Original Autotrain 1977 on RF&P at Lorton, Virginia

[MrCzechers]

Every so often you can find cool, original Auto-Train items on EBay. The hostess dolls are always good sellers, along with the coloring book.

[susankohistany]

I live there and that track hardly has any trains go by now

[CSXAC6000CWFAN]

I have an HO scale car of one o th auto cars!

[cnlGNERnh]

Thanks for comments!

[dpohunter]

I'm lucky to have ridden Auto-Train in 1974 (one-way NB) unlucky to have not had a camera with me. Rode in lower section of a half-dome coach. Staff was great. I stayed awake all night (and wanted to!) Not great luck with our car: loss of lights and A/C, stuck brakeshoe filled car with smoke and caused unsched. stop near Savannah. But I LOVED it anyway! Still have the on-board magazine.

[ACLTony]

Lamenting.....but I sure miss those Heritage Budd cars. They were very comfortable and spacious and rode better than the "Amcans".

[cnlGNERnh]

@ACLTony True, but I think the new single level equipment order, with new diners and sleepers, will result in a real improvement to the Florida trains soon. I suspect the Viewliner Diners will become a big hit.

[TheSRNut]

Nice video, but I haven't seen many trains playing music!

[shadykay51]

I worked as an Onboard Hostess for 2 1/2 years, beginning in January, 1973. I think the cars we had then were much better than the ones used by Amtrak when I rode the train in 1998. Great memories.

[cnlGNERnh]

@shadykay51 Wonderful to hear from someone who worked there! Your right about the cars being better back then. Well at least 2 improvements from Amtrak are the new terminal at Lorton and there being showers in the delux bedrooms. Interesting that there are many autotrain services in Europe and we still only have this one route....

[autotraindome]

As the Auto-Trains BIGGEST Fan I cant tell you the memories that came to me when I saw your clip. Thanks for the incrediable memories!

Todd Brown

[cnlGNERnh]

@autotraindome Thanks for the comments. There are Autotrain photos on

railroadpicturearchives from this time period.

[alvintrain]

Very Nice!!! I take the Auto Train Every Year 2 florida. My grandpa use to take the Original auto train and has many slides from the 1970's. Thanks 4 sharing.

[badboymrpappy]

they should re privatize and let the rr's operate their OWN privale passenger services again like back in the day...

[ACLTony]

Wow! Thank you for posting this. The opening clip with Amtrak brings back a lot of wonderful memories as I always enjoyed watching the SDP40fs in action. The Auto Train is a beauty! A number of railfans and modelers are hoping that a manufacturer will produce HO scale versions of the U36B and SDP40f. Looking forward to more of your clips :-)

[cnlGNERnh]

Thanks for the comments! That's all I had for vintage Autotrain 8mm video but may eventually be able to do a new slide presentation of these subjects in the future.

[ACLTony]

CN, forgot to mention, I'm a big jazz and Path Metheny fan. The music went well with your clip. Two questions: Was the Amtrak train in this clip The Champion? The Champ often ran with some monstrously long consists. Also, regarding the clips that you plan on uploading in the future: Will they also feature Amtrak SDP40fs?

[cnlGNERnh]

Eventually I will have to look up my old Amtrak timetables to say for sure but my guess was that was the Silver Star in the video. I have access to many slides from that time period and hopefully will eventually put together some presentations, I'm sure I have some slides with SDP40fs. If interested your welcome to subscribe to my channel and get notified if I post anything of interest in the future,.thanks for watching!

[AmJaxineer]

Vintage Amtrak and Auto train!!! Nice 5*

[cnlGNERnh]

Thanks for the comments.......stay tuned for more older Amtrak video in the coming months!