Amtrak's Freight Trains | Hauling Freight and Mail
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- čas přidán 12. 09. 2023
- Amtrak has always been known as a passenger railroad, but did you know there was a time when they hauled mail and freight? Back in the 1980s, the age of the Railway Post Office had all but passed, leaving trucks and planes as the primary carrier of mail. Trains still carried lower priority mail on passenger and freight trains, but it was a far cry from the golden age. However, the 1980s were putting a strain on the US Postal Service as highway and air congestion created delays. The only other option was the railroad, and Amtrak was contracted for the job. They’d place a new focus on mail and express freight in the 1990s, and their trains could have over 20 freight cars of high priority goods in tow. So where did Amtrak's "freight trains" go, and how did the freight railroads react to this new competition?
Music:
Doctor67 - The Post Train Theme (S1/2) Remix
Super Mario Galaxy - Space Fantasy
Super Mario Odyssey - Steam Gardens
Deltarune - Spamton
Mario Party 3 - The Adventure Begins
Mario Party - Wario's Battle Canyon
Mario Party 3 - Waluigi Island
OMORI - Push and Shove
Wario World - Greenhorn Forest
Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga - Hoohoo Village
Luigi's Mansion 3 - 1F Grand Lobby ~ B1 Basement
Animal Crossing New Horizons - 9 AM Sunny
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Fun fact! There is ONE RPO that's still operational in the US!
It's located at the Oil Creek and Titusville Railroad in Pennsylvania, and it's a haven for Philatelists (stamp collectors) and railroad enthusiasts as they have a unique cancelled stamp that you can send to yourself from the OC&T's RPO!
Not totally correct, the Nevada Northern Railway in Ely will operate their RPO car for special events and stamp mail there as well.
@@jacoblyman9441 Huh, didn't know that. However, the OC&TRR operates it every day, not just for events.
I believe the OC&TRR has it as a static car, not a mobile one; but it still operates as a post office.
@@TheOneTrueDragonKing fair enough, the NN as I said only does mail work on special days so if the OC&TRR one is operating every day then it is the only regular RPO in service.
The NN one is mobile still, but it is 95% of the time stored away from public access in the R.I.P. building. I have been inside the car a few times in its storage place, but never seen it on the rare occasions it is out working as an RPO.
A woman with a table and a stamp pad not much of a RPO
@@TheOneTrueDragonKing
@@intercityrailpalOh ha ha, nice trolling attempt.
The OC&TRR RPO is a fully functioning local post office, including sorting, not a person with a table and a stamp pad. And besides, you know stamps for the mail aren't rubber stamps. So no stamp pad.
Man I love when big corporate companies resort to the petty reason of "youre doing this better than me because i suck at it and now im mad"
Its no wonder why Trains were still capable of giving the cars and planes a run for their money because the money investment on only expanding the air and road infrastructure only led to HUGE congestions
Think of it this way: railroads had a natural monopoly when they found their feet (and the tech caught up to the idea), but when the monopoly was broken, things went downhill for railroads.
People forget that passenger lines tended to be literal money pits, with the mail services being the only reason that they're solvent. Once methods that were either faster or more flexible became viable, those contracts vanished into the ether.
Hell, the only reason that the US Highway system was made was because Eisenhower realized that rail was far too easily disrupted during WW2 (and had the 'last mile' problem brought to his attention during that same conflict).
It was not that easy. It was about dirty money and still is. To protect oil and paving companies. It also was based on CHEAP OIL . Twenty cent gas! Or less! The mail today is on ONLY TRUCKS XPO trucks not faster nor cheaper either. Owned by the Postmaster General De Joy a Trump appointee. Can you say conflict of interest? Don't say you don't use the Post Office my internet friend. Cause if you get packages you do. Fedex and Amazon also depend on their low rates. No competition would drive rates sky high on shipping and other mail.
yet another great system that served the public really well, killed by corporate greed. awesome.
great video. I had no idea that Amtrak made this much of an effort on freight!
The unfortunate fact that when many of Amtraks trains became more freight oriented than passenger centric the handling of the freight caused schedule keeping to become abysmal leading to loss of passenger traffic.
Basically today's Amtrak system is the equivalent to the classic "flagship" trains of the privately run era and those trains handled only limited high end smaller volumn express like first class mail, etc. Larger volumn more freight oriented business was handled by the secondary/"local" passenger fleet that had slower schedules/more stops. Unless Amtrak could run a much larger, deeper, fleet of trains volumn freight business not really compatible with their primary goal of efficient basic passenger service.
