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Heritage Fleet

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This article is about Amtrak's passenger car fleet. For other uses, see Heritage fleet (disambiguation).
Heritage Fleet
Amtrak #8502, a former CB&Q diner, on the Silver Star in 2014
The interior of an Amtrak Pacific Parlour Car, a refurbished ex-Santa Fe Hi-Level lounge.
In serviceAll retired
ManufacturerBudd Company,
Pullman-Standard,
St. Louis Car Company
Constructed1946–1964
OperatorsAmtrak

Amtrak's Heritage Fleet consisted of the rolling stock provided to it when it assumed passenger service on commercial railroads. The name was applied to a 1977–1983 program that converted the older, mainly streamlined, cars from steam heating to head-end power.[1] The final Heritage Fleet car was retired in 2019.

History

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Cars undergoing conversion in 1980

When Amtrak took over most intercity passenger service in the United States in 1971, the company selected the best equipment from its predecessor railroads. Amtrak selected about 1,190 of the circa 3,000 passenger cars available; all were air-conditioned, and over 90% were stainless steel.[2]: 108 [3] None of the initial cars came from Penn Central due to its bankruptcy proceedings, even though it was the source of a substantial proportion of Amtrak's initial trains. Amtrak acquired additional secondhand equipment from various railroads, including Penn Central, during the 1970s.[2]: 108 

Amtrak used its secondhand equipment across its national system – often with cars from multiple railroads seen in a single train, creating the "Rainbow Era". This created maintenance difficulties: mechanics from one railroad were not familiar with the equipment from another.[4]: 17  Almost all of the secondhand equipment was steam heated; only eight cars from the Keystone and 16 ex-C&NW cars had head-end power (HEP).[2]: 153 [4]: 76  Amtrak acquired its first large HEP fleet, the Amfleet cars, in 1975–76. The company converted 30 ex-US Army troop kitchen cars to baggage cars with HEP in 1976 to operate with Amfleet cars on the Northeast Corridor.[2]: 114–115, 170 

The unusually harsh winter of 1976–1977 sidelined much of the steam-heated fleet, causing cancellation of most Amtrak service in the Midwest for two months.[4]: 32  The HEP-equipped Amfleet corridor cars handled the weather better; some were even pressed into service on long-distance routes.[5]: 96 [4]: 78  On May 26, 1977, Amtrak began a program to convert steam-heat cars to HEP at Beech Grove Shops.[4]: 33  The rebuild cost $250,000–$400,000 per car – one-third the cost of new equipment.[6][7] Beech Grove was initially to handle all 500 cars selected for HEP conversion, but 175 were overhauled elsewhere to speed the process.[5]: 260  In a separate program, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway handled the conversion of the Hi-Levels in its Topeka, Kansas shops.[7]

The first Broadway Limited with HEP-equipped cars in March 1980

On October 15, 1979, the Lake Shore Limited was the first Amtrak route to be permanently assigned HEP-equipped Heritage Fleet cars.[5]: 34  The Broadway Limited followed in March–April 1980, then the Crescent and Silver Meteor in 1981.[5]: 34 [4]: 78  The conversion of the Silver Star on March 10, 1982, completed Amtrak's transition to HEP equipment.[4]: 78  (Most of the western long-distance trains were converted to new Superliner equipment in 1979–1981.) The final cars from the main HEP program were completed in March 1983.[2]: 170  A small number of cars were converted later, including several dome cars in 1984.[4]: 79 

The HEP conversion program was intended to wring about ten additional years of service out of the aging cars.[7] Amfleet II coaches began replacing older coaches on the Broadway Limited in 1982 and the Lake Shore Limited in 1983, and Heritage Fleet coaches were gone from the latter by 1990. Viewliner sleeping cars replaced Heritage Fleet sleepers in the 1990s.[5]: 34  Nevertheless, some Heritage Fleet cars remained in use into the 21st century. By 2011, 101 ex-steam-heat cars remained active: 67 baggage cars, 20 dining cars, five "Pacific Parlour" Hi-Level lounge cars, one dome car, and eight non-revenue cars.[2]: 193 

The Viewliner II cars, delivered from 2014 to 2021, replaced the remaining Heritage Fleet baggage and dining cars were used on the Eastern single-level trains.[8][9] The final use of the remaining Pacific Parlour cars on the Coast Starlight was on February 4, 2018.[10] The last Heritage Fleet car in Amtrak use was a 1955-built ex-Great Northern Railway full-length dome car, Ocean View, which was manufactured in 1955. Used intermittently, it was retired in 2019 due to its age and maintenance expense.[11]

