Images of Amtrak

Even before he joined Amtrak as a locomotive engineer in 1986, Doug Riddell had been operating the corporation’s passenger trains under contract as a Seaboard Coast Line engineer, and had been photographing their colorful locomotives and consists in and around his native Virginia since Amtrak’s inception in 1971. Here we present some of his favorite images taken over the course of the passenger carrier’s lifespan.

In October 1974, E8 215 was on the point of Amtrak’s “pocket streamliner,” the two-car Charlottesville-Newport News section of the James Whitcomb Reilly, seen passing Fulton yard in Richmond, Va.

GE-built P30CH 715 had the distinction of leading the very first New York-Savannah Palmetto, seen arriving in Florence, S.C., on June 15, 1976. Engineer John Collins piloted the train from Rocky Mount to Florence. The locomotive was brand new, built on April 26, 1976.

The wrap-around stripes on E9A 433 (albeit without any identifying marks) were applied after the locomotive’s rebuilding. The elegant unit began life in October 1955 as Union Pacific 961, and was rebuilt by Amtrak in May 1975.

Amtrak’s second batch of derailment-prone EMD SDP40Fs were brand new when engine 638 posed with the northbound Silver Star during a crew change at the old Seaboard station in Raleigh, N.C., on September 15, 1974. The 638 was less than two months old, built on July 24, 1974. Amtrak moved to the ex-Southern Railway Raleigh depot in October 1986.

The Washington, D.C.-Catlettsburg, Ky., Hilltopper operated backwards between Richmond and Petersburg, Va., with an RF&P GP7 equipped with steam generator towing the train, owing to the lack of a northwest quadrant connection at the SCL/N&W diamond in Petersburg. In 1977, GP7 102 was photographed arriving in Petersburg with the southbound Hilltopper. Amtrak later paid for a connection.

Amtrak’s EMD-built F40PHs made their debut in 1976, and quickly became the passenger railroad’s workhorse. Engine 266 is seen running the wrong main at North Collier, Va., with the southbound Palmetto in March 1983.

Amtrak leased two Montreal Locomotive Works LRC (Light, Rapid, Comfortable) trainsets from Bombardier between June 1980 and May 1982. Although usually confined to the Boston-New York-Washington Northeast Corridor, the 5-car trainsets occasionally strayed to other parts of the system: witness this LRC in charge of the New York-Savannah Palmetto, departing Richmond, Va.

Few non-revenue locomotives wore Amtrak’s Platinum Mist with red-white-and-blue striping. But GP7 760 (ex-Frisco 610) makes a fine sight, working as the terminal switcher in Washington Union Station in November 1986. The plywood above the engine is evidence of Union Station’s $181 million transformation from an off-the-beaten-path visitor’s center to a world-class railroad terminal and public space.

P42 76 represents the second generation of Genesis units, Amtrak’s modern jack-of-all-trade locomotive. The distinctive General Electric diesels, with the monocoque frame, burst on the scene June 12, 1993, when the first of Amtrak’s 44 P40s were placed into service on the Auto Train. In this photo, engine 76 takes a southbound NortheastDirect train past the monuments and cherry blossoms of our nation’s capital while traversing the Long Bridge across the Potomac River.