If you were a freight line that paid for the rails, you wouldn't want a passenger train using them to cut your own throat, would you.
@@ShortArmOfGod I doubt that Amtrak's freight service even came anywhere close to what the freight railways were providing. and anyway, if they were so worried about losing customers, why didn't they just offer the same level of express service that Amtrak did?
@@TransCanadaLimited Because if they don't have competition, they don't have to.
@@TransCanadaLimitedthey didn't because the Express concept was dependent on a) Amtrak trains had track priority nationwide because they carried passengers and b) Amtrak equipment was passenger oriented and built primarily for speed and the larger railroads would need to buy new rolling stock to offer it.
The problem with railroads now there isn't enough competition as the big railroads are growing
Great video man. honestly I would like to see Amtrak's freight industry raise again, it might make them a bit more money and Lord knows they need it
When amtrak was formed they agreed to no freight. Since the government turned down the railroads from having freight on their passenger trains. What isn't in this video railroads sued and won against amtrak.
@@conrail666hey
@@conrail666 Yeah well the freight carriers agreed to terminate their passenger obligations as long as their operations don't delay Amtrak's passenger service.
Hmm...
@goober239 well also amtrak agreed not to haul freight. But plenty of abandoned track. Let amtrack use that
WRONG the freight railroads lost. There was no such agreement in 1971. Loss of mail and express bankrupted the whole private passenger rail industry in Oct 1967. It's not in the video case what you said is untrue.
That's too bad that they had to end the service; it seems like such a good idea and it's cool to see freight cars behind the passenger cars.
With the frequency, speed, capacity, and center city stations, it would make sense to me if this service was at least reinstated on their DC-NY-Boston Northeast corridor where they own most of the trackage.
Are you referring to the restoration of the FastMail 12 North Bound Washington Union Station to Boston South Station Ivy League Harvard via 30th Street University of Pennsylvania Columbia University New York Penn Yale University New Haven Union Station Providence Rhode Island Brown Uni. Southbound train 13
Way to be good sports, UP! Delay the trains by hours at a time, make sure no maintenance gets done on the track, and above all else, make sure as little railroading is done as possible on your turf. That's the real American dream. (:
I remember when Amtrak's train consists comprised of more material handling cars than those intended for passengers. I once wanted to video from the back window of the last car just to find 8 material handling cars were coupled onto the rear :( Freight train companies cried foul with the argument that Amtrak is for passengers-not freight. The major rail companies were eager to wash their hands of passenger service due to decreased ridership & loss of revenue anyway. Sadly, Amtrak is the red headed stepchild of rail service except for the Eastern Corridor where they own the rails.
I actually saw an ex-Amtrak boxcar on a Pan Am/CSX freight train parked on my college campus this past spring. It was surreal seeing a boxcar in Phase 4, like I thought they were scrapped or re-painted
One of the casualties of Amtrak’s express service project was my Dad’s parking space! He was working as a conductor and later engineer out of Chicago at the time. The company took an employee parking lot and built a new material handling facility on it. Later, after the express service ended, the facility was repurposed as a MoW warehouse/work center.
Let's not forget the Railway Express Agency (REA). This was the "UPS" of yesteryear. In the 1950s, I ordered a bicycle from a Spiegel catalog. It was delivered to the local train station by Railway Express. A lot of the passenger trains through my small hometown were made up of a dozen or so Railway Express cars, a railway post office car, and one or two passenger cars at the end. The Railway Express cars looked like regular baggage cars. In the mail order catalogs from Sears, Montgomery Wards and Spiegel, it was indicated which items were delivered by mail and which went by Railway Express. The green REA trucks at the local train stations were as ubiquitous as the brown UPS trucks today. The system worked very well.
Union Pacific really WAS bullying. Like jeez, they somehow used evert strategy in the book to make sure that Amtrak's freight/mail trains were late, causing people to not like the services. Like dude who cares if you have some competition, you have to expect that other companies can exist next to you.
Most have forgotten, but the UP began to sue (or charge) model railroad companies for use of their insignia. This after years of paying model train manufacturers (like Lionel) to use their insignia. Thanks to Mike's trains, they lost (or something like that - legalities, you know), but now there are licensing agreements. The little people can't catch a break! Nathan in Chicago 🇺🇲
@@luzmalara5584 But I would dedicate the last line of themail train theme from thomas and friends to my dead grandpa bob
They began the sabotages
i could not agree more Trains are important, 1:21
Honestly, with the mass proliferation of online shopping, Amtrak should definitely bring back their express mail service, when the Ventures start arriving in large numbers, strip out some Amfleets and Horizons, fill em full of shelves, load packages in, and there you go
This is true. JR Freight in Japan was in the red for a long time, then COVID came and online shopping became way more popular, leading to more shipping and increased revenues.
