When Amtrak was formed in 1971, they had the right to purchase existing equipment from the participating railroads. Generally they selected stainless steel cars from Budd, but they also picked some Cor-Ten equipment. From the GN's "International", Amtrak purchased both the coach-diners and the observation-lounge cars.
I have not found much car assignment data, but from photographs and people's recollections, it appears that the "International" equipment generally lived along the northern routes between Chicago and the northwest.
"The ex GN 1146 was used by Amtrak in the early 1970's on the Portland-Seattle local train. The train left Portland about 08:30 and arrived Seattle just before noon. The return left Seattle 17:30 and arrived Portland about 21:00. The coach-diner was usually near the centre of the train with the coach end facing south. I rode in the car several times."
"Unfortunately I don't have any documentation or photos. The car had been redone inside with Amtrak colours. The carpet was blue with red seats and some white trim. The car was painted in the Amtrak phase one scheme. It always ran with the coach section forward and was usually the third car from the front of the train. The train was usually five or six cars and for a while had a dome obs from the Wabash on the end. Ex CB&Q E-9's were the power."
Reader Randall Davidson wrote to offer: "I read with interest your history of diner-coach GN 1146, and have a bit more info of your car’s history during its Amtrak years. Fred W. Frailey’s book ‘Zephyrs, Chiefs and Other Orphans’ (RPC Publications 1977) lists the history of the car’s location and assignments through February 1976. Here’s what the car was doing during the early years of Amtrak:"
"Amtrak Consists", published by Wayner Publications apparently in mid-1977, lists the 8400-series coach-dining cars on trains 63-64, the daily New York to Detroit Niagara Rainbow. This was a state-sponsored train which served New York and Michigan via Canada. The consist was:
According to "Amtrak in the Heartland" by Craig Sanders: "Amtrak technicians riding the Niagara Rainbow minimized equipment malfunctions, but NYDOT said habitual equipment breakdowns still caused delays. Cars appeared to receive minimal maintenance. Only minor repairs could be made in Detroit because of a lack of spare parts and a short turnaround time. The Niagara Rainbow diners experienced almost daily electrical or air-conditioning failures." That would *ahem* probably be 8400 and 8401, and fits the generally dilapidated appearance of 1146's original air conditioning equipment.
Randall continues: "The Railway Passenger Car Annual/Volume V 1980-1981 (RPC Publications 1980) shows 8401 still on the Amtrak roster, but sister car 8400 (GN 1145) was listed as retired in 1979 (some records say 8400 was retired in 1978 and 'held'). 8401 was likely retired around 1980 as well; with no steam-heated short-distance trains operating out of Chicago, and with the Northeast Corridor (and some longer-distance trains) by then in the hands of Amfleet, there were few routes that could use a car with this configuration. As of November 30, 1980, 'steam-heated' (non-HEP) cars were no longer operated out of Chicago and after March 10, 1982, all Amtrak trains were HEP (The New York-Miami Silver Star was Amtrak’s last steam-heated train)."
“The bit about the car being used on the Chicago-Milwaukee run (in February 1973) is some deduction on my part. The Frailey book narrative says it was 8400 (ex GN 1145) that was used there, but his tables in the back of the volume clearly say that 8401 was assigned, so the reference to 8400 here is a typo. 8400’s duty at the time was on the tri-weekly Fort Worth-Laredo Inter-American (trains 21-22). The original plan for this service was to have a daily train split off the Chicago-Houston Texas Chief at Temple, Texas and go to Laredo with a coach, 11 bedroom sleeper and a diner-coach. The Inter American that actually got going January 27, 1973 had 8400 as its food service car (it had spent part of 1972 in the Northeast Corridor). In August 1973, it was assigned to the four-times weekly Chicago-Minneapolis Hiawatha/trains 9-10 (on the days that it wasn’t the North Coast Hiawatha to Seattle). The photo of 8400 from 1973 must be from this assignment on 9-10.”
