Heritage Fleet

Amtrak's Heritage Fleet consisted of the rolling stock provided to it when it assumed passenger service on commercial railroads. The name was applied to a program begun in 1977 to convert the older, mainly streamlined, cars from steam heating to head-end power.[1] Head end power conversions were performed at Amtrak's Beech Grove Shops, outside of Indianapolis. The program was completed by the mid-1980s, and the fleet was fully retired by 2019. The last car was a former Great Northern Railway full-length dome car, which was manufactured in 1955 and retired in 2019 by Amtrak, due to the age and expense of maintaining the Great Dome Car.[2]

This article is about Amtrak's passenger car fleet. For other uses, see Heritage fleet (disambiguation).
Heritage Fleet
Amtrak #8553, a former New York Central diner, on a Lake Shore Limited consist in 2004
The interior of an Amtrak Pacific Parlour Car, a refurbished ex-Santa Fe Hi-Level lounge.
In serviceAll retired
ManufacturerBudd Company,
Pullman-Standard,
St. Louis Car Company
Constructed1946–1964
Operator(s)Amtrak

History

The rebuild cost $300,000 per car.[3] The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway handled the conversion of the Hi-Levels in its Topeka, Kansas shops.[4]

Heritage baggage and dining cars were used on the single-level trains serving the Eastern U.S. out of New York City through late 2017. The baggage cars from Amtrak's Viewliner II order, placed in 2010,[5] fully replaced the Heritage versions: the last was delivered in December 2015.[6] Twelve diners are also now in revenue service.[6] In January 2018, due to high maintenance costs for the 60+ year old cars, Amtrak announced the retirement of the last five remaining "Pacific Parlour" Hi-Level lounge cars still in active service on the Coast Starlight, bringing an end to the era of Heritage Fleet equipment in regular revenue service. The last run using one of these cars was on February 4, 2018.[7] The last remaining Great Dome car, Ocean View, was retired in 2019 by Amtrak, due to the age and expense of maintaining the Great Dome Car.[2]

Roster
Fleet numbers Type Builder Year built Number built Notes
1000–1006 Baggage NSC 1957–1958 7
1127 Baggage ACF 1950 1
1126, 1128–1136, 1175–1177 Baggage P-S 1947–1957 13
1137–1138 Baggage ACF 1956 2
1139 Baggage StLC 1962 1
1140–1158 Baggage ACF 1946–1947 13
1159–1174 Baggage Budd 1947–1953 16
1178–1195 Baggage StLC 1952–1954 17 Rebuilt from Baggage Dormitories and Lounges
1203–1249 Baggage Budd 1953–1957 46
1250–1272 Baggage ACF 1950–1954 23
1350–1379 Short Baggage StLC 1953 30
1450–1455 Baggage Dormitory StLC 1952 4
1610–1617, 1628–1633 Baggage Dormitory StLC 1952 14 Some renumbered from 1400 series
1618–1627 Baggage Dormitory Budd 1946–1950 9
1700–1740 Baggage Budd 1950–1961 39 Converted from 4000, 4600, 4700 series coaches
1750–1763 Mail Car Budd 1950–1961 14 Converted from lower 1700 series Baggage cars
2050–2056 Slumbercoach (16 Single, 10 Double Slumbercoach) Budd 1949 7
2080–2097 Slumbercoach (24 Single, 8 Double Slumbercoach) Budd 1956–1959 18
2220–2222 Sleeper (11 Bedroom) Budd 1952–1956 3
2230–2235 Sleeper (11 Bedroom) P-S 1956 6
2430–2482 Sleeper (ADA 10 Roomette, 6 Bedroom) Budd 1948–1952 40
2500–2524 Dormitory Lounge Budd 1949–1950 25 Rebuilt from 2800-2900 series sleepers
2871–2997 Sleeper (10 Roomette, 6 Bedroom) Budd 1949–1950 36
3100–3105 Lounge StLC 1954 6
3106–3127 Lounge Budd 1948–1952 20
4000–4023 Coach (ADA 44 Seat) Budd 1950–1954 21
4600–4626, 4646–4647 Coach (44 Seat) StLC 1960–1964 29
4627–4645, 4648–4649 Coach (44 Seat) Budd 1950–1961 21
4700–4742 Coach (48 Seat) Budd 1948–1953 43
7000–7007 Coach (ADA 85 Seat) Budd 1952 8
7600–7629 Coach (85 Seat) Budd 1952–1953 29 Some cars rebuilt from 4700 series
8500–8532 Diner Budd 1948–1958 32 Some cars rebuilt from 8700 series
8550–8559 Diner Grill Budd 1948–1958 10 Rebuilt from lower 8500 series
8600–8603 Table Car StLC 1960–1964 4 Rebuilt from 4600 series
8700–8716 Cafeteria Budd 1950–1956 12
8750–8752 Kitchen Budd 1949 3 Rebuilt from 8500 series
9300–9302 Dome Lounge Budd 1955 3
9310–9312 Dome Lounge P-S 1952 3
9400–9412 Dome Coach Budd 1955 13
39900–39938 Hi-Level Transition Coach Dorm Budd 1956–1964 37 Ex-Santa Fe, El Capitan service
39940–39964 Hi-Level Coach Budd 1956–1964 20 Ex-Santa Fe, El Capitan service
39970–39975 Hi-Level Lounge Budd 1956 6 Ex-Santa Fe, El Capitan service
39980–39985 Hi-Level Diner Budd 1956 6 Ex-Santa Fe, El Capitan service

See also

References
  1. Solomon, Brian (2004). Amtrak. Saint Paul, Minnesota: MBI. ISBN 978-0-7603-1765-5.
  2. "Amtrak's 'Great Dome' car has been retired". Times Union. 2019-08-30. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  3. "From Ugly Duckling To Graceful Swan". On Track. 1 (1): 14. June 1981.
  4. "Beech Grove HEP Conversion Program Results In Like-New Car For Passenges". Amtrak NEWS. 7 (7): 8. August 1980.
  5. William C. Vantuono (July 24, 2010). "CAF kicks off Amtrak fleet renewal program". Railway Age. Retrieved February 12, 2018.
  6. "Amtrak By The Numbers". White River Productions. January 2018. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
  7. "Coast Starlight Parlour Car Removed" (Press release). Amtrak. Retrieved February 11, 2018.

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