User:Mjdestroyerofworlds/List of trains operating immediately before the formation of Amtrak

This is a list of American passenger trains which were operational on April 30, 1971 — immediately prior to Amtrak taking over most intercity passenger services in the United States.^[1] All were discontinued the following day unless noted. Commuter rail services did not fall under the purview of Amtrak and are not listed here.

List[edit]

Operator	Name	Terminus	Terminus	Numbers	Notes
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway	San Francisco Chief	Oakland	Chicago
	Texas Chief	Galveston	Chicago		Continued under Amtrak
	Super Chief/El Capitan	Los Angeles	Chicago		Continued under Amtrak
	(former Grand Canyon Limited)	Los Angeles	Chicago
	San Diegan	Los Angeles	San Diego		Continued under Amtrak
	(Super Chief/El Capitan connection)	Denver	La Junta
	Tulsan	Tulsa	Kansas City
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad	George Washington	St. Louis	Cincinnati
	Capitol Limited	Chicago	Washington
	Shenandoah	Akron	Washington
	Metropolitan	Cincinnati	Washington
	Cincinnatian	Detroit	Cincinnati
Burlington Northern Railroad	Denver Zephyr	Denver	Chicago		Continued under Amtrak
	Quincy Local	Quincy	Chicago	5, 6
	Morning Zephyr	Minneapolis	Chicago
	Afternoon Zephyr	Minneapolis	Chicago
	(former Nebraska Zephyr)	Omaha	Chicago
	Empire Builder	Portland, Seattle	Chicago		Continued under Amtrak
	Western Star	Portland, Seattle	Chicago
	North Coast Limited	Seattle	Chicago		Initially discontinued under Amtrak, but largely restarted as the North Coast Hiawatha in June 1971
	Mainstreeter	Seattle	St. Paul
	Western Star connection	Havre	Great Falls	33, 34
		Omaha	North Kansas City	35, 36
	Gopher/Badger	Superior	St. Paul
	(former Winnipeg Limited)	Winnipeg	Grand Forks
		Wishram	Bend	102, 103, 105	Mixed train
	International	Vancouver	Seattle
		Seattle	Portland	195, 196, 198, 199	Continued under Amtrak as unnamed trains until November 1971 when they were given the Mount Rainier and Puget Sound brands
California Western Railroad	Skunk	Fort Bragg	Willits		Did not join Amtrak,^[2] service continues as of 2023^[update]
Chesapeake and Ohio Railway	George Washington	Cincinnati, Louisville	Washington, Newport News		Continued under Amtrak
	George Washington connection	Detroit	Ashland	46, 47
	Pere Marquette	Chicago	Detroit
	Pere Marquette connection	Muskegon	Holland	206, 208
Chicago & North Western	(former Kate Shelley 400 )	Clinton	Chicago
	(former Streamliner 400)	Milwaukee	Chicago	121, 160, 160X
	(former Commuter 400)	Milwaukee	Chicago	149, 152
	(former Flambeau 400)	Ashland	Chicago
	(former Peninsula 400)	Green Bay	Chicago
	(former Shoreland 400)	Menominee	Chicago
Central of Georgia Railway	Nancy Hanks II	Atlanta	Savannah
Central of Georgia Railway	City of Miami	Birmingham	Albany
Milwaukee Road	Morning Hiawatha	Minneapolis	Chicago
	Sioux	Madison	Chicago
	Milwaukee Express	Milwaukee	Chicago		Continued under Amtrak as the Hiawatha
	Fast Mail	Milwaukee	Chicago	56
	(combined City of Los Angeles; City of San Francisco; City of Portland; City of Denver; Challenger)	Omaha	Chicago	103, 104
	Varsity	Madison	Chicago
Delaware and Hudson Railway	Montreal Limited	Montreal	Albany/Rensselaer
Delaware and Hudson Railway	Laurentian	Montreal	Albany/Rensselaer
Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad	Rio Grande Zephyr	Ogden	Denver		Did not join Amtrak. Service continued independently until 1983 when Amtrak assumed operations and integrated the route into the California Zephyr
Georgia Railroad	Georgia Cannonball	Atlanta	Augusta		Did not join Amtrak. Service ended in 1983^[3]
		Macon	Camak	30, 31	Did not join Amtrak. Service ended in 1983
		Athens	Union Point	50, 51	Did not join Amtrak. Service ended in 1983
		Washington	Barnet	60, 61	Did not join Amtrak. Service ended in 1983
Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad	Limited	St. Louis	Chicago		Continued under Amtrak
	Abraham Lincoln	St. Louis	Chicago		Continued under Amtrak
	The Midnight Special	St. Louis	Chicago
Grand Trunk Western Railroad	(former International Limited)	Chicago	Port Huron		Revived in 1982 as the International
	Maple Leaf	Chicago	Port Huron
	Mohawk	Chicago	Detroit
Illinois Central Railroad	City of New Orleans	Chicago	New Orleans		Continued under Amtrak
	Mid-American	Chicago	Memphis
	Panama Limited	Chicago	New Orleans
	Illini	Chicago	Carbondale
	Shawnee	Chicago	Carbondale		Continued under Amtrak
	Hawkeye	Sioux City	Chicago
	Governor's Special	Springfield	Chicago
	City of Miami	Chicago	Birmingham
Louisville and Nashville Railroad	(former Danville Flyer)	Chicago	Danville
	(former Georgian)	St. Louis	Atlanta
	Pan-American	Cincinnati	New Orleans
	(former Gulf Wind)	New Orleans	Chattahoochee
	South Wind	Louisville	Montgomery		Continued under Amtrak
Missouri Pacific Railroad	(former Texas Eagle)	St. Louis	Texarkana
		Kansas City	St. Louis	14, 15	#15 retained by Amtrak and extended to New York
	Missouri River Eagle	Kansas City	St. Louis	16, 17	#16 retained by Amtrak and extended to New York
Norfolk and Western Railway	Pocahontas	Cincinnati	Norfolk
	Birmingham Special	Lynchburg	Bristol
	City of Decatur	Chicago	Decatur
	Wabash Cannonball	St. Louis	Detroit
Northwestern Pacific Railroad	Redwood	Eureka	Willits
Penn Central	Spirit of St. Louis	St. Louis	New York		Continued under Amtrak
	St. Louisan	St. Louis	Pittsburgh
