Fascinating photos from the 1970s reveal the vibrant promise

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Yowza!

Everyone in this picture looks REALLY uncomfortable http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/01/ ... 158032.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Lest we forget, that is how airlines dressed both Flight and Ground public contact personnel back then.

The prevalent Amttak corporate philosophy was simple: airlines knew "how to do it", railroads did not. So Amtrak went out and hired managers for Marketing, Food and Beverage, and ticketing from the airlines. Anyone such as myself who bought tickets beyond "one way coach" knows what a byzantine labyrinth existed, and Amtrak made definite improvements. The other two.....such is in.the eye of the beholder.

Some interesting station photos in there. The one of NYP with the ticket counter being in the rotunda at the bottom of the escalators, that must've created a logjam of people. And Washington Union Station seems quite dark and dreary, of course this was post-restoration.

SJ (and Everyone):

The NYP Amtrak Ticket Office pictured dates from the mid 1960s PRR revisions to Penn Station.
This was removed and the floor opened up during late 1980s renovations. At that time the NYP
Ticket Office was relocated to the back west walls of the Concourse where they remain today.
I never remembered lines at the NYP Ticket Office windows to be any huge problem back then.
The photo of the Information Desk out in front dates from the early 1980s - I can tell from the
timetable folders in the front racks. My Father was a station employee at NYP back during this
entire era and I remember how NYP was back in the 70s and 80s well. It is better today.

That WAS Union Station photo dates from the early 70s before construction began on the ill-fated
National Visitors Center for the 1976 Bicentennial - a move which turned out to be a tremendous
mistake. The major renovation project during the second half of the 1980s not only saved this
station but also created a Washington visitor destination for tourists and commuters alike...

I will comment on these pictures in my next post on this topic - I have seen all of these here
before at Railroad.net and elsewhere in the past. Fascinating that a British news outfit was
interested in Amtrak's early first decade (1971-1981) history and posted all these...

MACTRAXX

Everyone:

I will add this information about these Amtrak historical photographs:

1-1971/72 publicity photo in Metroclub chair car. Note PC logo visible in right window.
2-UA Turbo Engineer and Passenger Service Representative in publicity photo taken at NYP.
3-T. Saunders, Coach Attendant 1971/72
4-Counter Car from early 70s - Auto-Train colors on interior?
5-Doug Riddell Picture - Turbo Nationwide 1972 Tour stop.
6-SDP40F 536 - North Coast Hiawatha Picture - mid 70s.
7-Publicity Picture - mid 70s - revised female Dining Car crew uniform.
8-NYP Information Desk - early 80s. The Amtrak timetables in the racks, Resorts International
Atlantic City ad up above and the etched laminated plastic signs (the "CLOSED" and window #
signs on the Ticket Office windows and the free Hotel phone on the right at the Info Booth) help
me date this picture...
9-NYP Ticket Office 1971/72. It would not surprise me if these two NYP pics were taken a decade
apart. The far left hand windows was where PC commuter tickets to New Jersey points were sold.
10-WAS Union Station picture before NVC Construction - early 70s
11-E unit 284 W/Amfleet cars - rare publicity picture 1975/76. E units rarely hauled Amfleet cars.
12-SDP40Fs help date this picture at Fort Worth, TX.
13-Metroliner 4 car train on either Bush or Gunpowder River Bridges, MD. Notice the different
logos and color schemes on each car. The Amtrak logos were printed on a thin white plastic
panel that was glued into place on the car sides and front end. The red pinstripe was Scotchlite.
A few select cars got front/side color scheme painted on - this was one of the only known uses
of paint on the Metroliner car fleet. The 1979 rebuilt cars mainly used Scotchlite reflectorization
on the front ends (the big word Amtrak) and on the sides as a comparison.
14-President Gerald R. and Betty Ford on a "Whistle Stop" tour during the 1976 Presidential
Election campaign. Republican candidate Ford lost to Democrat Jimmy Carter that year.
15-Amclub ad-1976. Note E unit and cars in bottom of ad similar to #11.
16-Turboliner ad-1976. Note routes listed. NYS and Montreal: Rohr Turboliners.
Chicago-DET-MIL-PHR: French RTG01 Turboliners.
17-1979 ad during Energy Crisis/gasoline shortage. This was used on some timetable folders also.
18-Ticket Folder drawing 1979/80 thereabouts promoting the then-new Superliners.
19-From 1972 car diagram and train description booklet titled "The Amtrak Experience".
I have a copy of this in my personal collection in storage.

