1997 Amtrak Travel Planner

[saxman]

This morning I was looking in a box I found in the closet and wa-la! Found my inline skates that I had not used in over 10 years. But there was another treasure I found: Amtrak Travel Planner from 1997! Naturally I had to look through it and there's one big thing on the center map I found very interesting. Here it is.

Amtrak '97 Map

(If anyone can host this picture so it can be displayed on the forum, let me know!)

Besides that major difference I found a few other differences then today.

-Air/Rail Program was in effect

-"Northeast Direct" instead of "Regional" or "Northeast Regional"

-Of course the Metroliners in service

-The Cardinal went to DC only with Superliners

-The Broadway Limited name was still in use, but looks like it was taking the route of the Three Rivers. (The Broadway Ltd, was on a different route right?)

-The CZ made a stop in Lovelock, Nevada.

-The CZ made a stop in Thompson, Utah instead of Green River.

-The Sunset originated in Sanford, Florida instead of Miami, or Orlando. (or NOL)

-And the big one! The Texas Eagle is totally missing!! Makes me realize how close we really came to losing the Texas Eagle, serving the 4th or 5th largest metro area in the country. I can't even imagine not having service here in DFW!

 

[MrFSS]

This morning I was looking in a box I found in the closet and wa-la! Found my inline skates that I had not used in over 10 years. But there was another treasure I found: Amtrak Travel Planner from 1997! Naturally I had to look through it and there's one big thing on the center map I found very interesting. Here it is.

Amtrak '97 Map

(If anyone can host this picture so it can be displayed on the forum, let me know!)

Besides that major difference I found a few other differences then today.

-Air/Rail Program was in effect

-"Northeast Direct" instead of "Regional" or "Northeast Regional"

-Of course the Metroliners in service

-The Cardinal went to DC only with Superliners

-The Broadway Limited name was still in use, but looks like it was taking the route of the Three Rivers. (The Broadway Ltd, was on a different route right?)

-The CZ made a stop in Lovelock, Nevada.

-The CZ made a stop in Thompson, Utah instead of Green River.

-The Sunset originated in Sanford, Florida instead of Miami, or Orlando. (or NOL)

-And the big one! The Texas Eagle is totally missing!! Makes me realize how close we really came to losing the Texas Eagle, serving the 4th or 5th largest metro area in the country. I can't even imagine not having service here in DFW!

Like this?

 

[Long Train Runnin']

Wow with out the TE on that map things look pretty empty in the middle of the country! Its still not perfect now but at least we can say its better then 10 years ago with the exception of the Three Rivers and I am not an expert but it looks to me like the Silver Palm was running in this map as well.

 

[AlanB]

Wow with out the TE on that map things look pretty empty in the middle of the country! Its still not perfect now but at least we can say its better then 10 years ago with the exception of the Three Rivers and I am not an expert but it looks to me like the Silver Palm was running in this map as well.

Yup, the Palm is on that map.

 

[dart330]

How big is that map? Would be nice to get a high quality scan of it posted.

Also, when did the Marceline, MO stop disappear for the SWC?

 

[Long Train Runnin']

When did the connection to Mexico City disappear?

 

[JayPea]

How big is that map? Would be nice to get a high quality scan of it posted.
Also, when did the Marceline, MO stop disappear for the SWC?

As near as I could find, the station stop at Marceline ended in May 1997.

 

[saxman]

How big is that map? Would be nice to get a high quality scan of it posted.
Also, when did the Marceline, MO stop disappear for the SWC?

I tried to scan the entire thing in two parts, but my stupid print software does an automated stitching and I had no control over it, making in a rather distorted view, cutting out the middle and putting Indiana adjacent to Texas.

However I was still a youngin then I don't really know the politics of why the Texas Eagle was going to be cut. All I know it was running 3 or 4 days a week, had low ridership as a result, and Amtrak nor anyone else really cared about it. Keep in mind DART had just opened their first light rail lines the year prior at Union Station and the TRE had also opened it's line as far as Irving. The only thing I remember hearing at the last hour, Governor Bush (later to be president) signed a last minute bill giving money to continue the Texas Eagle. Later it ran daily again and as a result ridership grew over 50% within the first year of that.

 

[MusicManSamwise]

Wow with out the TE on that map things look pretty empty in the middle of the country! Its still not perfect now but at least we can say its better then 10 years ago with the exception of the Three Rivers and I am not an expert but it looks to me like the Silver Palm was running in this map as well.

The International (Chicago-Toronto) has sadly since passed on as well (although the Blue Water serves all of its former stops right up to the border).

--Sam

 

[battalion51]

You know it's interesting to go back and look at that type of stuff. I found a box of stuff at my parents house from my hardcore railfanning days of yesteryear, man there were some memories in there. Imagine what it'll be like to look back at that stuff in 20 or 30 years.

 

[wayman]

When did the connection to Mexico City disappear?

1998. The Mexican national railway (which ran an extensive passenger network, though it had been seeing cutbacks through the '90s) privatized that year, and almost overnight 99% of Mexico's passenger rail service ended.