Of course the freight railroads would throw a fit over a road that wasn’t one of them trying to get into the freight market
I was a engineer for a small outfit in the Twin Cities, Mpls-St. Paul we use to be the switcher for the coach, mail, and road railers off and on Amtrak 7/8.
Spot cars at the Amtrak warehouse, north stub for the RoadRailers and the coach on Amtrak 2 at the Midway depot.
A interesting time in its own.
Had to click on this. Almost seems like a memory until then. Well covered.
Screw David Gunn lmao, he had an entire locomotive named after him for that lmao
gunn sucked
Well done! Excellent video telling the story of Amtrak's postal and freight service! Sure it might have been a logistical nightmare for them, but it did create a nice variety of trains and even jobs too. I absolutely love how you used the Night Train/Mail Train theme from Thomas the Tank Engine in the 1980s style in this video, it works incredibly well here!
It’s cute that you put “The Night Train” song from the Thomas the Tank Engine series at the beginning of the video.
Great video. I hope Amtrak's freight business increases again/ FYI, in a series I have planned, the railroad it centers around has a custom Amtrak train with 4 Material Handling cars between the engines and baggage cars, and 5 express boxcars (3 in Phase III Livery and 2 in Express Mail Livery) & 5 Amtrak Containers on Flatcars.
The one shown in laplata I remember it being turned into a museum and in service when we were kids I love it
I live along a CPKC spur line and I occasionally see old Amtrak mail boxcars
As a cincinnati native, I'm glad to see we have a piece of amtrak history right in our backyard
I noticed this from the photos in the old amtrak era
My family even remembers this service we liked it but when we had to say goodbye to this it was sad for us and it would be 2 until I was born but hopefully in the not distant future we will have it again
Love the Thomas into music!
Post train amtrak post train amtrak post train amtrak and is having fun with so many mail cars with so many packages the driver warp the letters in his van.
(This was the reference of the postman pat theme)
I keep seeing videos of present day Amtrak locomotives pulling freight not alot, but theres of enough videos to go around, i feel they still do in multiple ways.
Amtrak: is doing well and earning profits
freight railroads: so you have chosen bankruptcy
Imagine if Amtrak still had those boxcars and Railrollers to this day. Too bad they were discontinued, but then, with the train being extra long meaning it would be blocking railroad crossings when stopped at stations with the crossing close to them
Excellent Comments, my friend. I remember being on the California Zephyr in 2002. We had to endure several back and forth movements as the entire train was utilized to switch the freight on the rear. At that time, there were more tracks in the Denver Station. They could have made fewer movements, and it wouldn't have bothered the passengers so much if they put the freight in one track, then parked the passenger cars next to the station. One locomotive could have been cut off and performed all the switching while passengers explored Denver. This is how the Canadians do it in Thompson on the Winnipeg - Churchill train. Instead, we were shunted back and forth for 45 minutes as the freight was switched - then we finally backed into the station so passengers could detrain and board. No, I'm not against Amtrak hauling freight, but it should be designed to complement the passenger experience, not turn passengers into the seeds of a 🪇maracas. Also, it seemed all the revenues generated were lost due to increased labor costs. I would like to know what happened to the one or two bulk mail cars that were hauled on most Amtrak trains? This was before the glut of freight shipping in the 90's. It seems to me that Gunn threw this revenue out with the rest of the freight. The proverbial baby with the bath water! Nathan in Chicago 🇺🇲
Ngl "Mail-By-Rail" would be a based name
Edit: I'd like to thank Manny Antipov from replies, for coming up with an even BETTER name. MailRail!
Mail Rail rolls off the tongue better
@@MannyAntipovtrue it does
Goddamn this is so cringe.
@@SomeRamdomAhole why?
Good ol UP and its shenanigans making railroading an absolute nightmare for anyone but themselves. I think the STB should force the UP execs to wear clown shoes for their entire tenure from now on.
