The ''Shenandoah'' was a daily 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. ...

between

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and

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line w ...

from 1976 until 1981.

History

The ''Shenandoah'' began operating on October 31, 1976.Corridor Takeover, New Equipment, Highlight Amtrak's 1976 '' Amtrak News'' January 15, 1977 page 1 The name came from the '' Shenandoah'', a

to Akron train operated by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad until

took over the nation's passenger trains in 1971. Parkersburg Amtrak station

Connecting service at Cincinnati to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

was provided by the ''

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''/'' James Whitcomb Riley'' until 1977, after which it was provided by the ''

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **'' Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **'' Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, t ...

''. Amtrak discontinued the ''Shenandoah'' on September 30, 1981, citing low ridership. Amtrak considered the ''Shenandoah'' one of its "weakest lines"; the Department of Transportation had recommended its discontinuance in 1979. Service on the Washington–Cumberland segment of the ''Shenandoah'' was replaced by the new Washington–Pittsburgh–Chicago '' Capitol Limited''. The Cincinnati–Cumberland portion remains without rail service, and

CSX CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of trac ...

subsequently abandoned much of the line.

Equipment

The ''Shenandoah'' originally operated with Amfleet coaches and a cafe car; one or two coaches were used west of Martinsburg, with two additional coaches on the more-heavily-used segment between Martinsburg and Washington, D.C. The original GE P30CH locomotives were replaced by new EMD F40PH locomotives in 1977. Consists varied based on demand; many trains were just two to three cars long. The 1978 switch to overnight service required the train to have sleeping facilities per

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rules. Amtrak added two sleeping compartments each to a pair of Amfleet coaches (dubbed "Ampad"), which began service on May 3, 1978.A Congressional mandate resulted in a conventional 10-6 sleeper (10 roomettes and 6 double bedrooms) being added on October 28, 1979. The sleeper was removed on April 26, 1981.

References

External links

1981 timetable
{{Former Amtrak routes Former Amtrak routes Passenger rail transportation in Maryland Passenger rail transportation in Ohio Passenger rail transportation in Washington, D.C. Passenger rail transportation in West Virginia Railway services introduced in 1976 Railway services discontinued in 1981