Amtrak
Streamliners to the Palms
1989 Watch a vintage 3½ minute slideshow video of a November, 1989 round-trip from Florida to New York on Amtrak with several stopovers. Included were the Silver Meteor Fort Lauderdale to Florence SC, Palmetto to New Carrollton MD, and regional trains from New Carrollton to New York, stopping in Baltimore and Philadelphia to take station pics. The return was via Metroliner service from New York to New Carrollton, regional to Washington and Silver Star overnight to Fort Lauderdale.
At that time the Silver Meteor Tampa and Miami sections were joined at Auburndale FL. On this date the combined consist was two F-40's and 12 cars. The Silver Star was separated at Jacksonville with the Tampa section routed via Orlando and Miami section via Wildwood.
1990 Watch a vintage 11 minute slideshow video of an April, 1990 round-trip from Chicago to California and back. The trip begins at Chicago Union Station aboard the superliner California Zephyr westbound through the Rocky Mountains to Oakland, California. It continues on the Coast Starlight along the Pacific coast to Los Angeles, then the Sunset Limited through the Southwest to San Antonio and Texas Eagle onward to Chicago. Accommodations were all by Superliner bedroom except the daytime trip on the Coast Starlight by economy bedroom (roomette).
1993 General Electric produced 44 (#800-#843 as shown above) of the sleek 4,000-HP 103-MPH P-40 diesel locomotives, beginning in 1993.
The P-40's were top priority for two Florida services, which were previously handled by older P-30 diesels. First, the popular Lorton, VA to Sanford, FL Auto-Train received not only new locomotives, but a completely new consist of Superliner II bi-level passenger cars.
Next was the tri-weekly Sunset Limited, which became America's first transcontinental passenger train on April 4, 1993, when the Los Angeles-New Orleans route was extended to Miami. For operational and cost-cutting reasons, the route was later terminated at Orlando.
Amtrak Sunset Limited transcontinental timetable, Spring 1995
Then, following Hurricane Katrina in August, 2005, the route was cut back to New Orleans again. Through sleeping car lines from the Northeast to the Pacific Coast existed in the 1940s and 50s, but this was the only truly transcontinental passenger train in American rail history.
1996 A further order for 98 (#1-#98) 4250-HP P-42's in 1996 allowed the retirement of Amtrak's 20-year old fleet of F-40's. The new locomotives were assigned to pull the Silver Meteor and Silver Star, the two daily New York-Miami "Silver Service" trains. These Seaboard names have survived since the 1930's and 40's, with daily streamliners serving the same end points, though the routes have varied slightly from time to time.
2022 Here are the trip log videos from the two great solo Amtrak trips that Joe made in 2022:
Come aboard Amtrak's Silver Star for a trip by Viewliner II roomette from Hollywood, Florida to New York City and back in June, 2022. Featuring flexible dining, 31 hours and 35 station stops each way plus real eastern railroading scenery in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, District of Columbia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. At that time the Silver Meteor was suspended due to COVID-19 staffing shortages, and the coaches and sleepers of both trains were carried on the Silver Star. The very long train was nicknamed the "Super Star" - 43 minutes.
Travel across the great American West from Chicago to San Francisco aboard the superliner California Zephyr in August, 2022. Featuring traditional dining service in the dining car, inspiring views of mountain peaks, rivers and lakes in the Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevada from the glass-enclosed Sightseer Lounge car plus comfortable sleeping accommodations in Roomette #8 of sleeping car #532. The trip spanned nearly 2½ days and traversed Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Nevada and California - 36 minutes.
2023 Journey across the United States from California to Florida in August, 2023 by Amtrak roomette aboard the Southwest Chief, Capitol Limited and Silver Meteor. It's six days and five nights featuring Amtrak's Superliner and Viewliner long-distance trains from Los Angeles to the colorful desert hues of the American Southwest, through the cattle and farmlands of the Great Plains, across the Mississippi River for a visit to Chicago and an architecture cruise, onward for a tour of majestic Washington, D.C. and down the Eastern Seaboard to Hollywood, Florida. Note: Unfortunately Amtrak failed to operate a Sightseer Lounge car on the Southwest Chief - 41 minutes.
Original line drawing art by Stan Lytle,enhanced with road colors and other details by Jack Bleiberg. Silver Star GIF image by Media by McCann.
About color schemes: The image of Amtrak #815 and the colors on this page show Amtrak's red, white, blue and silver.