Roster

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Fleet numbers Type Builder Year built Number built Notes
1000–1006 Baggage NSC 1957–1958 7
1127 Baggage ACF 1950 1
1126, 1128–1136, 1175–1177 Baggage P-S 1947–1957 13
1137–1138 Baggage ACF 1956 2
1139 Baggage StLC 1962 1 Wrecked in Big Bayou Canot rail accident in 1993[12]
1140–1158 Baggage ACF 1946–1947 13
1159–1174 Baggage Budd 1947–1953 16
1178–1195 Baggage StLC 1952–1954 17 Rebuilt from Baggage Dormitories and Lounges
1203–1249 Baggage Budd 1953–1957 46
1250–1272 Baggage ACF 1950–1954 23
1350–1379 Short Baggage StLC 1953 30
1450–1455 Baggage Dormitory StLC 1952 4
1610–1617, 1628–1633 Baggage Dormitory StLC 1952 14 Some renumbered from 1400 series
1618–1627 Baggage Dormitory Budd 1946–1950 9
1700–1740 Baggage Budd 1950–1961 39 Converted from 4000, 4600, 4700 series coaches
1750–1763 Mail Car Budd 1950–1961 14 Converted from lower 1700 series Baggage cars
2050–2056 Slumbercoach (16 Single, 10 Double Slumbercoach) Budd 1949 7
2080–2097 Slumbercoach (24 Single, 8 Double Slumbercoach) Budd 1956–1959 18
2220–2222 Sleeper (11 Bedroom) Budd 1952–1956 3
2230–2235 Sleeper (11 Bedroom) P-S 1956 6
2430–2482 Sleeper (ADA 10 Roomette, 6 Bedroom) Budd 1948–1952 40
2500–2524 Dormitory Lounge Budd 1949–1950 25 Rebuilt from 2800-2900 series sleepers
2871–2997 Sleeper (10 Roomette, 6 Bedroom) Budd 1949–1950 36
3100–3105 Lounge StLC 1954 6
3106–3127 Lounge Budd 1948–1952 20
4000–4023 Coach (ADA 44 Seat) Budd 1950–1954 21
4600–4626, 4646–4647 Coach (44 Seat) StLC 1960–1964 29
4627–4645, 4648–4649 Coach (44 Seat) Budd 1950–1961 21
4700–4742 Coach (48 Seat) Budd 1948–1953 43
7000–7007 Coach (ADA 85 Seat) Budd 1952 8
7600–7629 Coach (85 Seat) Budd 1952–1953 29 Some cars rebuilt from 4700 series
8500–8532 Diner Budd 1948–1958 32 Some cars rebuilt from 8700 series
8550–8559 Diner Grill Budd 1948–1958 10 Rebuilt from lower 8500 series
8600–8603 Table Car StLC 1960–1964 4 Rebuilt from 4600 series
8700–8716 Cafeteria Budd 1950–1956 12
8750–8752 Kitchen Budd 1949 3 Rebuilt from 8500 series
9300–9302 Dome Lounge Budd 1955 3
9310–9312 Dome Lounge P-S 1952 3
9400–9412 Dome Coach Budd 1955 13
39900–39938 Hi-Level Transition Coach Dorm Budd 1956–1964 37 Ex-Santa Fe, El Capitan service
39940–39964 Hi-Level Coach Budd 1956–1964 20 Ex-Santa Fe, El Capitan service
39970–39975 Hi-Level Lounge Budd 1956 6 Ex-Santa Fe, El Capitan service
39980–39985 Hi-Level Diner Budd 1956 6 Ex-Santa Fe, El Capitan service

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Solomon, Brian (2004). Amtrak. Saint Paul, Minnesota: MBI. ISBN 978-0-7603-1765-5.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Simon, Elbert; Warner, David C. (2011). Holland, Kevin J. (ed.). Amtrak by the Numbers: A Comprehensive Passenger Car and Motive Power Roster – 1971–2011. Kansas City, Missouri: White River Productions. ISBN 978-1-932804-12-6.
  3. ^ ""We've Rejected 2 Out Of Every 3 Cars" advertisement, 1971". Amtrak. 1971.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Schafer, Mike (1991). All Aboard Amtrak: 1971–1991. Piscataway, New Jersey: Railpace Co. ISBN 978-0-9621-5414-0. OCLC 24545029.
  5. ^ a b c d e Sanders, Craig (2006). Amtrak in the Heartland. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-34705-3.
  6. ^ "From Ugly Duckling To Graceful Swan". On Track. 1 (1): 14. June 1981.
  7. ^ a b c "Beech Grove HEP Conversion Program Results In Like-New Car For Passengers". Amtrak News. 7 (7): 8. August 1980.
  8. ^ Bowen, Douglas John (October 7, 2014). "Amtrak's new wheels hit the rails". Railway Age.
  9. ^ Johnston, Bob (August 27, 2021). "Viewliner II sleeping cars headed to Lake Shore Limited's New York section". Trains News Wire.
  10. ^ "Coast Starlight Parlour Car Removed" (Press release). Amtrak. Retrieved February 11, 2018.
  11. ^ "Amtrak's 'Great Dome' car has been retired". Times Union. 2019-08-30. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  12. ^ "Amtrak Big Bayou, Alabama Derailment 09/22/23". trainweb.org. Retrieved 2022-08-28.
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