It's a real shame, since Amtrak could've really used this service to not only improve freight but passenger schedules as well. I imagine a Swiss style system, with extremely precise and accurate logistics combined with priority passenger accommodations, being able to bring invaluable carload goods like fresh produce and other time-sensitive commodities whilst still offering quick and efficient service for passengers going to their destinations. I can't understate just how incredible that would be, especially in this era of PSR now. The freight roads would get their lunches handed to them just from how much better the Amtrak timetables would be compared to the absolute travesty they are with the Big Four right now. Amtrak could use it to leverage priority and even full ownership of lines and right-of-way from them. Federal funding wouldn't even be a problem anymore with the service they could provide. The dream.
7:19 Empties East, Empties West
Another well made video AG365! Kepp up the good work!
Awesome video AmtrakGuy365! Well explained. Keep it up man.
Didnt expect the Spamton music while watching an awesome train video. Two great things in one
YES! RODNEY 🙌🏻
So here's a question for those in the know. While AMTRAK no longer does freight trains, do they still haul pre-sorted US Mail? Like in their baggage cars?
If not, they should. Such contracts would bring desperately needed revenue to AMTRAK, while at the same time, not upsetting the freight railroads.
Another option would be for the United States Postal Service to get into a cooperative, tandem effort with AMTRAK, with USPS getting a fleet of boxcars for this purpose.
In my mind's eye, these boxcars would be painted akin to the various sizes of mail trucks, as the red, white and blue stripes and white background on USPS trucks, do somewhat match certain Phases of Amtrak cars, and therefore would not look tacky or out of place among them.
Excellent Perception!! Amtrak was doing exactly that (see my previous reply to another comment) with one or two cars on most Amtrak trains. Then, the Amtrak Express glut of the 90's occurred. Gunn took over and then threw out all Express shipping in 2002. The proverbial baby with the bath water - the bulk mail was thrown out with the rest of the Express business. I still wonder why the bulk mail cars have not returned? Nathan in Chicago 🇺🇲
I did make a video about this but I also was one of the CZcamsrs who ripped off engines of Amtrak so we good. I also don’t upload anymore so…
In all seriousness great video, great explanation and can’t wait for the next one
Fast Mail needs to be restarted due to the NEC having some Ivy League schools starting from 30th Street UPenn all the way to Boston South Station Harvard via Princeton Junction Princeton University NY Penn Columbia University and Providence Brown University Station. Although some packages need to get off at Newark Airport stop. What Amtrak needs to do is look to the UK Example a Class 325 Mail EMU. For the electric spine mail runs
Honestly I love these cars. They were just cool.
I love your stickers from teepublic and redbubble. Amtrak new haven Cdot employee here. 👊
Both the old PRR,and NYC,ran solid mail/express services,and scheduled second and third sections for mail operations,as they would run on passenger schedules! Both companies also had sections on their lines to make up lost time,due to delays,weather,or wrecks! The NYC speedway,was from Toledo to Elkhart,and that section had a 120 MPH speed limit,so the times were readily made up! One of the major companies that used the NYC,Twentieth Century for delivery was Time/Life,as the run from New York to Chicago was done in 16 hours! Amtrak has a long way to go,to equal that!! BTW,that was done with steam engines,and manual signaling! As an aside,the Highway Trust Fund is now bulging with $11 Trillion dollars 💸 💵! So the passenger railroads have an uphill battle to even get some degree of equality under the law! Thank you for your attention ☺️! Thank you 😇 😊!
You know it’s a good day when this man uploads!
yes
point taken
Great work dude, can't wait for more!
No reason Amtrak couldn't have done passenger and freight as most state owned railways in Europe did both although less and less now with the splitting of passenger, freight and track.Think Amtrak and Corail could have been the same company but the problem is the private companies owning the track so Amtrak would have needed to nationalise the track too for a level playing field.
this is like the best usa train content on youtube
I still see some Ex-Amtrak express boxcars on FEC freights, they're now on the CarMath Incorporated (CMHX) roster.
We need to bite the bullet and outright nationalize our railroad system, so that things like this can actually be kept working, and not at the mercy of private companies.
The government can’t even properly regulate them right, I don’t trust it to run them correctly. Plus the fact that these railroad CEOs and owners are big donors to most of our politicians campaign funds. They aren’t gonna bite the hand that feeds them. In a perfect world it is a good idea.
An awesome video! I love the sound of Amtraks freight industry ❤
Watching from the Southwest chief!
The short line I work for used to switch out Amtrak freight back in the day. Amtrak no longer operates out of the depot on our line but there are still station buildings and track where they used to load and unload
Imagine if you and high iron did a train documentary collaboration, it would be epic!😃
Such a shame they had to limit the postal services in American railways, the post train theme was a very fitting tribute for this video.
