The 819 made a few trips on 58/59 to Chicago as well as 19/20 to DC. It was on the way to Sanford for Auto Train engineers training. The 819, 262 and 312 were sent to Mobile where they were cut up for scrap.
Emphasis mine...and double bizarro:
Some time back there was a report of a documentary series, reputed to be
Forensic Files, doing an episode on this wreck, and used O Gauge models in a diorama to re-create the accident as it unfolded (it was remarked that the O-Gauge equipment held up well to the repeated simulated wrecks). I never found any proof of this, however. None of the episode guides for the series mentioned any train wrecks. Maybe I didn't look hard enough.
Some years later (2011?) I embarked on a project to build an O Gauge approximation of the Amtrak Auto Train. I couldn't re-create it car-for car (technically possible, but not enough room or amps to do it) but was able to assemble 9 Superliners and 12 autoracks. The Genesis locomotives weren't available in the "wave" scheme, save for a limited edition made by MTH for Walthers, so the four Phase III units I had were sent to a custom painter. The two MTH units were numbered according to the numbers cast into their number boards. The Williams units, only having painted number boards, were renumbered according to whatever numerals the custom painter had left.
One of them by pure coincidence was redecorated into the 819, pictured in
this RR.net thread (second page) about models whose prototypes were involved in accidents (I wasn't aware 819 was in the wreck till someone pointed it out after I posted photos to the
O Gauge Railroading forum). What I didn't know at the time was that of the four repainted locomotives, this particular unit would have wound up assigned to my model
Auto-Train since Williams sells power kits to install in it's non-powered locomotives, and I bought one of these this past fall in order to upgrade the non-powered Williams unit so I could have a four motored consist to pull the train. Up till today, I had no idea that the real 819 would actually have been in A-T service had it not been in the wreck.
---PCJ