It Was Fun While It Was Happening!!!

The locomotive on the front of this post card continues the locomotive theme of the past several blog posts. It is a General Electric U36B.

This picture was taken in 1975, sort of at the height of popularity for this railroad company: Auto-Train Corporation. It was the first well-know company to haul passengers and their vehicles all on the same train. The information below is taken from this website: https://themetrains.com/auto-train-main.htm "You'll never drive all the way again!", said the ad. And for ten glorious years you didn't have to. From December 6, 1971 to May 1, 1981 the auto-train Corporation took happy passengers -- and their cars -- over 1800 miles round trip from Washington, DC to sunny Florida aboard their red, white and purple auto-trains. In the late 1960s, the US government sponsored a study to determine if there was a market for trains that could carry both passengers and their autos as had been done successfully in Europe. The conclusion of the study was "yes". But the government also determined it could be run at a profit and so should be left to private industry. With almost all of the major railroads turning their passenger equipment over to Amtrak in the early 1970s, there would be no takers from among the usual suspects. Enter a young attorney named Eugene K. Garfield. While working as an assistant to the Transportation Secretary, Garfield became familiar with the government's study. The 33 year old used his personal savings to set up the Auto-Train Corporation in 1970. With financial backing from a NY investment bank, Garfield contracted with the SCL and the RF&P railroads to operate a train consisting of Auto-Train Corporation equipment from an Auto-Train terminal in Lorton, VA in the Washington, DC area to Sanford, FL just a few miles from the new Walt Disney World. With dozens of railroads eager to rid themselves of surplus passenger equipment, the Auto-Train Corporation was able to purchase some of the finest equipment ever built -- and at bargain prices. To create this new breed of train, the corporation needed to identify suitable auto carriers. The solution was found in Canadian National bi-level auto carriers. These would carry passengers' cars in enclosed safety and would be put at the front of the consist. And what a consist it was! Every coach was a dome car. The best domes of the Santa Fe, Union Pacific and Western Pacific were brought together with sleepers and diners from the ACL, SAL, L&N, N&W and others. Rounding out each consist was a steam generator car and, in later years, a caboose. The first train left Lorton on December 6, 1971 for the 856 mile trip to Sanford. The service was so successful that soon a second route was added -- from Louisville, KY to Sanford. The new service wasn't nearly as well received and put a drag on corporate finances. The next six years would be a struggle. Even as the Louisville service was reworked and wound down, a trio of accidents took their toll. Insurance premiums went up and passenger revenues went down. On Thursday April 30, 1981, the last auto-trains departed Lorton and Sanford, passing in the night. When they arrived at their destinations May 1, the Auto-Train Corporation was done.

The post card was published by Railcards.com I know absolutely nothing about them except that their mailing address was a post office box in Alameda, California. I have 204 of their post cards; this publisher is third on the list of publishers by quantity in my collection. And, yet, I can tell you nothing about the publisher.