Nostalgia & History > Speaking of Lexan

In the early 70s Amtrak made the decision to glaze the windows of "out-shopped" cars with Lexan. Ostensibly to act as bullet proof glass.  I recall that in the late 60s through the 70s it was great sport by gangs or individuals to "rock" a train as it rolled by.  During my brief stint w/ Amtrak I recall seeing many glass car windows broken on the Lone Star.  All we could do was "artfully" tape them up as we were not equipped to replace them.  

I assume the fad of rocking the trains has waned but I wonder, are windows still getting broken en-route by vandals?  And did you ever hear a conductor pass through a car warning folks to quickly close the shades and get down, "We are being rocked!"  That very thing happened to me in 1971 on board the Coast Starlight just outside of LA.

In 1974, my family and I were riding an Amtrak train on the Northeast Corridor, having breakfast in the diner.  A bullet struck the window next to my daughter, and lodged, but did not penetrate, the double-pane thickness of whatever material was being used for window glazing on that car.  And no, it didn't happen in a high-crime urban area; it happened in then-rural northeast Maryland, not far from Elkton.

Art House

In 1974 as #4 would leave LAUPT in the evening at 8 p.m., we would shut the shades on the dining car going thru S. Pasadena, as the locals aimed their rocks every evening at the train.  Departing Pasadena we could again raise the window shades.  ATSF police were very vigilant trying to catch the animals that threw the rocks.  

My experience with being rocked was on the original California Zephyr.  After riding all the way from Chicago to California, we were in Niles Canyon when we were hit.  I was aware of one window broken on the aisle side of a sleeping car.  That was the only incident that marred an otherwise fantastic trip.

Lee Hower - Sacramento

Pre-lexan days on the Amtrak operated Super Chief I was shooting pictures through the window of my single level roomette as we passed through Santo Domingo, NM. As I clicked at some subject the window shattered!  We had been rocked. A Santa Fe special agent boarded at Albuquerque and gave me his card if I had any useable images once the film had been developed.  Unfortunately, all I had is one of a fractured window and no other pictures with people.

Way back when I was a Boy Scout the Erie ran a scout special from Cleveland to a shop in Youngstown. We got a tour, and went back home on the train. Anyway, on the way there, a rock shattered a window somewhere south of Cleveland.

5-10 years ago someone was shooting at cab windows with haunting accuracy along the tracks between Crockett, CA & the Pinole area somewhat regularly. The window glazing very likely saved a crewmans life more than once. The incidents were kept out of the local news, & as far as I know the shooter(s) were never caught. 

Desmond Praetzel, "4451 Puff"

I changed a broken window in the ex TAMALPAIS two weeks ago; it was the first one from vandalism in over 15 years.  In the 80s-90s it was not uncommon for that car to sustain one or two broken windows per trip on Amtrak.  Interestingly this window was shot out while the car was in secure storage; I was prepping it for a run to Chicago on 10/17.

Southern steam excursions were rocked from time to time. On one occasion a BB, pellet, or small-caliber bullet (not sure which) penetrated a passenger window. The projectile was never found, the glass did not shatter, and no one was injured.