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TIMELINE
for the 1971 - 1981 auto-train
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This
list is a work-in-progress. Any additions or corrections,
please
email.
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DATE
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EVENTS
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1965
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US
Congress authorizes $3 million three-year study to determine
if auto-ferry service could be successful in the US as it
had been in Europe. The answer was "yes" and Congress
decided it should be pursued by private industry. Subsequently,
the results of the study were made public.
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Early
1969
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Mr.
Eugene K. Garfield and a group of investors formed the Auto-Train
Corporation. Operating agreements for trackage rights were
signed with the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad (Sanford, FL
to Richmond, VA) and the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac
RR (Richmond, VA to Lorton, VA) providing for operation of
the Auto-Train from the Washington, DC metro area to within
25 miles of Orlando, FL.
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July
15, 1971
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The
Auto-Train Corporation went public by offering 700,000 shares
at $10 each. Seven million dollars was raised to purchase
equipment. It is the first new common-carrier railroad in
over 50 years.
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December
6, 1971
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Just
four and a half months after its IPO, the first Auto-Train
departed Lorton, VA for the fifteen and one-half hour 856-mile
trip to Sanford, FL.
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December
7, 1971
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Daily
service begins in both directions. Crews are supplied by the
SCL and the RF&P and occur at five points -- Richmond,
VA, Rocky Mount, NC, Florence, SC, Savannah, GA and Jacksonville,
FL.
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December
1, 1973
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A
schedule change takes place. Daily service in both directions
(Train #3 southbound, and #4 northbound) will depart at 4PM,
arriving at 7:30AM. A third auto-train will depart at 8PM, arriving
at 11:30AM. This "third" auto-train goes southbound
one day (as Train #1) and northbound (as Train #2) the next. |
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March
13, 1973
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A
major accident. A truck driver failed to stop at a grade crossing
in Hortense, GA. The truck struck the lead auto-train locomotive
and caused a derailment of the train's two locomotives and
27 of its 30 cars. The two locomotives, 4001 and 4004, were
scrapped.
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October,
1974
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A
promotional train of one auto-carrier, two short domes, and
a locomotive was sent to St. Petersburg, FL for a few days.
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May
24, 1974
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Service
between Louisville, KY and Sanford, FL begins. The trip is
988 miles. It's a weekend service, departing from Sanford
every Friday and from Louisville every Sunday. The trains
run on the SCL between Sanford and Montgomery, AL, then over
the Louisville & Nashville Railroad to Louisville. Crews
are supplied by the SCL and the L&N and occur at five
points -- Nashville, TN, Birmingham, AL, Montgomery, AL, Thomasville,
GA, and Jacksonville, FL. The service is short-lived. For
a while, Amtrak's Floridian and the Auto-Train combine on
the trip from Louisville to Sanford.
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January,
1975
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Expansion
plans called for the creation of a truck-train ferry
service between Lorton and Sanford, doing for over-the-road
trucks and their drivers what the auto-train did for automobiles.
Plans also called for a franchised auto-train service between
Nuevo Laredo on the US border and Mexico City, a 15-hour 762-mile
overnight trip. Contracts for the Auto-Tren de Mexico
were signed in 1979, but ultimately neither expansion plan
grew to fruition.
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1975
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The
Lorton - Sanford route has become so popular that in peak
periods the train is run in two sections five minutes apart
-- one section all passenger cars, one all car carriers.
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1976
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A
tough year for Auto-Train Corporation -- two derailments.
The first was on March 7 when auto-train #3 left the rails
at Quantico Creek. Fourteen auto-carriers derailed and six
of them fell into the creek. The second was May 5 when auto-train
#3 left the rails at Jarratt, VA. Twenty four auto carriers
derailed. The cause of both accidents was determined to be
cracked wheels on auto-train equipment.
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1977
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Auto-Train
was the official sponsor of the Walt Disney World Railroad.
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September,
1977
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Louisville-Sanford
service ceases.
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February
24, 1978
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Another
derailment. Auto-train #4 left the rails at Florence, SC.
One locomotive and 19 passenger cars derailed due to a broken
axle on the locomotive. Some passengers were injured.
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Late
April, 1981
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Auto-Train
Corporation ceases operations. Amtrak resurrects the Lorton-Sanford
route 22 months later.
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October
30, 1983
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Amtrak's
Auto Train begins service along the former Auto-Train Corporation
route.
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