Passenger Trains > Amtrak's 51st Birthday and "Rate The Presidents"

Tomorrow is "A-Day" plus 51 years. In observance thereof, if I may, 
let's rate the Presidents over those years in four categories:
The Best, 2nd Best, The Worst, 2nd Worst.   If you would like, provide
a brief comment on your selection but NO name-calling or personal attacks!
If you have a personal grievance with a President, then "take it outside."

THE BEST -  Graham Claytor
2nd BEST -   Paul Reistrup
THE WORST -  Richard Anderson
2nd WORST -  Thomas Downs

Well, those are my choices. Now, what are yours?  Thanks.

David Gunn - Held a lot of promise of good things but rocked the boat in the swamp therefore didn't last long.

I agree with the best ones. I would put Thomas Downs as 3rd worst and Stephen Gardiner as 2nd worst. Most likely to be the absolute worst unless somehow he is removed before he can create any more damage. He is the 1st one imho that fundamentally disagrees with the actual purpose behind the word national in the corporate name NATIONAL Railroad Passenger Corporation

Posted from Android

No wonder on the top two............ career railroad men

CPMorris Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Tomorrow is "A-Day" plus 51 years. In observance
> thereof, if I may, 
> let's rate the Presidents over those years in four
> categories:
> The Best, 2nd Best, The Worst, 2nd Worst.   If
> you would like, provide
> a brief comment on your selection
> but NO name-calling or personal attacks!
> If you have a personal grievance with a President,
> then "take it outside."
>

Seems like that ship already sailed when you lable an Amtrak president the "WORST" (all caps).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/30/22 13:48 by RuleG.

The word "worst" is meant in a subjective sense. 

Im still going to go with David Gunn as the best.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/30/22 15:14 by TomG.

BEST: Claytor
2nd BEST: Gunn
WORST: Anderson
2nd WORST: Lewis

Posted from iPhone

David Gunn was the best!

1.  David at the relaunching of the Empire Builder in Seattle.
2.  David taking off the trash out of the Beech Grove in Havre.
3.  David and myself in Havre.
All are from 2005.

Chris

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Gunn's presidency was too short.....Understand the issues and the reason......but still too short!

David Gunn was Mike Dukakis's guy.  Once Dukakis's term was up, and with a Republican in the White House, Gunn's days were numbered.

Dave

I'd have to say Claytor and Gunn also...however Gunn did kill 40/41 which was the stronger train by far east of Pittsburgh. He might have been acting off bad advice from underlings.

Posted from Android

cabsignaldrop Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'd have to say Claytor and Gunn also...however
> Gunn did kill 40/41 which was the stronger train
> by far east of Pittsburgh. He might have been
> acting off bad advice from underlings.
>
> Posted from Android

I bet that's the reason, he still got Amtrak in A Shape, the Republicans didn't ever wanted Amtrak to suceed!

Claytor, Gunn are my best 2, Anderson and George Warrington are my worst! Gardner's creeping upto George'spot but it's too soon to put him there!

Posted from Android



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/30/22 20:34 by ProAmtrak.

Warrington was a bit of a mess, but he was also given a fantasy directive and was essentially told to make it happen, or face Amtrak dissolution. Amtrak wasn't dissolved, but it led to Warrington "leaving," and Gunn coming in to do a "clean-up" and "turn-around."

Warrington was perhaps the last Amtrak President that did get new trains and LD routes on the map that were not corridor oriented. We also saw the Viewliner sleepers FULLY deployed, creation of "Heritage Dorm Cars," the Heritage Diner Temoinsa overhaul, Adirondack outfitted with refurbed "Congo coaches," Hi-Levels coaches re-deployed, intro of Pacific Surfliners and California cars, Talgos expanded in the Cascades, launch of Acela Express, deployment of P40s and P42s that would fully retire the F40s etc. He was driven by the "Network Growth Strategy" plan but it led to the Three Rivers, Twilight Shoreliner, Kentucky Cardinal, Ethan Allen Express, Pennsylvanian extended to Chicago, Silver Palm extended to Miami, others, and a couple of stillborns along the way. He also put a LOT of equipment on the road (till practically the wheels fell off), but anything that ended up wrecked was shipped off to Beech Grove and had to stay there cause they needed to conserve money for Amtrak's "self-sufficiency." 

Warrington left Amtrak in one of its most precarious positions, but just saying - it was also a rather "colorful" roller coaster ride.....

For the record, I think Claytor was the BEST Amtrak President, followed by Gunn. 

ProAmtrak Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> cabsignaldrop Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> > I'd have to say Claytor and Gunn also...however
> > Gunn did kill 40/41 which was the stronger train
> > by far east of Pittsburgh. He might have been
> > acting off bad advice from underlings.
>
> I bet that's the reason, he still got Amtrak in A
> Shape, the Republicans didn't ever wanted Amtrak
> to suceed!

If I'm not mistaken, Claytor was a Republican.

jp1822 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Warrington was a bit of a mess, but he was also
> given a fantasy directive and was essentially told
> to make it happen, or face Amtrak dissolution.
> Amtrak wasn't dissolved, but it led to Warrington
> "leaving," and Gunn coming in to do a "clean-up"
> and "turn-around."
>
> Warrington was perhaps the last Amtrak President
> that did get new trains and LD routes on the map
> that were not corridor oriented. We also saw the
> Viewliner sleepers FULLY deployed, creation of
> "Heritage Dorm Cars," the Heritage Diner Temoinsa
> overhaul, Adirondack outfitted with refurbed
> "Congo coaches," Hi-Levels coaches re-deployed,
> intro of Pacific Surfliners and California cars,
> Talgos expanded in the Cascades, launch of Acela
> Express, deployment of P40s and P42s that would
> fully retire the F40s etc. He was driven by the
> "Network Growth Strategy" plan but it led to the
> Three Rivers, Twilight Shoreliner, Kentucky
> Cardinal, Ethan Allen Express, Pennsylvanian
> extended to Chicago, Silver Palm extended to
> Miami, others, and a couple of stillborns along
> the way. He also put a LOT of equipment on the
> road (till practically the wheels fell off), but
> anything that ended up wrecked was shipped off to
> Beech Grove and had to stay there cause they
> needed to conserve money for Amtrak's
> "self-sufficiency." 
>
> Warrington left Amtrak in one of its most
> precarious positions, but just saying - it was
> also a rather "colorful" roller coaster ride.....
>
> For the record, I think Claytor was the BEST
> Amtrak President, followed by Gunn. 

Mortaged Penn Station, never got the Ex Santa Fe Hi Levels back so they can help instead using it for "political reasons' and most of the expansion was for the M and E which was crap from 97 on because of Ed Ellis' suggestion in Trains back in 96, then to top it all off he said 18 LD TRains were gonna be eleminated since  Amtrak lost 1.8 billion in FY 2001 and everyone in their right mind knew what was up, and to make matters worse the NEC almost literally fell apart!

Actually, Mr. Claytor was a Democrat according to his bio on Wikipedia. Additionally he served two major positions in the Carter Administration first as Secretary of the Navy and then Deputy Secretary of Defense.

It's fair to say that in his time while there was the usual rivalry of political parties there was very little of the tribalism we find today. The senior people in both parties, such as Mr. Claytor all were much closer to the center than anyone today.