The ''Hilltopper'' was a passenger train operated 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 ...

in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It ran daily from

South Station South Station, officially The Governor Michael S. Dukakis Transportation Center at South Station, is the largest railroad station and intercity bus terminal in Greater Boston and New England's second-largest transportation center after Logan In ...

in Boston, Massachusetts to Catlettsburg station in

Catlettsburg, Kentucky Catlettsburg is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of Boyd County, Kentucky, United States. The city population was 1,856 at the 2010 census. Catlettsburg is a part of the Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH, Metropolitan Statistical Area ...

. The run made 34 stops in 11 states and the

District of Columbia ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

History

The Chicago-Norfolk ''

Mountaineer Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, an ...

'', introduced in 1975, suffered from low ridership and high costs. Despite its failings, West Virginia senator

Robert Byrd Robert Carlyle Byrd (born Cornelius Calvin Sale Jr.; November 20, 1917 – June 28, 2010) was an American politician and musician who served as a United States senator from West Virginia for over 51 years, from 1959 until his death in 2010. A ...

demanded that Amtrak replace it with another train on the Norfolk and Western Railway (N&W) to serve his rural constituents - and that the new train would use new

Amfleet Amfleet is a fleet of single-level intercity railroad passenger cars built by the Budd Company for American company Amtrak in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Budd based the Amfleet design on its earlier Metroliner electric multiple unit. An in ...

equipment and serve Washington, D.C. The Washington-Catlettsburg ''Hilltopper'' replaced the ''Mountaineer'' on June 1, 1977. The Hilltopper retained all ''Mountaineer'' stops between Catlettsburg and

Petersburg, Virginia Petersburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 33,458. The Bureau of Econ ...

, while the ''

James Whitcomb Riley James Whitcomb Riley (October 7, 1849 – July 22, 1916) was an American writer, poet, and best-selling author. During his lifetime he was known as the "Hoosier Poet" and "Children's Poet" for his dialect works and his children's poetry. His ...

'' (which had run combined with the ''Mountaineer'' west of Catlettsburg) continued to provide a Chicago connection. Only Norfolk and Suffolk, Virginia lost train service; a bus connection to Petersburg was provided. The ''Hilltopper'' had warm supporters in Byrd and West Virginian congressman

Harley Staggers Harley Orrin Staggers Sr. (August 3, 1907 – August 20, 1991) was an American politician who served 16 terms in the United States House of Representatives from 1949 to 1981, representing West Virginia's 2nd Congressional District as a Democrat ...

but it was "cited by critics as an example of everything that was wrong with Amtrak". Beginning on January 8, 1978, the ''Hilltopper'' was combined with the '' Night Owl'', creating through service from Boston to

. Even with this effort to improve its

farebox recovery ratio The farebox recovery ratio (also called fare recovery ratio, fare recovery rate or other terms) of a passenger transportation system is the fraction of operating expenses which are met by the fares paid by passengers. It is computed by dividing ...

, the train averaged 33 passengers per trip in 1978, dropping to between 2 and 15 per trip in 1979. Its average speed of was the lowest on the long-distance system. Farebox recovery was a dismal 25%, with the train losing $200,000 per year. The ''Hilltopper'' was one of five routes cut on October 1, 1979 as part of a reorganization by the Carter Administration, and the only of the five where no federal injunctions were obtained to keep service running. Many of the train's riders were former N&W employees with lifetime passes. The ''Night Owl'' continued to be run after the cut. The end of the ''Hilltopper'' spelled the end of intercity rail service along much of its route in

Southwest Virginia Southwest Virginia, often abbreviated as SWVA, is a mountainous region of Virginia in the westernmost part of the commonwealth. Located within the broader region of western Virginia, Southwest Virginia has been defined alternatively as all Virg ...

and

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the B ...

. However, one daily ''

Northeast Regional The ''Northeast Regional'' is an intercity rail service operated by Amtrak in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic United States. In the past it has been known as the ''NortheastDirect'', ''Acela Regional'', or ''Regional''. It is Amtrak's busi ...

'' round trip was extended from Lynchburg to Roanoke on October 31, 2017.

Proposed restored service

As recently as October 2019, passenger rail advocates are pushing for restoration of east-west service from Christiansburg and the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Hampton Roads area, via Roanoke, Lynchburg, Charlottesville, and Richmond with a "Commonwealth Corridor." This would be the first cross-Virginia passenger train since the ''Hilltopper.''Virginians for High Speed Rail, Southern Environmental Law Center, "EXPANDING VIRGINIA'S PASSENGER RAIL, CONNECTING THE BLUE RIDGE TO THE BEACH WITH THE COMMONWEALTH CORRIDOR" http://www.vhsr.com/sites/default/files/2019-09/VCC%20Report%20Final.pdf

References

External links