Auto Train

The Auto-Train at Lorton, Virginia, in 1973

The original Auto-Train operated on Seaboard Coast Line Railroad and Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac tracks. It was operated by Auto-Train Corporation, a privately owned railroad carrier founded by Eugene K. Garfield. Garfield had worked at the U.S. Department of Transportation, which had funded a study of the practicality of an automobile-train service. Garfield resigned and used the study as the blueprint for his enterprise. The company provided a service unique in the country: scheduled rail transportation for passengers and their automobiles between Lorton, Virginia, near Washington, D.C., and Sanford, Florida, near Orlando, Florida.[5]

The Auto-Train Corporation used its own rolling stock, painted in red, white, and purple. The typical train was equipped with two or three General Electric U36B diesel-electric locomotives; 75 ft (22.86 m) double-deck auto carriers; streamlined passenger cars, including coaches, dining cars, and sleeping cars; and 85 ft (25.91 m) full-dome cars; and a caboose, then an unusual sight on most passenger trains. The engines were freight types, purchased at much lower cost than passenger types. But they lacked steam generators, so heat to the passenger cars was supplied by steam-generator cars. Passengers rode in wide coach seats or private first-class sleeping compartments, and meals were served in dining cars. Their vehicles were carried in enclosed autoracks. The company's first autoracks were acquired used, and started life in the 1950s as an innovation of the Canadian National (CN) Railroad. The CN cars were huge by the standards of the time: each 75-footer (23.86 m) could carry eight vehicles, which were loaded through end-doors.[6][7]

The Auto-Train began running on December 6, 1971. It was immediately popular with the traveling public and at first enjoyed financial success as well.[8] In FY1974 the company turned a profit of $1.6 million on revenues of $20 million. In May 1974, service began over a second route between Florida and Louisville, Kentucky, and the company was mulling additional service between Chicago and Denver.[9] The Louisville extension proved to be the company's undoing. The decaying Louisville and Nashville Railroad track between Louisville and Florida (which also hampered Amtrak's Floridian) hindered operations, and a pair of derailments stretched the company's finances to the breaking point. Service ceased in April 1981.[5][10][11]

Platform at Lorton station. Superliners are lined up at the left, with autoracks visible to the right.

Autoracks lined up at their loading ramps at the Lorton station. The ramps are not visible in this photo.

Amtrak planned to introduce a Midwest–Florida auto train service called "AutoTrak" in 1974. Running between Indianapolis and Poinciana, it would have competed with Auto-Train's Louisville–Sanford service.[12] Amtrak built a terminal at Poinciana, acquired 20 auto-carrier cars, and ran a test train loaded with rented autos on April 30–May 1, 1974.[13][14] The test train damaged the autos; Amtrak delayed then finally cancelled the AutoTrak service.[12]

Twenty-two months after Auto-Train Corporation ended service, its Virginia–Florida service was revived by Amtrak. Amtrak acquired the terminals in Lorton and Sanford and some of the Auto-Train equipment. On October 30, 1983, it introduced a triweekly version of the service under the restyled name "Auto Train".[15] Daily service was introduced a year later.

Amtrak used Auto-Train's bi-level and tri-level autoracks. For passenger equipment, it initially used a mixture of former Auto-Train railcars and mid-century long-distance railcars from Amtrak's general fleet, all rebuilt to Amtrak's "Heritage Fleet" standards. In the mid-1990s, Amtrak replaced all these passenger railcars, which were of the conventional single-level type, with its newer, bi-level Superliner I and II equipment. In 2006, the aging bi-level, tri-level, and "van" autoracks were phased out and replaced with 80 new autoracks.[16][15]

Amtrak operates two Auto Trains simultaneously each day: southbound #53 from Lorton and northbound #52 from Sanford, departing at 5 p.m. for a scheduled arrival the following day at 10 a.m.[17] In practice, however, the trains usually run late. In May 2021, for example, only 31 percent of Auto Trains arrived on time, mostly because of interference by freight trains that have preference over much of the route.[18]

The Auto Train was the last Amtrak service to permit smoking on board. Amtrak discontinued the practice on June 1, 2013.

Auto Train operates on the same route it and its predecessor have always used; the entire route is owned by CSX Transportation except for the southern 16 miles (26 km), which are owned by SunRail.

Lorton, Virginia, is about a half-hour drive south of Washington, D.C., near Interstate 95 in Northern Virginia. Amtrak's new Lorton terminal opened in early 2000 as a replacement for the original station built during the 1970s, and features a large, modern waiting area with high glass walls.[35] The station was designed by architect Hanny Hassan. The suspended sculpture in the lobby was designed by Patrick Sheridan.[36] The platform is 1,480 feet (451 m) long.

Lorton was selected as site of the northern terminal because the 20-foot-2-inch (6.15 m) high autoracks were too tall to pass through the First Street Tunnel into Washington, D.C.[15]

Sanford, Florida, is the southern terminus and is about a half-hour drive north of Orlando. The original facility was older and smaller than the terminal at Lorton. At Sanford, the Auto Train loads passengers on two tracks, as no one track is long enough to accommodate all the passenger railcars. Sanford's operation is unique in that a railroad crossing runs through the middle of the rail yard. This complicates some switching procedures and also requires a three-man yard conductor crew – conductor, assistant conductor, and a utility conductor – while operations at Lorton require only a conductor and assistant conductor. Both yards operate with one engineer. Sanford serves as the main mechanical and maintenance location for Auto Train, with diesel and car shops to service the fleet. The city of Sanford provides a shuttle bus to the historic district departing every 20 minutes between noon and 2:00 pm free of charge on all days except Sundays and certain major holidays.[30]

The Auto Train uses Amtrak’s bi-level Superliner equipment, which is used for trains in the western United States and cannot pass through Baltimore Penn Station or the North River Tunnels for access to New York Penn Station. A typical consist includes two GE Genesis locomotives in the front, a transition sleeper car, three sleeping cars, a sightseer lounge car, a full-service dining car, five sleepers, a cafe dining car, four coaches, and up to 33 autoracks.

Superliner sleeping cars have deluxe bedrooms on the upper level, roomettes on the upper and lower levels, one "family bedroom", and one "accessible bedroom". Coach cars have reclining seats on both levels. The Sightseer Lounge car has wrap-around windows on the upper level and an informal café on the lower. One dining and lounge car is reserved for sleeping car customers, while another also serves coach passengers.[37]

Amtrak calls the Auto Train, whose total length is roughly 3⁄4-mile (1.2 km), the longest passenger train in the world.[38]