There are no days like those days when the railroads kept America knitted together. The railroad beats the motor traffic at any time of the day or night.
Interesting video! I knew about the freight cars but with only experience with the Capitol Limited I never got to see these in person.
Reminds me of SNCF's partnership with La Poste to create mail TGVs. Imagine if Amtrak and the USPS worked in tangent!
“Loads going east & EMPTIES GOING WEST”
Interesting!
Mail train. Amtrak once tried that with freight. They should make a second attempt at the freight.
Another great video!
Now's your chance to be a big shot
Nice video and info. Learned much
Great video. Very informative and entertaining.
Amtrak freight doesn’t look bad though ngl
I might have to get some Amtrak stuff for my model railroad.
Great video
Great example of why we should just nationalize all the railroads.
Wow union pacific is kinda a dick, also this is epic
I spot Osaka
Hi KCdash
The other railroads could have contracted into fast freight and mail, but they rather do slow freight and cuts to save money.
U.s. postal service is a u.s. government organization Amtrak is it US government organization but yet the US postal service fined Amtrak when it was late so the government wrote itself a fine...
Great video 👍
8:29 Sonic: What's taking our train so long?
Great video bro ❤ 👍
This is the chief problem Amtrak has. Every time they try a new and innovative way to generate revenue because Congress deliberately underfunds it in the hopes it'll just die off and be forgotten by the American Public (yet has stubbornly trudged on for more than 50 years against all odds); only for the freight railroads and/or Congress to have a hissy fit so it's canceled.
Amtrak did this primarily since it felt it had no other options, if Amtrak were a properly funded government service (like literally every other national rail carrier), it wouldn't need to do this. The American Railroad system is broken and backwards it's not even funny
Nice video! Amtrak was really in a Catch 22 with the regulations about empties having to travel slower.
they should have kept it for the northeast corridor to keep the fast tracks clear of slow freights and to make use of the electric lines they could have sold it as a green option and maybe have even expanded it to call it a green deal
Just like Percy the green engine from Thomas and Friends
Very good video
You should do The Three Rivers Amtrak train
I did back in 2000 & 2001! Rode it that is - in Amtrak's last 10-6 sleepers!! I liked being the passenger car sandwich with express in the front and the rear. Felt like a lot of protection from collisions!!! Nathan in Chicago 🇺🇲
It's too bad it didn't work because now it would be a big profit center.
I didn't know they did so much freight
I wonder why the mail trains ceased? They could have had a successful career all over the USA!
Lobbying by the freight railroads and trucking companies.
Great video of freight servicing by Amtrak. Besides on other freight railroads. With this kind being Mail delivering. Also I am going to be at Disneyland, on September 16th to 18th. Where I will be seeing the trolley (possibly), Disneyland Monorail, and the Disneyland Railroad.
Then there was also the Rio Grande zephyr which remained in service about 12th more years and eventually became the last commercial passenger train in America The interstate highways brought about the demise of commercial passenger trains in America
Hey it keept amtrack Alive
Actually no as it did not cover its capital costs and the excess handling at intermediate terminals completely ruined Amtraks already "iffy" schedule keeping and was costing it passenger business.
I enjoy watching your videos and seeing azumanga daioh clips in them. Good videos Good anime Good shit.
I'm gonna make so many memes with Amtrak vs Freight Railroads over the Express Freight lmaooo...
They should bring it back as a sort of cheaper service. Essentially, because it’s also a freight service, people, being on time or not cannot be promised, as the freight takes slight priority. Purely passenger-based service could be sold at a higher price as they do not have any freight to speak of, as well as more local runs that have no need for mail by train.
Its not American, but its also cool noting that the French did something similar by converting old TGV bullet trains into dedicated postal high speed trains. "TGV La Poste". They topped at 168mph.
Seeing as how our current presidents a fan of trains and we have someone in the DOT that’s advocating for infrastructure renovations, I’d say anything could happen!
hello chevy and international harvester trucks
A-10 go brrr
,I still run MHC's on my n-scale layout.But then it is stuck in the late 1900's.
ITS GOOD
hey there is one more unit that amtrak use it is the IC3 flexliner
Unrelated, but that season 1/2 remix of the post train theme fucking SLAPS!
You should do a video on the three rivers and the fast mail
5:22 - I wondered recently whether or not the P42DC engines DID haul freight.
I honestly had no idea the mail still travels by train in America occasionally.
Oh. Those boxcars had the same problems as the SDP40F; too big and uneven weight to be going at high speeds