A contrast of then vs. now with VHS video from 1988 courtesy of Tampa railfan Steven Kern. To purchase my DVDs please go to www.railfandanny.com. Connect with me on Twitter: @DannyHarmonRail
The " baggage car" in the Miami section is actually not a baggage car. It is a combination baggage and crew dorm. The car started out as a 1952 StLC US Army Medical Dept Ambulance car in the 89500-89551 series. One of those cars still serves as a training car at Hialeah for Amtrak. Other cars in that series that Amtrak got were used as wheel cars. The Army got rid of those cars and kept the heavier 89400 series cars for use in many other types of service. The 89400s rode on 6 wheel trucks while the 500s rode on 4 wheel trucks and the 500s did not ride as well. Two are preserved as built by the Army. One at Ft Eustis and one at Ft Sam Houston.
I grew up 10 minutes from there on Reynolds Road in Lakeland. I remember taking the train from Lakeland and connecting with the Miami train in Auburndale. We were in the dark for what seemed like forever.
Amtrak B32-8's when purchased were primarily assigned to the SOUTHWEST CHIEF, DESERT WIND, COAST STARLIGHT, & SUNSET LIMITED. The FIRST two were #'s 501 & 502 who in 1995 were repainted into Amtrak's California colors & renumbered 2051 & 2052. Also 1988 was the year CSX adapted it's first company colors and placed their fleet of F-Units into ROADRAILER service.
@@AVeryRandomPerson I mentioned 1995 because their weren't photo's of them on their revenue runs in 1994 or early 1995. It wasn't until August 1995 that one of them was caught in the consists of Amtrak's #11 & #14 on what I speculated was it's first revenue runs.
Well this is why knowing some facts helps. I visit Tampa Union Station about twice a week for lunch and once after work. On average about 50 people get off 91 and 40 or more get on. On 92 an average of 30 get off and 60 get on. People somehow feel that Orlando is larger and Miami is the capital of Florida. The Tampa market is larger than either Miami or Orlando. (especially if you count only English speaking people) DH Tampa
so far, my biggest regret is not taking the train back to Tampa, from Chicago, back in 1995 when i had the chance. I opted instead for the cheaper, faster Greyhound, and hated it ever since. Thank you for the nostalgia shot. Much Love!
By contrast, you could compare Pepsi's can schemes with Amtrak's Phase III, IV, and V schemes that the B32-8BWH's had. They had the old one, one in the middle, and then the current, modern scheme.
I first rode The Meteor from St.Petersburg in February 1983. I spent the next year dreaming of how I would get back to Fla. & was glad to find back copies of Rail Classics dealing with Auburndale. I shot some video from the Silver Star from NY to Tampa and back to NC. I will load on here sometime !....Thanks for this look back .
Wow! When I was a teenager I rode this train up to Virginia several times... Back and forth-back and forth....lol cool video! I love the Seaboard Sysytem loco. Cool!
I was four years old back then! Whoa! No AC in the South? Oh dear.. I bet passengers who traveled that line in those days are grateful Amtrak thought twice about what they were doing. Talk about a complex mess!
Danny don’t you have any interest in bright lines? I would love to see videos of them lay in the new track from Coco to Orlando, and if you were the one that made the video it would be the very best. I really enjoy watching your videos more than any other railfan are out there
The section that was picked up came from Miami... Venice/Ft. Myers service ; taken from Larry Goolsby's " Atlantic Coast Line- The Postwar Years" Service down to Venice / Ft. Myers ceased when Amtrak was created...1972. Not sure about the month... Take care- Rich Hill
Aside from prime movers, the D8-32 is a four-axle engine -- only 49 were made. 20 B32-8WH's were built for Amtrak in 1991. They are equipped with Head End Power for passenger service. The AC4400 and ES44AC are six-axle engines and are used on freight.
Amtrak in the early days tried to run it like an airline. You would think since they had money they would put a generator trainside to keep people from suffocating in the heat. Those cars got very hot.
Probably to eliminate the need to run two separate trains to NYP. Back then, the Silver Meteor was one of Amtrak's longer trains that used the E-60 to pull them from Washington to New York.
What kind of bastard would press the dislike button on a informational video. That is just wrong. The video is great the voice, the footage, and the trains.
Yeah and with the Meteor doin' the work in Jacksonville a few years later and the Star doin' the same drill until they swutched it also to Jacksonville in the mid 90s! Kinda sucks how they are now!
I think I just learned something I didn't know about before. There was a west coast Silver Meteor? Where did that originate? Naples or something? I was pretty sure the west coast line hadn't been used in over 30 or 40 years. BTW nice catch of P40 840 at 1:35. P40s are pretty rare these days. I know quite a few of them have been sold to CDOT (Connecticut Department of Transportation) for Metro North and Shore Line East service.
Two stations are you sure? Because I've never seen this second station. What I do know is that there are two station codes, one for discharge and one for receive, but I'm pretty sure it's for the same station.
Danny I use to live in Sanford and I used Amtrak a lot to go Tampa.You said you go there for lunch.Did they add some place to eat in there finally?Also,with all the sunrail construction going on in central FL,are you looking at maybe doing any filming over there?I was just in longwood for a visit and it's all really starting to take shape.
Pause the video at 1:41. You can clearly see that the 2nd engine is not a P42DC, but a P40DC, since the number is 840. I didn't know these got repainted into Phase V. I thought they were retired and rusting away in some shop?
@@AVeryRandomPerson yeah idk why I wrote FRA... Obviously they don't have any say here, guess I got distracted when I wrote that comment and mean't to just write "a requirement".
