Auto-Train Corporation , stylized ''auto-train'', was a privately owned passenger
railroad
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...
that operated from 1971 to 1981. Its trains included
autorack cars, enabling passengers to bring their own vehicles on their journey. The company used its own
rolling stock
The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, freight and passenger cars (or coaches), and non-revenue cars. Passenger vehicles ca ...
, and traveled on rails leased from major railroads. It served central
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...
from points in the Mid-Atlantic region near
Washington, D.C., and the Midwest near
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...
. The company failed after 10 years despite the popularity of the service on its primary route, which parallels busy
Interstate 95
Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the Canadia ...
in five states along the eastern U.S. coast.
After a hiatus, a similarly named and operated service (
Auto Train
''Auto Train'' is an scheduled daily train service for passengers and their automobiles operated by Amtrak between Lorton, Virginia (near Washington, D.C.), and Sanford, Florida (near Orlando). ''Auto Train'' is the only motorail service i ...
) began under the government-financed
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada. ...
in 1983, which became one of the railroad's most popular services.
History
An idea of Auto-Train Corporation founder
Eugene K. Garfield, a former employee of the
U.S. Department of Transportation, the novel approach allowed families to relax en route and save the expense and unfamiliarity of a rental car on arrival.
[.] The Auto-Train consists included
passenger car
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods.
The year 1886 is regarded as t ...
s,
autoracks, and a
caboose
A caboose is a crewed North American railroad car coupled at the end of a freight train. Cabooses provide shelter for crew at the end of a train, who were formerly required in switching and shunting, keeping a lookout for load shifting, dam ...
.
[.] Although the company had its own locomotives and rolling stock, Auto-Train Corporation trains initially operated on
Seaboard Coast Line (SCL) and
Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac (RF&P) tracks.
Auto-Train Corporation's new service began operations on December 6, 1971, between
Lorton, Virginia
Lorton is a census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. The population was 18,610 as of the 2010 census.
History
Lorton is named for a village in the Lake District National Park, Cumbria, in England. Joseph Plasket ...
, and
Sanford, Florida
Sanford is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Seminole County. As of the 2020 census, its population was 61,051.
Known as the "Historic Waterfront Gateway City", Sanford sits on the southern shore ...
. The service was popular with travelers. Soon, Auto-Train entrepreneurs sought to expand into other markets, and established a short-lived service between Louisville and Sanford, Florida. In 1978, the company announced plans for a service in Mexico between
Nuevo Laredo and
Querétaro City
Santiago de Querétaro (; Otomi: Dähnini Maxei), known simply as Querétaro City ( es, Ciudad de Querétaro), is the capital and largest city of the state of Querétaro, located in central Mexico. It is part of the macroregion of Bajío. It is ...
.
Lack of success from the Louisville expansion, high crew costs, and several accidents put Garfield's company into bankruptcy. Auto-Train Corporation ended its services in late April 1981.
Amtrak revival
Operating for almost 10 years, Auto-Train had developed a popular following, particularly among older travelers. No one else offered a similar service until, after a gap of almost two years, service was revived by
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada. ...
(the National Railroad Passenger Corporation), as their Auto Train service.
Rolling stock
Locomotives
Auto-Train used 13
GE U36B locomotives (4 additional units were ordered but were never delivered due to financial issues) as the primary motive power for its trains. Also included in the roster were
Baldwin S-12,
Baldwin VO-1000
The Baldwin VO-1000 is a diesel-electric switcher locomotive built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works between January 1939 and December 1946. These units were powered by a naturally aspirated eight- cylinder diesel engine rated at , and rode on ...
, and
ALCO S-2
The American Locomotive Company (often shortened to ALCO, ALCo or Alco) was an American manufacturer of locomotives, diesel generators, steel, and tanks that operated from 1901 to 1969. The company was formed by the merger of seven smaller locomo ...
locomotives that were used as switchers in the terminal stations.
Dome cars
Auto-Train acquired a significant number of
dome cars, so many that in 1974 it did not roster any conventional coaches. These included seven ex-
Western Pacific dome coaches, each seating 36, which Auto-Train called "Mini-Domes". These had previously run on the ''
California Zephyr
The ''California Zephyr'' is a passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area (at Emeryville), via Omaha, Denver, Salt Lake City, and Reno. At , it is Amtrak's longest daily route, and second-longest overall ...
''. It also acquired all but one of the
Santa Fe's Big Domes (six dormitory-lounges and seven of eight full lounges) and the lion's share of the
Union Pacific's
Astra Dome
The Astra Domes were a fleet of streamlined dome cars built by the American Car and Foundry Company ("ACF") and later by Pullman-Standard ("PS") for the Union Pacific Railroad between 1954–1958. ACF built a total of 35 cars including coache ...
fleet: seven coaches, nine dining cars, and 14 lounge-observation cars. Two of the Big Dome lounges and two of the Astra Dome lounges were rebuilt as "Night Club" cars. The remainder of the Astra Domes were dubbed "Maxie-Domes", as opposed to the "Mini-Domes".
Food service cars
Auto-Train acquired a wide variety of food-service cars. These included ex-Seaboard kitchen-dormitory cars, ex-Seaboard
dining car
A dining car (American English) or a restaurant car (British English), also a diner, is a railroad passenger car that serves meals in the manner of a full-service, sit-down restaurant.
It is distinct from other railroad food service cars that do ...
s rebuilt as buffet cars, and five
Norfolk and Western and Western Pacific coaches which were also rebuilt as buffet cars.
Sleeping cars
Sleeping cars
The sleeping car or sleeper (often ) is a railway passenger car that can accommodate all passengers in beds of one kind or another, for the purpose of sleeping. George Pullman was the American innovator of the sleeper car.
The first such cars ...
acquired by Auto-Train included six ex-Santa Fe Regal series sleeping cars (four bedrooms, four compartments, two drawing rooms), five ex-Union Pacific Ocean series sleeping cars (five bedrooms, two compartment, two drawing rooms), and three ex-
Seaboard sleepers (five bedrooms, one compartment, four sections, four roomettes).
Nonpassenger stock
The centerpieces of the Auto-Train were the 62 ex-
Canadian National bilevel
autoracks, which were acquired between 1971 and 1973. The passenger equipment acquired by Auto-Train used steam heat, so the company also acquired
steam generator cars. These were mostly former
Great Northern Great Northern may refer to:
Transport
* One of a number of railways; see Great Northern Railway (disambiguation).
* Great Northern Railway (U.S.), a defunct American transcontinental railroad and major predecessor of the BNSF Railway.
* Great ...
cars, but the Auto-Train also rebuilt several former Western Pacific and Santa Fe baggage cars into steam generator cars.
See also
*
Accompanied car train
*
Motorail, a similar service in the United Kingdom
References
*
External links
ThemeTrains.com - The Story of the 1971-1981 auto-trainN Scale
*
ttps://web.archive.org/web/20151017040016/http://www.abandonedrails.com/Auto-Train_Corporation Pictures of Auto-Train U36B locomotives Diesel Shop
Orlando Sentinel newspaper article about Auto-Train Corp and Amtrak's Auto Train replacement''Orlando Sentinel'' article on Sanford Terminal renovation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Auto Train Corporation
Auto Train
Defunct Virginia railroads
Defunct Florida railroads
Defunct Georgia (U.S. state) railroads
Defunct South Carolina railroads
Defunct North Carolina railroads
Former Class I railroads in the United States
Railway services introduced in 1971
Railway services discontinued in 1981