First Rail Car You Travelled In

[Viewliner]

Anybody know the type and even number name of the first Amtrak car they rode in?

Mine Was Viewliner 62036 "Skyline View"

 

[Amfleet]

An Amfleet I Coach (unrefurbished) was the first Amtrak car I had ever steped foot into, that I know if. It was back in 1994 when my dad took me from Providence, RI to New York, NY for an art exibition.

 

[tp49]

The first Amtrak car I was in was one of the Horizon coaches on a NYP-PHL Clocker back in 1984. Can't remember the car number I was a grade-school age child at the time. The first California car I was in was cab car 8013.

 

[Viewliner]

Believe it or not I keep track of every Viewliner I've seen, Ridden In, or have been on my train. It has every Viewliner in the data, but the above are in columns which include the Room Number if applicable like "A" car number (if applicable like 9711).

 

[tp49]

Somehow I can remember most of the train cars I've been in or seen, but I can't remember what I had for lunch today.

 

[Viewliner]

Somehow I can remember most of the train cars I've been in or seen, but I can't remember what I had for lunch today.

Probably because you really don't care about what you had for lunch as much as those cars.

 

[Amfleet]

The first Amtrak car I was in was one of the Horizon coaches on a NYP-PHL Clocker back in 1984.

I thought Horizons came later. I you sure it wasn't a heritage coach. The two can look similar, especially when trying to remember 18 years ago.

 

[Viewliner]

Yes, I think they were built in the late '80s. Haven't some been modified for long distance service?

 

[Amfleet]

Yes, 8 of them have been refurbished with those blue seats with more legroom, foot and leg rests and are being used on the Pensylvanian I believe. h34r:

 

[Viewliner]

Yes, 8 of them have been refurbished with those blue seats with more legroom, foot and leg rests and are being used on the Pensylvanian I believe. h34r:

Sure used by those who want to take the train at its ridiculous hour.

 

[AlanB]

Metroliner NWK to DC in coach class. I was about 14 or 15 at the time and that was all Mom could afford. Then I took a 24-year hiatus from riding Amtrak until 1999 when I started riding again in earnest.

 

[Amfleet]

Not a ridiculous hour for a railfan. hehe I still say it should be cut down to a New York - Pittsburgh train.

 

[Coach34135]

My first railcar Coach 34135. We rode it from LAX to NOL and then a month later TLH to LAX. My son noticed it was the same car before I did. The only problem was the first lavatory on the left SMELLED ...it stunk going east and it stunk going west!

(how often does it happen when someone gets the SAME rail car about a month apart??)

I wonder where it is tonite.........

 

[tp49]

I thought Horizons came later. I you sure it wasn't a heritage coach. The two can look similar, especially when trying to remember 18 years ago.  

You're probably right, back then I was more concerned with what I could see out the window than the exact type of car I was in. Than and not having to ride backwards.

 

[Miami Joe]

My first train trip was in 1978, going from Rantoul, Ill. to Chicago. I was 18, had just been in the Air Force for a couple of months and stayed at the PlayBoy Hotel.

It was also the first time I went into an adult book store!!!! Ugh!!! :blink:

B)

PS> I remember the lounge and it was an AMF I. And I think the coaches were Horizons, because I don't remember them being to nice. I recall a greyish interior.

B)

 

[Amfleet]

And I think the coaches were Horizons

The must of been streamliner coach, again the horizons did not come until the late '80's. Also none of the cars I believe had gone through a heritage rebuild so the gray interiot might have been from one of the railroads in the '50's and '60's.

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

Yes, I do know the exact car. It was the ObservatIon lounge on the "Dixie FLagler". I was taken on it overnight from Chattanooga to Daytona Beach, FL, when I was 3. So, how do I know it was literally my first car, aside from being my first train???? Because our reservations were screwed up(that was 1947) and we did not have seats, after all..So we had to ride in the Observation car until some seats opened up further south. The train only had one set of equipment, at that time, so there is no mistaking the exact car.

 

[EmpireBuilderFan]

Well, I don't remember too many details, but the first car I rode in was a Superliner I coach on the Empire Builder in the summer of 1992 1993. I was travelling with a bunch of Boy Scouts heading to the National Jamboree in Virginia. Instead of flying us there, we took the train to Philadelphia, a bus to the Jamboree, and the train back from DC.

 

[tp49]

I thought that Jamboree was in the Summer of 1993 I remember it well. We did not get to take a train but a chartered bus from New York (overnight at that) and spent the night in Williamsburg. Two things I remember most were when it rained heavily in the first week the people from the midwest which was dealing with Mississippi River flooding created a mud-sledding area in their sub camp. The other thing was trading our JSP with people in troops from Louisiana for their JSP and a bottle of hot-sauce to make the food taste better because the Jamboree food was terrible.

 

[Bozo]

My first train ride was in 1956 in an unknown car on the Silver Meteor, from Fort Lauderdale to Washington, DC for a AAA sponsored School Safety Patrol Parade. This ten-year old son and grandson of Illinois Central Boilermakers fell in love with trains on that trip.

 

[EmpireBuilderFan]

I thought that Jamboree was in the Summer of 1993

Ack! You're right. I don't know how I missed that one. I guess I must have been asleep or something.

Two things I remember most were when it rained heavily in the first week the people from the midwest which was dealing with Mississippi River flooding created a mud-sledding area in their sub camp.  The other thing was trading our JSP with people in troops from Louisiana for their JSP and a bottle of hot-sauce to make the food taste better because the Jamboree food was terrible.

I remember the St. Louis campsite which had the replica of the Gateway Arch surrounded by sandbags. Part of the sandbags were set up as if the water had breeched the barrier and was spilling into the camp. It was a very powerful symbol. I also remember the mud-sledding area, as our camp was close to the midwest sub camp. I don't remember the food, but maybe that's due to mentally blocking out bad memories.