Heritage Fleet

This article is about Amtrak's passenger car fleet. For other uses, see Heritage fleet (disambiguation).

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. 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]

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 service	All retired
Manufacturer	Budd Company, Pullman-Standard, St. Louis Car Company
Constructed	1946–1964
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 its age and maintenance expenses.^[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	Wrecked in Big Bayou Canot rail accident in 1993^[8]
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

• Union Pacific Heritage Fleet

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.
8. "Amtrak Big Bayou, Alabama Derailment 09/22/23". trainweb.org. Retrieved 2022-08-28.

External links

  Media related to Heritage Fleet at Wikimedia Commons