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 1977–1983 program that converted the older, mainly streamlined, cars from steam heating to head-end power. The final Heritage Fleet car was retired in 2019.
History
When Amtrak took over most intercity passenger service in the United States in 1971, the company selected the best equipment from its predecessor railroads. Amtrak selected about 1,190 of the approximately 3,000 passenger cars available; all were air-conditioned, and over 90% were stainless steel. None of the initial cars came from Penn Central due to its bankruptcy proceedings, even though it was the source of a substantial proportion of Amtrak's initial trains. Amtrak acquired additional secondhand equipment from various railroads, including Penn Central, during the 1970s.
Amtrak used its secondhand equipment across its national system – often with cars from multiple railroads seen in a single train, creating the "Rainbow Era". This created maintenance difficulties: mechanics from one railroad were not familiar with the equipment from another. Almost all of the secondhand equipment was steam heated; only eight cars from the Keystone and 16 ex-C&NW cars had head-end power (HEP). Amtrak acquired its first large HEP fleet, the Amfleet cars, in 1975–76. The company converted 30 ex-US Army troop kitchen cars to baggage cars with HEP in 1976 to operate with Amfleet cars on the Northeast Corridor.
The unusually harsh winter of 1976–1977 sidelined much of the steam-heated fleet, causing cancellation of most Amtrak service in the Midwest for two months. The HEP-equipped Amfleet corridor cars handled the weather better; some were even pressed into service on long-distance routes. On May 26, 1977, Amtrak began a program to convert steam-heat cars to HEP at Beech Grove Shops. The rebuild cost $250,000–$400,000 per car – one-third the cost of new equipment. Beech Grove was initially to handle all 500 cars selected for HEP conversion, but 175 were overhauled elsewhere to speed the process. In a separate program, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway handled the conversion of the Hi-Levels in its Topeka, Kansas shops.
On October 15, 1979, the was the first Amtrak route to be permanently assigned HEP-equipped Heritage Fleet cars. The followed in March–April 1980, then the and in 1981. The conversion of the on March 10, 1982, completed Amtrak's transition to HEP equipment. (Most of the western long-distance trains were converted to new Superliner equipment in 1979–1981.) The final cars from the main HEP program were completed in March 1983. A small number of cars were converted later, including several dome cars in 1984.
The HEP conversion program was intended to wring about ten additional years of service out of the aging cars. Amfleet II coaches began replacing older coaches on the Broadway Limited in 1982 and the Lake Shore Limited in 1983, and Heritage Fleet coaches were gone from the latter by 1990. Viewliner sleeping cars replaced Heritage Fleet sleepers in the 1990s. Nevertheless, some Heritage Fleet cars remained in use into the 21st century. By 2011, 101 ex-steam-heat cars remained active: 67 baggage cars, 20 dining cars, five "Pacific Parlour" Hi-Level lounge cars, one dome car, and eight non-revenue cars.
The Viewliner II cars, delivered from 2014 to 2021, replaced the remaining Heritage Fleet baggage and dining cars used on the Eastern single-level trains. The final use of the remaining Pacific Parlour cars on the Coast Starlight was on February 4, 2018. The last Heritage Fleet car in Amtrak use was a 1955-built ex-Great Northern Railway full-length dome car, Ocean View, which was manufactured in 1955. Used intermittently, it was retired in 2019 due to its age and maintenance expense.
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 1Wrecked in Big Bayou Canot rail accident in 1993 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
External links