and of its customer service. The train grossed $49,351,664 in ticket revenue in Fiscal Year 2006, making it Amtrak's highest grossing single train. With total expenses of $62.1 million, it is Amtrak's best-paying long distance train in terms of income in comparison with operating expenses. This popularity has Amtrak exploring other possible routes for this service, with a Chicago-Phoenix route being considered, among others.
Auto Train operates on the same route it and its predecessor have always used, the route now being owned by CSX Transportation
CSX Transportation
CSX Transportation operates a Class I railroad in the United States known as the CSX Railroad. It is the main subsidiary of the CSX Corporation. The company is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, and owns approximately 21,000 route miles...
. The trains are known by their route numbers (53 Southbound, 52 Northbound) internal to Amtrak. When communicating on the CSX road channels, they are known by their CSX designations: P-053xx and P-052xx, where xx is the 2-digit date at which the train departed its origin station. So a Southbound train that departed on the 23rd of the month would be known as CSX P-05323 on the road channels. This allows for unique identification in the event that 2 trains on the same route are operating simultaneously.
In the January 2011 issue of Trains Magazine, this route was listed as one of five routes to be looked at by Amtrak in FY 2012 and examined like previous routes (Sunset, Eagle, Zephyr, Capitol, and Cardinal) were examined in FY 2010.
Daily operations
The train operates every day. At 11:30 am, the station gates are opened to allow the passengers for the next trip into the vehicle staging area. Here, the vehicles are assigned their number, which is affixed to the driver's door magnetically. The vehicle is typically video surveyed to document any preexisting dents and other damage, in the event a damage claim is later filed. The passengers leave their vehicles here and take their carry-on bags with them into the station to await boarding. The vehicles are then staged near the autorack ramps by size and length for optimal loading order, and are then loaded onto the autoracks. In the case of motorcycles, the owner assists with tying their bikes down to a dedicated motorcycle carrier which is then loaded into the autorack. Passengers do not have access to their vehicles during the trip.Boarding begins at 2:30 pm. At 3 pm, a wine and cheese tasting is offered in the lounge cars.
The last vehicles and passengers are accepted at 3 pm, at which time the autoracks are closed and coupled together, the passenger cars are coupled together in the case of Sanford departures, and the autoracks are coupled to the rear of the consist. At 4 pm, the locomotive engineer is given clearance to occupy the main line, and the train departs the station to begin its run.
There are 2 or 3 dinner seatings, depending on how full the train is. Dinner (included in the ticket price) is served in the dining cars at 5, 7, and when there is a third seating, 9 pm. Each seating is announced over the intercoms in each car, and in each sleeping compartment. After the first dinner seating, a recent movie is shown on televisions in the lounge cars, which is repeated later in the evening. After midnight, the train arrives in Florence, South Carolina, where it stops briefly to be refueled and re-watered. A crew change also occurs here for the locomotive.
At 6 am, the dining car crew serves breakfast. No announcement is made for this seating until 7 am, however. Breakfast is served until 8 am.
As the train approaches the destination station, announcements are made concerning arrival time updates, and a general call for the passengers to gather up their personal belongings. At 9:30 am the train arrives in the destination station. Passengers may not immediately detrain at this point, as the autoracks are first decoupled from the consist, and in the case of the Sanford station, the passenger cars are split into 2 sections to fit on Sanford's shorter platforms. At this point the passengers are then allowed to detrain and move to the auto claim area. Cleaning crews move into the train once all passengers are off, and the train is re-supplied with that day's food and water.
The autoracks are further split into 4–6 sections and each section is lined up with a loading ramp (see picture). The doors between each are opened, and connecting ramps are lowered to allow vehicles to move between cars. At this point vehicles begin to roll off the autoracks and around to the claim area, where they are identified and announced by a vehicle number that was attached to the vehicle at the origin station. Vehicles are not unloaded in the same order they were loaded the previous day. It normally takes 2 hours to unload all vehicles from a full train.
Lorton Terminal
Lorton, VirginiaLorton, Virginia
Lorton is a census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. The population is 27,709 as of the 2008 census estimate.-History:...
is about a half-hour drive south of Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, just off Interstate 95 in Northern Virginia
Northern Virginia
Northern Virginia consists of several counties and independent cities in the Commonwealth of Virginia, in a widespread region generally radiating southerly and westward from Washington, D.C...
. Amtrak's new Lorton terminal opened in early 2000 as a replacement for the original station built during the 1970s, and features a large, modern waiting area with high glass walls. The station was designed by architect Hanny Hassan. The suspended sculpture in the lobby was designed by Patrick Sheridan. Outside the waiting room are the tracks where passenger cars are set out for boarding. The platform is 1480 feet (451 m) long.
Lorton was selected as site of the northern terminal because the 20 in 2 in (6.15 m) height autoracks were too tall
Loading gauge
A loading gauge defines the maximum height and width for railway vehicles and their loads to ensure safe passage through bridges, tunnels and other structures...
to pass through the First Street Tunnel into Washington, D.C.
Sanford Terminal
Sanford, FloridaSanford, Florida
Sanford is a city in, and the county seat of, Seminole County, Florida, United States. The population was 38,291 at the 2000 census. As of 2009, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau was 50,998...
is the southern terminus and is about a half-hour drive north of Orlando
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
. The original facility was an older and smaller facility than the terminal at Lorton. Currently, the Auto Train loads its passengers on two tracks in Sanford, as no one track is long enough to accommodate all the passenger railcars. Sanford's operation is also unique in that a railroad crossing runs through the middle of the rail yard. This complicates some switching procedures and also produces the need for a three-man yard conductor crew – conductor, assistant conductor, and footboards – as opposed to Lorton's two-man operation (conductor and assistant conductor). Both yards operate with one engineer. Sanford serves as the main mechanical and maintenance location for Auto Train, with diesel and car shops to service the fleet. Superliners and engines needing to be rotated out of Auto Train service are usually deadheaded to Lorton and then swapped out through an extra move to Ivy City in Washington.
On March 13, 2009, it was announced that $10.5M would be spent to rebuild the aging Auto-Train facilities in Sanford. Amtrak, the State of Florida, Seminole County and the City of Sanford coordinated their efforts to rebuild the facility. Groundbreaking for the new terminal took place on May 18, 2009. The new terminal opened on October 18, 2010, and is four times larger than the original station. It includes a gift shop, cafe, and a waiting area that can accommodate up to 600 passengers.
External links
- Amtrak's page on the Auto Train
- ThemeTrains.com - The Story of the 1971-1981 auto-train
- Bill's Railroad Empire--the original Auto-Train page N-scale modeling
- George Elwood's Fallen Flags site, original Auto-Train pages Lots of locomotive and rolling stock photos
- Transcribed text of an Auto-Train Corporation brochure (described as a "1971 brochure", although it must actually be from the period 1974-77), including information on the short-lived Louisville-to-Sanford Auto-Train route
- Diesel shop rail photo site Photo of Auto-Train diesel-electric locomotive when almost new
- Photos and data, Amtrak autoracks
- Orlando Sentinel newspaper article about Auto-Train Corporation and Amtrak's Auto Train replacement