See this post for a 1980 route map of North America I put together a while back. The Mexico routes are color-coded to show approximately when they stopped running.

I actually hand-drew the Mexico route map as I couldn't find any online, so the routes are probably not perfect; I reconstructed the routes using a bunch of travelogs and a few timetables I found that gave various cities served by different trains, and found a map of Mexico showing most of its trackage, and then I just traced the rails which seemed most logical for each route.... If anyone here has an actual FNM passenger rail map or timetable or anything, I'd love to see it!

 

[Long Train Runnin']

When did the connection to Mexico City disappear?

1998. The Mexican national railway (which ran an extensive passenger network, though it had been seeing cutbacks through the '90s) privatized that year, and almost overnight 99% of Mexico's passenger rail service ended.

See this post for a 1980 route map of North America I put together a while back. The Mexico routes are color-coded to show approximately when they stopped running.

I actually hand-drew the Mexico route map as I couldn't find any online, so the routes are probably not perfect; I reconstructed the routes using a bunch of travelogs and a few timetables I found that gave various cities served by different trains, and found a map of Mexico showing most of its trackage, and then I just traced the rails which seemed most logical for each route.... If anyone here has an actual FNM passenger rail map or timetable or anything, I'd love to see it!

Thanks! I seen connections to Mexico City in timetables from the 50s I just never knew why the service was stopped. Its a shame to see that large of a network die.

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

You know it's interesting to go back and look at that type of stuff. I found a box of stuff at my parents house from my hardcore railfanning days of yesteryear, man there were some memories in there. Imagine what it'll be like to look back at that stuff in 20 or 30 years.

Yeah, Sean, tell me about it!! :lol:

 

[printman2000]

Holy cow! I see Amarillo on that map! What doe the yellow lines mean? Did Amarillo use to have bus service? As far as I know, Amtrak has never served Amarillo in any way.

Was this an official Amtrak publication?

 

[MrFSS]

Holy cow! I see Amarillo on that map! What doe the yellow lines mean? Did Amarillo use to have bus service? As far as I know, Amtrak has never served Amarillo in any way.
Was this an official Amtrak publication?

Craig - I think Yellow is bus connections. One for Louisville and Nashville, too.

 

[rtabern]

Wow with out the TE on that map things look pretty empty in the middle of the country! Its still not perfect now but at least we can say its better then 10 years ago with the exception of the Three Rivers and I am not an expert but it looks to me like the Silver Palm was running in this map as well.

For how long did the Texas Eagle actually stop running????

I went to college (1997-2001) in Arkansas... and during part of my time there I lived in a small apartment right across from the Walnut Ridge, AR Amtrak station... and during the time I lived there (in 1998)... I remember the Texas Eagles going by in the middle of the night (because I'd hop out of bed every night to see them)... so it couldn't have been gone for that long because I remember doing a trip on them in 1996 too. So was it just for part of 1997 then?? Must have been very brief.

 

[saxman]

Wow with out the TE on that map things look pretty empty in the middle of the country! Its still not perfect now but at least we can say its better then 10 years ago with the exception of the Three Rivers and I am not an expert but it looks to me like the Silver Palm was running in this map as well.

For how long did the Texas Eagle actually stop running????

I went to college (1997-2001) in Arkansas... and during part of my time there I lived in a small apartment right across from the Walnut Ridge, AR Amtrak station... and during the time I lived there (in 1998)... I remember the Texas Eagles going by in the middle of the night (because I'd hop out of bed every night to see them)... so it couldn't have been gone for that long because I remember doing a trip on them in 1996 too. So was it just for part of 1997 then?? Must have been very brief.

The Texas Eagle never did stop running. It was saved in the last hour. I guess Amtrak had prepared for it to disappear and didn't even print it in the 1997 map. It was going to be cut along with the Pioneer and Desert Wind.

Printman,

There was indeed thruway bus service from Albuquerque to Amarillo. IIRC it just seemed to come and go over the years.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Yellow lines mean thruway service- whch could be a bus, or a non-Amtrak train, or a taxi, or a limo, or a ferry. It could be, in fact, anything that Amtrak will ticket for you.

How big is that map? Would be nice to get a high quality scan of it posted.
Also, when did the Marceline, MO stop disappear for the SWC?

I tried to scan the entire thing in two parts, but my stupid print software does an automated stitching and I had no control over it, making in a rather distorted view, cutting out the middle and putting Indiana adjacent to Texas.

However I was still a youngin then I don't really know the politics of why the Texas Eagle was going to be cut. All I know it was running 3 or 4 days a week, had low ridership as a result, and Amtrak nor anyone else really cared about it. Keep in mind DART had just opened their first light rail lines the year prior at Union Station and the TRE had also opened it's line as far as Irving. The only thing I remember hearing at the last hour, Governor Bush (later to be president) signed a last minute bill giving money to continue the Texas Eagle. Later it ran daily again and as a result ridership grew over 50% within the first year of that.

