The ''Shenandoah'' was a daily passenger train operated by

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

between

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

and

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

from 1976 until 1981.

History

The ''Shenandoah'' began operating on October 31, 1976.Corridor Takeover, New Equipment, Highlight Amtrak's 1976 ''

Amtrak News The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

'' January 15, 1977, page 1 The name came from the '' Shenandoah'', a

–

Akron Akron () is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the fifth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 190,469 at the 2020 census. The Akron metropolitan area, covering Summit and Portage counties, had ...

train operated by the

Baltimore & Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the oldest railroad in the United States and the first steam-operated common carrier. Construction of the line began in 1828, and it operated as B&O from 1830 until 1987, when it was merged into the Chessie ...

until

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

Connecting service at Cincinnati to

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

was provided by the ''

Mountaineer Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become sports ...

''/''

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 ...

'' until 1977, after which it was provided by the ''

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

''. Amtrak discontinued the ''Shenandoah'' on September 30, 1981, citing low ridership. Amtrak considered the ''Shenandoah'' one of its weakest lines, and 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 never regained passenger rail service, and

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

subsequently abandoned much of the track.

Equipment

The ''Shenandoah'' originally operated with

Amfleet Amfleet is a fleet of single-level intercity railroad passenger car (rail), 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 Budd Metroliner, Me ...

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 The GE P30CH was one of the first brand-new diesel-electric locomotives built for Amtrak by General Electric during Amtrak's early years. The design was based on the GE U30C, but had a cowl carbody like its EMD competitors. Amtrak operated the ...

locomotives were replaced by new

EMD F40PH The EMD F40PH is a four-axle B-B diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division in several variants from 1975 to 1992. Intended for use on Amtrak's short-haul passenger routes, it became the backbone of Amtrak's ...

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

Interstate Commerce Commission The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was a regulatory agency in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads (and later Trucking industry in the United States, truc ...

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 six 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