Heritage Fleet


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. 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. 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 numbersTypeBuilderYear builtNumber builtNotes
1000–1006BaggageNSC1957–19587
1127BaggageACF19501
1126, 1128–1136, 1175–1177BaggageP-S1947–195713
1137–1138BaggageACF19562
1139BaggageStLC19621Wrecked in Big Bayou Canot rail accident in 1993
1140–1158BaggageACF1946–194713
1159–1174BaggageBudd1947–195316
1178–1195BaggageStLC1952–195417Rebuilt from Baggage Dormitories and Lounges
1203–1249BaggageBudd1953–195746
1250–1272BaggageACF1950–195423
1350–1379Short BaggageStLC195330
1450–1455Baggage DormitoryStLC19524
1610–1617, 1628–1633Baggage DormitoryStLC195214Some renumbered from 1400 series
1618–1627Baggage DormitoryBudd1946–19509
1700–1740BaggageBudd1950–196139Converted from 4000, 4600, 4700 series coaches
1750–1763Mail CarBudd1950–196114Converted from lower 1700 series Baggage cars
2050–2056Slumbercoach Budd19497
2080–2097Slumbercoach Budd1956–195918
2220–2222Sleeper Budd1952–19563
2230–2235Sleeper P-S19566
2430–2482Sleeper Budd1948–195240
2500–2524Dormitory LoungeBudd1949–195025Rebuilt from 2800-2900 series sleepers
2871–2997Sleeper Budd1949–195036
3100–3105LoungeStLC19546
3106–3127LoungeBudd1948–195220
4000–4023Coach Budd1950–195421
4600–4626, 4646–4647Coach StLC1960–196429
4627–4645, 4648–4649Coach Budd1950–196121
4700–4742Coach Budd1948–195343
7000–7007Coach Budd19528
7600–7629Coach Budd1952–195329Some cars rebuilt from 4700 series
8500–8532DinerBudd1948–195832Some cars rebuilt from 8700 series
8550–8559Diner GrillBudd1948–195810Rebuilt from lower 8500 series
8600–8603Table CarStLC1960–19644Rebuilt from 4600 series
8700–8716CafeteriaBudd1950–195612
8750–8752KitchenBudd19493Rebuilt from 8500 series
9300–9302Dome LoungeBudd19553
9310–9312Dome LoungeP-S19523
9400–9412Dome CoachBudd195513
39900–39938Hi-Level Transition Coach DormBudd1956–196437Ex-Santa Fe, El Capitan service
39940–39964Hi-Level CoachBudd1956–196420Ex-Santa Fe, El Capitan service
39970–39975Hi-Level LoungeBudd19566Ex-Santa Fe, El Capitan service
39980–39985Hi-Level DinerBudd19566Ex-Santa Fe, El Capitan service