1997 was when they established that retarded "glidepath to self-sufficiency" claptrap and that feeble minded idiot politician George Warrington, who seemed to ****-up everything he ever laid his hands on- I'm not unhappy he is no longer with us- took over with his lies, dishonesty, and bum-kissing so passionate, he must have died with a brown-stained nose. After the Amtrak board, in a unusually bright moment, tossed his sorry ass out onto the street, he came to f-up NJ Transit, too.

At that point, Amtrak funding was tight, and as a result, we were running the Texas Eagle, Califorina Zephyr, Desert Wind, and Pioneer tri-weekly. In addition, the Empire Builder ran daily only to Minneapolis. Service to Seattle and Portland was likewise tri-weekly. Their was some BS about their not being enough equipment to run everything daily- which is nonsense, since a few years earlier ALL of those trains ran daily.

Anyway, the end result of this was: They got new funding, but had to cut unprofitable and unpopular routes. AKA tri-weekly trains. The EB and CZ were too important to the core Amtrak system to cut, and got a lot of traffic in spite of the weak service- the routes were scenic enough to attract enough tourists to make them justifiable- that they stayed.

The other three routes- the Pioneer, Desert Wind, and Texas Eagle were going to be shuttered, "making equipment availible" to run the EB and CZ daily. Now then, those of you in the know are probably aware that with the Hi-Level equipment, if we were to run 2 sleepers on the CS, and 2 sleepers on the EB, we could have made all of those trains daily. In fact, if we hadn't been so anxious to scrap our heritage equipment, and left the 10-6es, coaches, domes, and heritage diners, we could have run a much better system. But I digress.

There was some out cry over the loss of the Pioneer and Desert Wind, but not enough to save them. Along the TE route, though, people started screaming. Loudly. Which means that states started screaming even louder. Which means senators and congresspeople started screaming louder still. And lets face it, Texas has a lot of congresspeople, as does Missouri. Which means they actually matter, unlike Wyoming or Nevada. The upshot was that the Texas Eagle survived the Clinton cuts and went on to run daily and become a well-performing train.

 

[printman2000]

So, anyone have a timetable that lists Amarillo? I have heard that Amtrak has never served here in any way.

Does your travel planner have timetables in it?

 

[jphjaxfl]

So, anyone have a timetable that lists Amarillo? I have heard that Amtrak has never served here in any way

The Santa Fe San Francisco Chief was the last train to serve Amarillo until Amtrak started on May 1, 1971. The last SF Chiefs departed Chicago and Richmond, CA on April 30, 1971 so the trains passed through Amarillo on their way to their terminals sometime on May 1, 1971, because all trains that departed on April 30 were allowed to complete their runs. The eastbound SF Chief was the last train to arrive at Dearborn Street Station in Chicago.

 

[wayman]

So, anyone have a timetable that lists Amarillo? I have heard that Amtrak has never served here in any way.
Does your travel planner have timetables in it?

Youtube says Amtrak ran through Amarillo for a few days in January 2007. I suspect they ran straight through without stopping, though.

I'm sure Amarillo was in the timetables for any years the Thruway service was in operation. But my guess is that the "travel planner" didn't include them (it sounds like this was a separate book from the system timetable; they still publish it, in this form: "Amtrak Vacations"). This NARP newsletter says the Thruway service between Amarillo and Albuquerque (shown on the 1997 map) was terminated September 1 1998. I imagine it existed for some years prior to 1997, but I couldn't say for how long.

 

[printman2000]

Youtube says Amtrak ran through Amarillo for a few days in January 2007. I suspect they ran straight through without stopping, though.

That is my video! I was out every day to watch it come through. They did make a crew change stop, but passengers were not allowed off or on.

 

[printman2000]

This NARP newsletter says the Thruway service between Amarillo and Albuquerque (shown on the 1997 map) was terminated September 1 1998. I imagine it existed for some years prior to 1997, but I couldn't say for how long.

The NARP thing says it was a "Greyhound interline connection." I guess you were basically riding Greyhound to Albuquerque. I guess it was a guaranteed connection, huh?

Thanks for the link.

 

[AlanB]

So, anyone have a timetable that lists Amarillo? I have heard that Amtrak has never served here in any way.
Does your travel planner have timetables in it?

Youtube says Amtrak ran through Amarillo for a few days in January 2007. I suspect they ran straight through without stopping, though.

I'm sure Amarillo was in the timetables for any years the Thruway service was in operation. But my guess is that the "travel planner" didn't include them (it sounds like this was a separate book from the system timetable; they still publish it, in this form: "Amtrak Vacations"). This NARP newsletter says the Thruway service between Amarillo and Albuquerque (shown on the 1997 map) was terminated September 1 1998. I imagine it existed for some years prior to 1997, but I couldn't say for how long.

No, Amtrak Vacations is the booklet that's put out to promote the Amtrak Vacations program, which is run by a travel agency on behalf of Amtrak. One can book car rentals, hotels, trip insurance, as well as Amtrak through Amtrak Vacations.

The Travel Planner is still published by Amtrak, but now it's called America. It gives route by route info and pictures. It can be picked up at stations or ordered here.

 

[rtabern]

Anyone notice that whoever made the map forgot to take the San Marcos stop off the map from the "discontinued" Texas Eagle??