	Duquesne	Pittsburgh	New York		Continued under Amtrak
	Manhattan Limited	Chicago	New York		Continued under Amtrak
	Juniata	Pittsburgh	New York
	Broadway Limited	Chicago	New York		Continued under Amtrak
	Admiral	Chicago	New York	50
	(former Fort Pitt)	Chicago	Pittsburgh	53
	Pennsylvania Limited	Chicago	New York
	(former Redbird)/(former Union)	Chicago	Cincinnati	65, 66
	Cincinnati Limited	Cincinnati	New York
	South Wind	Chicago	Louisville		Continued under Amtrak
	(former Buffalo Day Express)	Buffalo	Harrisburg
	Empire Service	Buffalo	New York		Continued under Amtrak
	(former New England States)	Chicago	New York, Boston	27, 28, 427, 428	Initially discontinued by largely supplated by Amtrak trains 68 an 69
		Chicago	New York	63, 64
	Empire State Express	Chicago	Buffalo
	Motor City Special	Chicago	Buffalo
	(former Wolverine)	Chicago	Buffalo		Continued under Amtrak but truncated to Detroit
	(former Twilight Limited)	Chicago	Detroit		Continued under Amtrak
	(former Ohio State Limited)	Cleveland	Columbus
	James Whitcomb Riley	Chicago	Cincinnati		Continued under Amtrak
	(former Cleveland Special)	Indianapolis	Cleveland
	Bankers	New York	Hartford		Continued under Amtrak
	Colonial	Boston	Washington		Continued under Amtrak
	Senator	Boston	Washington		Continued under Amtrak
	Patriot	Boston	Washington		Continued under Amtrak
	Federal	Boston	Washington
	Bostonian/New Yorker	Boston	New York		Continued under Amtrak
	Bay State/Murray Hill	Boston	New York		Continued under Amtrak
	Manhattan/Yankee Clipper	Boston	New York		Continued under Amtrak
	Merchants Limited	Boston	New York		Continued under Amtrak
	Turboservice	Boston	New York		Continued under Amtrak
		New York	New Haven		Continued under Amtrak
		New Haven	Hartford		Continued under Amtrak
		New Haven	Springfield		Continued under Amtrak
		New York	Philadelphia		Continued under Amtrak
		Harrisburg	Philadelphia		Continued under Amtrak
	President, Executive, Midday Congressional, Embassy, Legislator, Afternoon Congressional, Mount Vernon, Evening Keystone, Morning Congressional, Representative, and 7 round trip Metroliners	New York	Washington		Continued under Amtrak
	Florida Special	New York	Washington		Continued seasonally under Amtrak
	Silver Meteor	New York	Washington		Continued under Amtrak
	Champion	New York	Washington		Continued under Amtrak
Reading Company	(former Wall Street)	New York	Philadelphia		Did not join Amtrak
Reading Company	(former Crusader)	New York	Philadelphia		Did not join Amtrak, through service ended in 1981, and line was run as two connecting commuter rail services until 1982 when it was discontinued.
Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad	Florida Special	Washington	Richmond		Continued seasonally under Amtrak
	Palmland	Washington	Richmond
	Silver Star	Washington	Richmond		Continued under Amtrak
	Silver Meteor	Washington	Richmond		Continued under Amtrak
	Gulf Coast Special	Washington	Richmond
	Everglades	Washington	Richmond
	Champion	Washington	Richmond		Continued under Amtrak
Rock Island	(former Des Moines Rocket)	Rock Island	Chicago		Did not join Amtrak
	Quad Cities Rocket (former Rocky Mountain Rocket)	Rock Island	Chicago		Did not join Amtrak, ran until 1978
	Peorian	Peoria	Chicago		Did not join Amtrak
Seaboard Coast Line Railroad	Florida Special	Richmond	Miami		Continued seasonally under Amtrak
	City of Miami	Albany	Miami
	Palmland	Richmond	Columbia
	South Wind	Montgomery	Miami		Continued under Amtrak
	Silver Star	Richmond	Miami, St. Petersburg		Continued under Amtrak
	Gulf Wind	Chattahoochee	Jacksonville
	Silver Meteor	Richmond	Miami		Continued under Amtrak
	Gulf Coast Special	Richmond	Jacksonville
	Champion	Montgomery	Waycross
	Champion	Richmond	St. Petersburg		Continued under Amtrak
	South Wind and City of Miami connection	Jacksonville	St. Petersburg	93, 94	Continued under Amtrak
	Champion connection	Lakeland	Naples	97, 98
Southern Pacific	Sunset	Los Angeles	New Orleans		Continued under Amtrak
	Cascade	Portland	Oakland		Continued under Amtrak
	San Joaquin Daylight	Oakland	Los Angeles
	Sacramento Daylight	Sacramento	Tracy
	Coast Daylight	San Francisco	Los Angeles		Continued under Amtrak but rerouted and extended to Seattle and San Diego
	City of San Francisco	Oakland	Ogden		Continued under Amtrak
	Del Monte	San Francisco	Monterey
Southern Railway	Southern Crescent	New Orleans	Washington		Did not join Amtrak initially. Later joined in 1979 and train continues as of 2023^[update]
	Piedmont	Washington	Atlanta		Did not join Amtrak, ran until 1967
	(former Asheville Special)	Asheville	Salisbury		Did not join Amtrak, ran until 1975
	(former Birmingham Special)	Lynchurg	Washington		Did not join Amtrak initially. When service was turned over to Amtrak in 1979, this train was discontinued.
Union Pacific Railroad	City of Kansas City	Kansas City	Cheyenne
	Portland Rose	Portland	Denver
	(former Spokane)	Hinkel	Spokene
	Butte Special	Butte	Salt Lake City
	(pooled City of Los Angeles, Challenger, City of San Francisco, City of Portland, City of Denver, City of Kansas City)		Omaha	103, 104, 105, 106	City of San Francisco retained by Amtrak along with a rechristened Denver Zephyr
	City of Denver	Denver	North Platte	111, 112
	(former Portland Rose)	Denver	Kansas City
		Spalding	Columbus	79, 80
		Albion	Columbus	81, 82
	(former Platte Valley Express)	South Torrington	North Platte
		Stapleton	Kearny	95, 96
		Seattle	Portland	457, 458	Continued by Amtrak