This is a good group of Amtrak historical pictures. I always like looking at these - some bring
back memories to me...

MACTRAXX

#4 looks like an ex UP lunch counter car.

MACTRAXX wrote:Everyone:

I will add this information about these Amtrak historical photographs:

4-Counter Car from early 70s - Auto-Train colors on interior?

This is a good group of Amtrak historical pictures. I always like looking at these - some bring
back memories to me...

MACTRAXX

Cant help but notice how slim everyone was in those days. Of course I realize the publicity shots use models , but in the other general public photos as well.

MACTRAXX wrote:14-President Gerald R. and Betty Ford on a "Whistle Stop" tour during the 1976 Presidential
Election campaign. Republican candidate Ford lost to Democrat Jimmy Carter that year.

Any information on the car he's riding? I'm assuming it was a business car. It's not the Ferdinand Magellan or the Georgia 300, that's for sure.

I might venture to say President Ford may have been riding the Amtrak #10000 Track Inspection Car. That was Amtrak's "bus" car during that era. I believe it was a former Anhsr Busch bus car. Looks very much like it with the open rear platform and wrap around fluting. BTW, those pics bring back many memories of Amtrak's - 1970s red and purple splash era.

Amtk30

If it wasn't the 10000, It could have been any number of Budd-built business cars. SP, ATSF and CB&Q all had them. As I recall, if a railroad wanted to have a business car run on the back of an Amtrak train, it had to be in Amtrak colors for a few years. I remember seeing one of IC's business cars in Phase I in Wayner's Amatrak Car Spotter, v2 (where John H Keuhl had pictures).

I had forgotten just how obnoxious the early orange and purple interiors were...

I remember reading how train passengers feared the "parlor car" would be lost in the switch to Amtrak. Amtrak tried to make up for this by having the parlor car on the Metroliner and a few other corridor trains, but they would shortly disappear, as would any "diner" operating on just the NEC from say Washington DC to Boston.

Here's something else no one seems to have noticed, but there's blacks in the photos and drawings, which simply wasn't done in earlier times. Amtrak was yet another company that figured out what should have been obvious: Hey, a large % of the population is black, so why don't we market to them too? I saw lots of positive changes like this growing up in the 1970s, it was a pretty cool decade all in all.
Peace,
Jonathan

Ridgefielder wrote:

MACTRAXX wrote:14-President Gerald R. and Betty Ford on a "Whistle Stop" tour during the 1976 Presidential
Election campaign. Republican candidate Ford lost to Democrat Jimmy Carter that year.

Any information on the car he's riding? I'm assuming it was a business car. It's not the Ferdinand Magellan or the Georgia 300, that's for sure.

I can confirm it is the Amtrak 10000 which was on a long term lease to Amtrak from the Autoliner Corp. Governor Jimmy Carter also used the car to campaign in 1976.

MACTRAXX wrote:
2-UA Turbo Engineer and Passenger Service Representative in publicity photo taken at NYP.

4-Counter Car from early 70s - Auto-Train colors on interior?

11-E unit 284 W/Amfleet cars - rare publicity picture 1975/76. E units rarely hauled Amfleet cars.

15-Amclub ad-1976. Note E unit and cars in bottom of ad similar to #11.

#2: A number of years ago (maybe circa 2010) I was standing on one of the lower numbered platforms (maybe track 5 thru 9 area) at Penn Station NY, towards the east end of the platform, and I spotted an electrical box mounted on a column. It was labeled "Turbotrain Exhaust Fan." This despite the fact that the UA Turbotrain had departed Penn Station about 35 years earlier. I thought maybe it was also used for the Turboliners, but didn't they use third rail while in Penn Station?

#4: I'm wondering if this is a former ATSF car or a former UP car. I'm thinking ATSF car.

I remember encountering a somewhat similar lunch counter car, probably Amtrak 8398 or 8399 (which I knew to be former UP), operating as the cafe car on a Boston - Washington corridor train circa 1974~1975. It seemed "out of place" on that train, but it was nicer than most of the former PC junker coaches on that train.

#15: I've seen this photo of locomotive 284 and the Amfleet cars before. I've always wondered where the photo was taken. My guess was somewhere in Virginia, maybe the C&O between Orange, Gordonsville and Charlottesville; maybe the C&O somewhere between Newport News and Richmond. Possibly along the former B&O route of the Shenandoah. Anyone know where it was taken?