“The photo you have of the car in Williston matches the consist in the Frailey book. In August 1975, the book says car ahead of it on the train was GN coach 1003, which wasn’t repainted into Amtrak colors until April 1976 (and the car behind it is likely diner 8092, formerly UP 4803).”
"After Amtrak began, at the Minneapolis (GN) station we had the cars in the local service MSP-CHI. The North Coast Hiawatha began as tri-weekly and that meant the Mpls had to operate a 4 day MSP-CHI train for the days that the thru train did not operate. One local train set bounced back and forth, but each Tuesday (going south) and Thursday (coming north) another train set was needed. This once-a-week set included the 1146 and one of the Port parlor cars."
The photo below, of a coach-diner and "Port of Seattle" in LaCrosse, meets John’s description, although January 19th, 1974 was a Saturday.
| Michael Palmieri caught twin sister 8400's kitchen side in a perfect roster shot in New Orleans in 1973. Interesting detail for the rivet counters: The left side sill appears to have been repaired. Nevertheless, it is rotting out underneath the kitchen side door. From rrpicturearchives.net |
| Found this interesting shot that appears to be Amtrak 8400 or 8401 leaving Chicago Union Station southbound behind a GM&O E7 and one of the original Burlington home-built dome cars on April 6th, 1973. Posted by Gerard J. Putz on his WordPress blog under "Milwaukee Road". |
| John Goodman found this slide in an estate sale. (Sorry, don't remember the photographer's name.) Written on the slide: "Amtrak 8400 Cafe-Lounge Winona 7-30-73". That was a Monday, so by the April 29, 1973 timetable, this could be the eastbound Empire Builder stopped between 9:05 and 9:17 am, the westbound Builder at 7:48 pm, or the westbound North Coast Hiawatha rolling through at 3:55 pm. By the shadows I'll guess the later. This is 1146's twin, 1145, resplendent in new Amtrak paint. |
| From Bob Moen's collection. On September 8th, 1973, the eastbound North Coast Hiawatha passing Kopper's Coke in St Paul, just east of Snelling Avenue. Being a Saturday, the train originated in Minneapolis and its about 12:40 pm. (West of Minneapolis, it was an "experimental" train running only three days a week.) Today Energy Park occupies this site, and the near two mains are gone. The train is about halfway from the Minneapolis GN Depot to downtown St Paul on the old GN main. One of the coach-diners is ahead of the observation car. |
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| From Bob Moen's collection. On October 20th, 1973 (Saturday,) the eastbound North Coast Hiawatha passing Dayton's Bluff in St Paul, having just passed the vacant St Paul Union Depot and heading down the Mississippi towards LaCrosse. Again, it originated in Minneapolis and the time should be almost 1:00 pm. A coach-diner is second from rear, and the Port of Vancouver brings up the markers. |
| John Goodman found this in the same estate sale. Written on the slide: "Amtrak - Milw 3270 - Port of Seattle (obs) Lacrosse 1-19-74". (Saturday again.) Notice 'Port of Seattle' is coupled to either 8400 or 8401. It sure looks like 8401 to me - 1146. Notice the weather cock on the roof: It hasn't been rebuilt yet. These two ran coupled together like this on the 'International' - and here we have an encore at age 24 on Amtrak. Some others and I tried to acquire the 'Port of Seattle' and donate it to MTM, but the arsonists beat us to it. |
| Bob Moen took this photo of 1146, now Amtrak 8401, in Willison, North Dakota in 1975. Williston was served by Amtrak's "Empire Builder". Notice the adjacent car is still in GN Big Sky Blue. 1146 is in Amtrak's original Platinum-Mist and red/white/blue "Pointless Arrow" paint job. At the time we thought it looked awful. Now seeing it makes me feel sorta nostalgic. Notice also, directly above "8401" on the side, the weathercock-type exhaust hood has been replaced by a fixed cap. |
| This comes from the same estate sale. Written on the slide: "Amtrak - Diner 8401 St Paul 5-20-78 W.B. E. Bldr.". (Saturday.) She is probably within a year of retirement, she's almost got more dirt than paint, and the rebuild has occured. (Bonnet exhaust cap replaced the weather cock, propane tanks removed.) |
Editorial comment on the last picture above, of 8401 on the Builder in St Paul in 1978. She may look old and weary, but folks that's neglect not age. She was between 28 and 30 years old when she was retired - the same age as most of Amtrak's current fleet is today! Amtrak in the 70's was chronically under-funded, and the equipment suffered horribly.
