RAILROAD SIGNALS of the U.S.

Amtrak's 40th Birthday Train

Schedule
Historical
Pictures From Around the Country
In Lorton
In St Louis
Where the Train has been
 

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I've given the places I have visited their own pages in an attempt to keep this page from getting too large:

My Homepage for Amtrak's 40th Anniversary Train
The train in Baltimore MD  Most of the detail shots are on this page
The train in Perryville MD
The train in Strasburg PA at the Strasburg RR
The train in Harrisburg PA
The train in Scranton PA at Steamtown
The train in Jackson MI
The train in Ft Worth TX

The train in Richmond VA
The train in Wilmington DE
The train in New York City


Amtrak has done a most excellent job with this train,
You should make the effort to go see it!

Amtrak has also painted four P-42's in heritage paint schemes, as shown below.

http://amtrak40th.com/

If you get the chance, I highly recommend you visit the Birthday Train, for once it is gone, it is gone. 

Amtrak's marketing people have done a great job with the displays in each of the cars, and each car highlights artifacts from each of the decades: 70's, 80's, 90's, and the 2000's.  And speaking of the marketing people, they staff the train when it is open for touring and are there to answer your questions, and they are most pleasant to talk to.

You will see the uniforms used through the years, timetables, dining car tables complete with "China", books, flyers, posters, collectibles, police patches, and horn and signal displays.

And to boot, it's probably the cleanest engine and power car I have ever seen!

The schedule for the train has been moved from my homepage, and is below.

The train consists of:
     AMTK AMD-103 #822 Diesel Locomotive
     AMTK #406, HEP-40 power car (engine)
     AMTK
#10020, 10-6 Sleeper "Pacific Bend"
     AMTK #10093, 70's/80's Display Car
     AMTK #10094, 80's/90's Display Car
     AMTK #10095, 2000's Display Car
     AMTK #85999, Amfleet I food service and 40th Anniversary Store (souvenir sales) car

The train has visited selected stops on the east coast during the first phase of their tour, including three capital cities: Washington DC, Harrisburg PA, and Providence RI and TWO weekends at Strasburg!

The train has concluded it's west and south-east tour including stops in Florida, South Carolina, Virginia and North Carolina, and one more capitol city was added to the list, Raleigh NC.

Added to the tour is a special stop in Longview Texas, where the schools will be closed on Friday for "train day"!  Other towns added to the tour are Charleston SC, Wilmington DE, and Toledo OH.

The train schedule on their website will be updated on a quarterly basis.  I would like to thank Steve Ostrowski for a lot of the inside information.  He is an engineer operating out of Albany NY, and is the 40th Anniversary Trainmaster.

When they first started the anniversary train in Washington DC last year, they had gone and gotten a limited number of stamped and cancelled envelopes to commemorate the towns they were stopping in.  Because of difficulty they encountered with the logistics of trying to obtain the cancelled envelopes, they stopped doing this while they were on the east coast.  They did not have any issued for Lorton, and in Harrisburg, someone out there came in and snapped all of them up before I got a chance to get one.  When in Richmond, I got the last one they had for Providence RI...... Darn, it would have made a nice collection!

Note: my pages are "done" using Frontpage, so if you use a non Microsoft browser, you may not see the page exactly the way I designed it.

If anyone has pictures from any of the places the train visits, please send them in to share.

There are a lot of the people involved with the preparation of the Anniversary Train, who did so on the their own time as volunteers, please thank the Amtrak folks you see on the train for their time and effort, they are all great!


Schedule

The LAST Weekend
May 12th - New York City!


