It didn't take them long to take the reigns and begin operations on May 1, 1971. I still think it was kind of neat that the SOU, DRGW and RI didn't sign up and went their own way for a while.
From the mid-1970s are these two shots on the MILW main north of Chicago. I'm not exactly sure where I took the first shot, nor if it's the Empire Builder or the North Coast Hiawatha. Did both trains carry domes? Its consist looks short. The other is a Turboliner at Northbrook, IL in Chicago <=> Milwaukee service.
I am amazed that the Turboliners even existed. Even today, they seem so exotic and futuristic. I think it might just be the comparison between the regular lumbering Amtrak locomotives that make them seem so cool, but I hope some of the remaining sets in Delaware get preserved. A lineup between the rebuilt sets, the Acela, and the new Avelia Liberty would be cool. If only the UAC Turbotrain was still around to join in.
July 20, 1976 at Princeton Jct., NJ finds Amtrak fielding nearly new E60 966 and vintage Metroliner 859. The man in the top photo is dome car spotting.
Ahhh... E60s. Amtrak's replacement for the GG-1. Had a bad habit of frying its transformers in passenger service. I was waiting on the Broadway at North Philadelphia to go back to college in 1982. Imagine my surprise when it arrived an hour and a half late, with a GG-1 on the head. The original e60 had fried just short of Newark, and they needed a rescue. The old girl did just fine. Timed it at about 105 MPH along the Main Line with a full Broadway. Also lucky enough to have an ex-PRR twin-unit diner that trip. Sent from my SM-N950U1 using Tapatalk
I seem to recall too that the E60s were unsteady at higher speeds, so found themselves limited in their assignments. Neat memories you have riding behind a GG-1. I rode behind two in the summer of 1971, also heading the Broadway. As my mother and I stood on the platform at Newark, the motors swept in and I was astonished at their size, looking much longer than my Lionel G. We were returning to our home in Chicago and this was my first look at a real GG-1. With nearly 50 years in daily service, the Gs were indeed phenomenal machines.
And so smooth in starting compared to Pacific and Hudson hauled commuter trains. Funny how I never thought twice of the jerky starts behind steam until the first time behind a GG-1. Like gliding on a cloud.
I was lucky enough at 6 or 7 to get a cab ride from North Philadelphia to 30th Street in one. Don't think I would've fit 3 years later. Even then it was a squeeze. Until I relocated to St. Louis permanently, nearly all of my pre- and post- Amtrak trips (and there were a LOT because I had relatives in NYC) began behind the graceful ladies. Exceptions: RDC locals to NYC from Poughkeepsie when I lived there (cross-platform change to electric motors @ Croton-Harmon); or if lucky, through trains pulled by diesels (didn't have to get off at C-H) An occasional MU NYP-NYC (200-series "Silverliners", built for the World's Fair, equipped with water fountains and bathrooms), or the MP-54 "Owl" cars. You haven't lived until you've had a 4-hour trip between NYP and North Philadelphia making ALL stops. Sent from my SM-N950U1 using Tapatalk