References[edit]

^ Edmonson, Harold A. (1972). Journey to Amtrak. Kalmbach Publishing. pp. 102–104. ISBN 978-0890240236. as mentioned in "Passenger trains operating on the eve of Amtrak" (PDF). Trains. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-02-24.
^ Rail Passenger Development Plan: 1984-89 Fiscal Years. Sacramento, CA: Division of Mass Transportation, Caltrans. 1984. OCLC 10983344.
^ Schanche, Don, Jr. (27 Apr 1983). "Buffs Saying 'Bye to Cry: 'All Aboard'". The Macon Telegraph. p. 1B. Retrieved 21 August 2023 – via Newspapers.com.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

[Edmonson-1] Edmonson, Harold A. (1972). Journey to Amtrak. Kalmbach Publishing. pp. 102–104. ISBN 978-0890240236. as mentioned in "Passenger trains operating on the eve of Amtrak" (PDF). Trains. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-02-24.

[2] Rail Passenger Development Plan: 1984-89 Fiscal Years. Sacramento, CA: Division of Mass Transportation, Caltrans. 1984. OCLC 10983344.

[3] Schanche, Don, Jr. (27 Apr 1983). "Buffs Saying 'Bye to Cry: 'All Aboard'". The Macon Telegraph. p. 1B. Retrieved 21 August 2023 – via Newspapers.com.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

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