The end of the tour was on May 12th, 2012, in New York City for National Train Day

 


Historical Info

  

 

 

The above pictures were acquired using Snagit
A few Amtrak PDF's touting the National Train Day celebrations are at:
www.railroadsignals.us/AMTRAK40th1.pdf
www.railroadsignals.us/AMTRAK40th2.pdf
www.railroadsignals.us/AMTRAK40th3.pdf
www.railroadsignals.us/AMTRAK40th4.pdf


Souvenirs

On the train, in the snack bar car, you will find all sorts of neat things to buy, including t-shirts, DVD's, books, mugs, caps, postcards, model trains, and other little cool things, all reasonably priced.  They even have a edible cookie available with the 40th logo on it.  One of the more unique things they have done, is to present an envelope for sale, cancelled with the location of the train.  They DID NOT make one available for Lorton, and someone in Harrisburg snapped them all up, so none were available at Strasburg.... look for them on EBay no doubt at an inflated price!

will add pictures later


Pictures From Around the Country

 
A couple of shots of #146 leaving Forth Worth TX on the head of southbound train #21 on February 11th, 2011.  Pictures by Ken Fitzgerald.  Nice looking, and I agree with Ken, they could leave it this way!  It was involved in an accident a few weeks later in San Antonio.  Let's hope it gets returned to service quickly.  More pictures here

       
A few pictures of #156 in Ft Worth TX from Ken.... Nice shots!  Thanks Ken!

Your photos could be here, please send them to: toddgp30@yahoo.com


the Train in Lorton VA

This picture is from the Amtrak 40th Birthday page, the photo is by M Donnelly.


The Train in St Louis
Pictures from Amtrak's website

         


For Reference: Where the Train Has Been


Well, let's see, out of 43 stops along it's one year tour, the train has been to 10 locations on the Northeast Corridor (NEC), Harrisburg doesn't count here because it's not on the NEC.

It has been to 10 locations under wire on the east coast, not counting New York City because GCT is technically not under wire, it uses 3rd rail.... Harrisburg counts for this stat.

There have been 24 locations along the east coast from Florida up to Maine.

There were 7 locations along the west coast in WA, OR, and CA.

12 locations were in the south and mid-west.

Let's hope Amtrak puts the three display cars on location somewhere so we can visit them until it's time for their 50th anniversary!


** MAY 2011 **
7th, Washington Union Station
14th-15th, Lorton Auto Train Terminal
21st-22nd, Baltimore Penn Station 
28th-29th,  30th St. Station - Philadelphia
** JUNE 2011 **
4th-5th, Perryville MD MARC Station 
11th-12th, Harrisburg PA Amtrak Station 
18th-19th/25th-26th Strasburg Railroad/RR Museum of PA 
** JULY 2011 **
9th-10th,  Springfield MA  Amtrak Station
16th-17th,  New Haven Union Station
23rd-24th,  New London Union Station
30th-31st,  Providence RI Amtrak Station
** AUGUST
2011 **
6th-7th, Boston MA
13th-14th, Freeport ME
20th-21st, Burlington VT
27th-28th, Albany-Rennselaer NY
** SEPTEMBER 2011 **
3rd-4th, Scranton PA
10th-11th, St. Louis MO
16th, Beech Grove IN (the Amtrak Shops)
(Employees and Family Only)
24th-25th, Galesburg IL
** OCTOBER 2011 **
1st-2nd, Chicago IL
8th-9th, Jackson MI 

15th-16th, Milwaukie WI
22nd-23rd, Seattle WA
29th-30th, Portland OR
** NOVEMBER 2011 **
5th-6th, Sacramento CA
12th-13th, Oakland CA
19th-20th, Bakersfield CA
** DECEMBER 2011 **
3rd-4th, San Diego CA
10th-11th, Los Angles CA
** JANUARY 2012 **
7th-8th, Ft Worth TX
14th-15th, Oklahoma City OK
21st-22nd, San Antonio TX
28th-29th, New Orleans LA
** FEBRUARY 2012 **
4th-5th, Meridian MS
11th-12th, Jacksonville FL
18th-19th, Tampa FL
** MARCH 2012 **
3rd-4th, Richmond VA 
10th-11th, Raleigh NC
17th-18th, Spencer NC
24th-25th, Charleston SC
31st-1st, Wilmington DE 

** APRIL 2012 **
31st-1st, Wilmington DE
28th-29th, Longview TX
** MAY 2012 **
4th-5th, Toledo OH
12th, New York City 

  Stops covered by myself


NEW 6-1-2011
Last Modified 03-Jul-2015