Nostalgia & History > Pointless....

...arrow that is, the logo Amtrak finally settled on shortly after it's creation. Here are two shots to illustrate....

Looking down the rows of cars at the Amtrak car shop in Chicago in Sept 1976. Lots of steam heat still evident.
Amtrak train #88 is making it's station stop in Tampa, Florida in October 1979 with clean SDP40F #633 up front. Today this scene is been changed a lot as the Tampa skyline has grown, the Crosstown tollway is above much of the station area, and of course GE's rule on what few trains still stop in Tampa.

Roger

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Great shots and the early Amtrak I grew up with, too!
In 1977, rode the "Floridian" out of Tampa on my way back to Chicago from soccer camp with the Tampa Bay "Rowdies"--great memories!

Tampa Bay "Rowdies"

WOW, Growing up in Tampa, but long since moved away, I haven't heard that name in a Long time

Thanks for sharing the pictures. They are superb. I was born and raised in the bay area and many childhood memories of those SDP40Fs! Of interest is the train itself as on October 1, 1979 the Floridian and the Champion were terminated. This looks to be either a Southbound Silver Star or a Northbound Silver Meteor St. Pete section based on the morning light angle.

Also while the skyline of Tampa has changed and the freeway has cut into the real estate the station has never looked better in years thanks to it being restored. Now only if there was more passenger service out of it now...

The top picture looks like the old Santa Fe coach yard. Those are ex Santa Fe hi-levels old pullmans too. You mentioned lots of steam heat, by the time many of those cars made it south to Texas the next day the steam heat turned into steam air conditioning. That is of course barring any unforeseen malfunction.

Steamcar

RailThunder Wrote:
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> Thanks for sharing the pictures. They are superb.
> I was born and raised in the bay area and many
> childhood memories of those SDP40Fs! Of interest
> is the train itself as on October 1, 1979 the
> Floridian and the Champion were terminated. This
> looks to be either a Southbound Silver Star or a
> Northbound Silver Meteor St. Pete section based on
> the morning light angle.

Thanks guys. When I first started going down to see family in the mid 70's there were 4 Amtrak trains each way in and out of St Pete. I would take the train from Ohio to Clearwater (usually the Star), a neat trip for sure. The Tampa stop required a backup move to use the Clearwater Sub, I think via the wye at TN. That ride around the bay was cool- I liked the old wood bridge at Safety Harbor and the street running in Clearwater- but after 2 days on the train I was ready to get on solid ground!

RAD