I scanned this from page 91 of Patrick Dorin's book "Amtrak Trains & Travel" (Superior Publishing Company, 1979.) I'm particularly fond of it, because it shows Amtrak's in-service decor. As you'll see in the restoration photos, the Amtrak route map on the wall was gone by the time I first set foot in it. Judging by other Amtrak signage, and the adhesive left on the wall, it was probably printed on adhesive-backed, brushed aluminum foil.
These are from an Amtrak equipment diagram book from Bob Moen's collection. I know it is dated 1977 or slightly later, because the first Amfleet cars appear, but very few heritage cars have been removed.
A couple people noticed a YouTube video in which either 8400 or 8401 appear. It's visible from 1:46 to 1:53, the sixth car in the train. The video is a promotion from Pentrex for their DVD, "Early Amtrak Across Wisconsin"
Randall Davidson had this to say about the video:
"About 1:50 in is a shot of an Amtrak train (likely the North Coast Hiawatha on one of the days it went to/from Seattle). I believe the sixth car in the consist is 8401 (is it?)"
"I’m guessing this video was shot around 1974. In August 1973, 8401 was indeed assigned to the North Coast Hiawatha, according to the Frailey book, but fewer of the cars in the consist were in Amtrak paint at the time (and SDP40Fs were used west of Minneapolis only then). The presence of sleepers at the end of the train confirms that this is a Seattle train, and the absence of a Great Dome seems to identify it as the NCH."
"Side note: in November 1973, the last car on the Chicago-Minneapolis portion of the Chicago-Seattle trip was either 3770 or 3771, the ex-GN “Port” series obs parlor cars."
To my knowledge, Amtrak only once made the effort of assembling a passenger car equipment diagram book. This was done circa 1977, when the first Amfleet equipment had been ordered but not yet delivered. All of the pre-Amtrak cars were still active (excluding those wrecked) and HEP conversions were still in the future. I've scanned it as a 300-dpi, text-searchable Acrobat .pdf for the historians. Click here to download it. Warning! Absolutely huge at 133 mb!
During the 2001 work session, we found several Amtrak articles in 1146:
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A full Amtrak menu – eight pages. |
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An Amtrak early dinner menu – single sided card. |
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An Amtrak cold cereal card – double sided, folded to stand on table. |
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An Amtrak seat check – single sided. |
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Apparently someone served alcohol on 1146 - a single-serving size "Johnny Walker" whiskey, and the cap from a Smirnoff vodka. |
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I'd never seen china of this pattern. Ryan Kertis found a match on the Restaurant Ware Collectors Network. This appears to be a coffee pot lid from Amtrak's "National" pattern. Made by Hall China and used for most of the 1970's. |
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Various dining car paraphernalia: Swizzle sticks for coffee, decorative spears for holding sandwiches together, and rolls of quarters and dimes for change. |
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Two wooden stick-like things, packaged in paper like a straw, never opened. I've not opened it either. |
While preparing for the 2008 slide show, I removed the table top nearest the kitchen entrance, to straighten it, and found a surprise in the pedestal:
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Remember these old Coke cans with the pull tabs that came off completely when the can was opened? There is an offer on the back ("Send in $$$ and pull tabs, and get a backpack!") which expires on November 30th, 1972. Like archeologists, we can use this to date when approximately the interior was redone by Amtrak. The earliest in-service photo above, taken in July 1973, shows sister 1145 has already been shopped. Reader Randall Davidson notes 1146 was shopped by Beech Grove in February 1972, so the dates fit. |
