"Limited" Trains

[Bill Haithcoat]

I could not agree more.

Thanks usually I only make a few of myself when I have a thought like that.

I was not even close to being around when Amtrak came around. So my question about Amtrak coming around is this. Did Amtrak have to win over the customers who usually road with the freight railroads, or were people trusting and excited about these new government run trains?

As nearly as I can recall, people had basically forgotten that passenger trains even existed, and they were not particulary interested in the new organization.

But somehow, some way I find a little more awareness about Amtrak today. Even though there were so many more trains back then, the public today seems to be more aware of Amtrak. Maybe because of the national publicity it gets, the funding issue, etc. More so than a local railroad might have gotten away from its geographical area.

Seems I find myself arguing less trying to explain why I take the train. People used to give me a harder time than today. People I was around could not get past the comparative slowness of the train vs plane.

 

[MrFSS]

I could not agree more.

Thanks usually I only make a few of myself when I have a thought like that.

I was not even close to being around when Amtrak came around. So my question about Amtrak coming around is this. Did Amtrak have to win over the customers who usually road with the freight railroads, or were people trusting and excited about these new government run trains?

As nearly as I can recall, people had basically forgotten that passenger trains even existed, and they were not particularly interested in the new organization.

But somehow, some way I find a little more awareness about Amtrak today. Even though there were so many more trains back then, the public today seems to be more aware of Amtrak. Maybe because of the national publicity it gets, the funding issue, etc. More so than a local railroad might have gotten away from its geographical area.

Seems I find myself arguing less trying to explain why I take the train. People used to give me a harder time than today. People I was around could not get past the comparative slowness of the train vs plane.

I mentioned in another thread that I am reading a history of the inception of Amtrak.

It needs to be understood that when Amtrak was created it was created to FAIL!

The freight railroads, congress, the ICC, and the president of the US didn't think Amtrak would last but a few years and by creating Amtrak they were doing so as a way for passenger service to soon be non-existent without the freight railroads taking the fall.

A lot more complicated than that, but, Amtrak was created as a way to eventually have passenger rail go away!

Auto and air travel were the thing of the future and trucks were even starting to cut into the freight business.

And, it all started in the mid-60's with Amtrak coming into being in 1971.

 

[the_traveler]

Just look at all those years of $-0- (or nearly so) budgets for Amtrak (and $$$$ billions for roads and air traffic)! That says the Government meant Amtrak to fail.

One of the reasons that many people even know about and/or care about Amtrak today is the higher gas prices. (Especially last year when it went to $3 and $4 a gallon.) When gas was $1 a gallon or less, not many cared about a rail system. And when flights coast to coast were $79, people couldn't understand why someone would take a 4 day trip instead of a 5-10 hour flight. But now since both are higher, more people want Amtrak around!

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

I could not agree more.

Thanks usually I only make a few of myself when I have a thought like that.

I was not even close to being around when Amtrak came around. So my question about Amtrak coming around is this. Did Amtrak have to win over the customers who usually road with the freight railroads, or were people trusting and excited about these new government run trains?

As nearly as I can recall, people had basically forgotten that passenger trains even existed, and they were not particularly interested in the new organization.

But somehow, some way I find a little more awareness about Amtrak today. Even though there were so many more trains back then, the public today seems to be more aware of Amtrak. Maybe because of the national publicity it gets, the funding issue, etc. More so than a local railroad might have gotten away from its geographical area.

Seems I find myself arguing less trying to explain why I take the train. People used to give me a harder time than today. People I was around could not get past the comparative slowness of the train vs plane.

I mentioned in another thread that I am reading a history of the inception of Amtrak.

It needs to be understood that when Amtrak was created it was created to FAIL!

The freight railroads, congress, the ICC, and the president of the US didn't think Amtrak would last but a few years and by creating Amtrak they were doing so as a way for passenger service to soon be non-existent without the freight railroads taking the fall.

A lot more complicated than that, but, Amtrak was created as a way to eventually have passenger rail go away!

Auto and air travel were the thing of the future and trucks were even starting to cut into the freight business.

And, it all started in the mid-60's with Amtrak coming into being in 1971.

That has come out as indeed very true. But they were not honest to our faces,at least as I remember it. We in the public thought it was a good faith effort to salvage trains. Tear down and build back up with just a few of the lines that had better potential--and work from there. At least that is the way I remember them telling us. It was originally to be called Railpax (spelling?)

I remember being relieved that the South Wind from Chicago to Florida was kept.Soon thereafter re-named the Floridian and discontinued in 1979.

Those days were kind of good. The equipment---which would later be called heritage--was still in good shape. Largely speaking Amtrak took the best of the best for the new system...pretty good for awhile.

Since it was a national company, equipment could be shipped around all over the country. Trains could have domes which did not have them before, leg rest coaches where they did not have them before, even a slumbercoach or two where they did not have them before. Of course the equipment did not match, it often did not anyway even before Antrak. And parts became a problem due to entirely different builders, etc. But it was fun for awhile and it did mean good quality inside where the passengers rode (outside paint notwithstanding, until things started breaking down of course

 

[Tony]

I mentioned in another thread that I am reading a history of the inception of Amtrak.
It needs to be understood that when Amtrak was created it was created to FAIL!

The freight railroads, congress, the ICC, and the president of the US didn't think Amtrak would last but a few years and by creating Amtrak they were doing so as a way for passenger service to soon be non-existent without the freight railroads taking the fall.

A lot more complicated than that, but, Amtrak was created as a way to eventually have passenger rail go away!

Auto and air travel were the thing of the future and trucks were even starting to cut into the freight business.

And, it all started in the mid-60's with Amtrak coming into being in 1971.

My view of rail history is a bit different.

Railroads were the big "evil" corporation. Kind of like the way we view oil companies today, when gas is over $4.00 a gal.

So, "public policy" became how to tare the railroads a part. Attaching the railroads was always made for a good political speech.

Evolving from this, became heavily government SUBSIDIZE auto and air travel. I mean, just how many trucking companies would there be today, if each of them had to pay, IN FULL, for ever highway and road they travelled upon?

And those policies subsided. By the 1960's both passenger AND FREIGHT railroad service was in deep financial trouble. Yea, they created Amtrak, but don't forget they created Conrail too!

If the government subsidized railroads for the past 50+ years has heavily as they subsidized, for example, the trucking industry's highways, we would still have a strong rail system in this country with many players (Erie, PRR, etc).