Auto-Train Corporation was a privately owned railroad which used its own rolling stock, and traveled on rails leased from major railroads along the route of its trains, serving central Florida from points in the Mid-Atlantic region near Washington, DC, and the Midwest near Louisville, Kentucky, during the 1970s. Despite the popularity of the service on its primary route, which parallels busy Interstate 95 along much of the eastern coast of the United States in five states, the company failed financially after operating for almost 10 years. After a hiatus, a similarly named and operated service was begun under the government-financed Amtrak in 1983, which became one of the railroad's most popular services.
History
An idea of Auto-Train Corporation founder Eugene K. Garfield, a former employee of the US Department of Transportation, the novel approach allowed families to relax en route and save the expense and unfamiliarity of a rental car on arrival. The Auto-Train consists included passenger cars, autoracks, and a caboose. Although the company had its own locomotives and rolling stock, Auto-Train Corporation trains initially operated on Seaboard Coast Line and Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac tracks. Auto-Train Corporation's new service began operations on December 6, 1971, between Lorton, Virginia, and Sanford, Florida. The service was a big hit with travelers. Before long, the ambitious entrepreneurs of Auto-Train were looking to expand into other markets, and even established a short-lived service between Louisville and Sanford, Florida. Lack of success from the Louisville expansion, high crew costs, and several accidents put Garfield's company into bankruptcy. Auto-Train Corporation was forced to end its services in late April 1981.
Amtrak revival
Operating for almost 10 years, Auto-Train had developed a popular following, particularly among older travelers. No one else offered a similar service until, after a gap of almost two years, service was revived by Amtrak, a federally chartered corporation that operates most intercity passenger trains in the United States, as their Auto Train service.
Rolling stock
Locomotives
Auto-Train utilized a fleet of sixteen GE U36B locomotives as the primary motive power for its trains. Also included in the roster were Baldwin S-12, Baldwin VO-1000, and ALCO S-2 locomotives that were used as switchers in the terminal stations.
Dome cars
Auto-Train acquired a significant number of dome cars, so many that in 1974 it did not roster any conventional coaches. These included seven ex-Western Pacific dome coaches, each seating 36, which Auto-Train called "Mini-Domes". These had previously run on the California Zephyr. It also acquired all but one of the Santa Fe's Big Domes and the lion's share of the Union Pacific's Astra Dome fleet: seven coaches, nine dining cars, and 14 lounge-observation cars. Two of the Big Dome lounges and two of the Astra Dome lounges were rebuilt as "Night Club" cars. The remainder of the Astra Domes were dubbed "Maxie-Domes", as opposed to the "Mini-Domes".
Auto-Train acquired a wide variety of food-service cars. These included ex-Seaboard kitchen-dormitory cars, ex-Seaboard dining cars rebuilt as buffet cars, and five Norfolk and Western and Western Pacific coaches which were also rebuilt as buffet cars.
Sleeping cars
acquired by Auto-Train included six ex-Santa Fe Regal series sleeping cars, five ex-Union Pacific Ocean series sleeping cars, and three ex-Seaboard sleepers.
Nonpassenger stock
The centerpieces of the Auto-Train were the 62 ex-Canadian National bilevel autoracks, which were acquired between 1971 and 1973. The passenger equipment acquired by Auto-Train used steam heat, so the company also acquired steam generator cars. These were mostly former Great Northern cars, but the Auto-Train also rebuilt several former Western Pacific and Santa Fe baggage cars into steam generator cars.
