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FL RRs P02

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AMTRAK'S AUTO TRAIN

Auto Train is a unique combo of passenger and freight allowing people to travel and leave most of the driving to Amtrak. Once travelers arrive at the Auto Train terminal, they continue their journeys in their own vehicle.

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Smoking it up is somewhat of a trademark of General Electric diesels, evident here as a northbound Auto Train takes up slack and begins to pull out of the Sanford terminal.

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As the Auto Train gets moving along, you can see this is no ordinary passenger train. The typical Auto Train consists of 40-50 cars, this taste of its length is seen from the Highway 46 bridge.

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Amtrak's Auto Train provides unique travel service from Lorton, VA just outside of Washington D.C. to Sanford, FL just north of Orlando. Crossing the St. Johns River is the first interesting adventure just minutes after leaving the terminal at Sanford. This river is crossed three times between Sanford and Jacksonville.

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INSTANT REPLAY! Well, not exactly, less than an hour after the Auto Train crosses the St. John's River, the Silver Star follows to the north. Look really close, you'll note a baggage car behind the power, Auto Trains don't have baggage cars since the passengers' baggage is kept in their vehicles.

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Six tracks hold auto racks which are backed up to the vehicle loading area. The movable ramps can access auto racks on any of the tracks as well as on level 1, 2, or 3 depending on whether the auto rack is a bi or tri level car.

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This view of the vehicle loading area shows both double and triple deck auto racks.

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The passenger loading platform is only a short distance from the vehicle loading ramps. There are two actually strings of superliner cars, the 2nd string (to the right) is not visible here.

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This little EMD switcher really works moving the huge auto racks in a hurry when tearing down and building up the Auto Train immediately after arrival and immediately before departure.

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In the early 1990s this Alco switcher was used at the Sanford, FL terminal to break down incoming Auto Trains and build up outgoing Auto Trains. The southbound train designation is P053 while the northbound one is P052.

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Several years ago the Sanford terminal looked much different than it does today. That difference is obvious here, not only in the train itself, but in everything else around it!

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The Sanford terminal can turn up some interesting power from time to time such as this CF7 taken on August 7, 1998.

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Summer 1998 will be remembered for many years due to the horrible fires in Florida. This photo was taken at 5PM July 3, 1998 in Deland as the northbound Auto Train flys by in a very heavy cover of smoke. Hmmm, looks more like 5 AM on a foggy day! The fires were about 30 miles away!

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Running late, the southbound P053 Auto Train passes the station at Deland. This made things interesting at Sanford, 30 minutes away, as the northbound was preparing to leave.

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"All Gone" within an hour or so after the northbound Auto Train departs, the terminal at Sanford is deserted. If you are interested in traveling by the Auto Train, just call the Amtrak number, 1-800-USA-RAIL (1-800-872-7245) and leave the driving to Amtrak.

FL RRs P01 (Click here to go back to the Florida Railroads home page so you can continue on.)