Editing Auto Train (section)

== History ==
=== Auto-Train Corporation ===
{{stack|[[File:Autotrain Lorton.jpg|thumb|The ''Auto-Train'' at Lorton, Virginia, in 1973]]}}
{{Main|Auto-Train Corporation}}
The original ''Auto-Train'' operated on [[Seaboard Coast Line Railroad]] and [[Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad|Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac]] tracks. It was operated by [[Auto-Train Corporation]], a privately owned railroad carrier founded by [[Eugene K. Garfield]]. Garfield had worked at the [[United States Department of Transportation|U.S. Department of Transportation]], which had funded a study of the practicality of an automobile-train service. He then resigned and later used the study as the blueprint for his enterprise. The company provided a service unique in the country: scheduled rail transportation for passengers and their automobiles between [[Lorton, Virginia]], near Washington, D.C., and [[Sanford, Florida]], near [[Orlando, Florida]].<ref name="Ely2009p5">{{Harvp|Ely|2009|p=5}}.</ref>

The Auto-Train Corporation used its own [[rolling stock]], painted in red, white, and purple. The typical train was equipped with two or three [[General Electric]] [[GE U36B|U36B]] [[Diesel–electric transmission|diesel-electric]] [[Locomotive|locomotives]]; {{convert|75|ft|m|2|abbr=on}} [[Bilevel rail car|double-deck]] auto carriers; [[Streamliner|streamlined]] [[Passenger car (rail)|passenger cars]], including coaches, [[Dining car|dining cars]], and [[Sleeping car|sleeping cars]]; and {{convert|85|ft|m|2|abbr=on}} full-[[Dome car|dome cars]]; and a [[caboose]], then an unusual sight on most passenger trains. The engines were [[Cargo|freight]] types, purchased at much lower cost than passenger types. But they lacked [[Steam generator (railroad)|steam generators]], so heat to the passenger cars was supplied by steam-generator cars. Passengers rode in wide [[Passenger car (rail)#Coach|coach]] seats or private first-class [[Sleeping car|sleeping compartments]], and meals were served in dining cars. Their vehicles were carried in enclosed [[Autorack|autoracks]]. The company's first autoracks were acquired used, and started life in the 1950s as an innovation of the [[Canadian National Railway|Canadian National]] (CN) Railroad. The CN cars were huge by the standards of the time: each 75-footer (23.86 m) could carry eight vehicles, which were loaded through doors at each end.<ref name="Ely2009p52">{{Harvp|Ely|2009|p=5}}.</ref><ref name="lukasiewicz2">{{cite book |last=Lukasiewicz |first=Julius |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lii3rcEBG30C |title=The Railway Game |publisher=[[McGill-Queen's University Press]] |year=1976 |isbn=978-0-7735-8307-8 |pages=198}}</ref>

The ''Auto-Train'' began running on December 6, 1971. It was immediately popular with the traveling public and at first enjoyed financial success as well.<ref name="life">{{cite magazine | title=All Aboard! Cars and People | magazine=[[Life (magazine)|Life]] | volume=72 | issue=11 | pages=54–57 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=elIEAAAAMBAJ | date=March 24, 1972 | access-date=October 11, 2012 | first=Mary | last=Leatherbee}}</ref> In [[fiscal year]] 1974 the company turned a profit of $1.6 million on revenues of $20 million. In May 1974, service began over a second route between Florida and [[Louisville, Kentucky]], and the company was mulling additional service between [[Chicago]] and [[Denver]].<ref name="lukasiewicz">{{cite book |last=Lukasiewicz |first=Julius |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lii3rcEBG30C |title=The Railway Game |publisher=[[McGill-Queen's University Press]] |year=1976 |isbn=978-0-7735-8307-8 |pages=198}}</ref> The Louisville extension proved to be the company's undoing. The decaying [[Louisville and Nashville Railroad]] track between Louisville and Florida (which also hampered Amtrak's ''[[Floridian (train, 1971–1979)|Floridian]]'') hindered operations, and a pair of derailments stretched the company's finances to the breaking point. Service ceased in April 1981.<ref name="Ely2009p5" /><ref name="JARRATT">{{Cite web|author=National Transportation Safety Board |author-link=NTSB |date=October 21, 1976|title=Railroad Accident Report: Auto-Train Corporation Train Derailment on the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Near Jarratt, Virginia, May 5, 1976 |id=NTSB-RAR-76-11 |url=http://trid.trb.org/view.aspx?id=63795 |publisher=Transportation Research Board }}</ref><ref name="FLORENCE">{{Cite web|author=National Transportation Safety Board |author-link=NTSB |date=September 21, 1978|title=Railroad Accident Report—Derailment of Auto-Train No. 4 on Seaboard Coast Line Railroad, Florence, South Carolina, February 24, 1978 |id=NTSB-RAR-78-6 |url=http://trid.trb.org/view.aspx?id=76346 |publisher=Transportation Research Board }}</ref>

=== Amtrak ===
[[File:Auto Train Platform.jpg|thumb|alt=Platform at Lorton station|Platform at Lorton station. [[Superliner (railcar)|Superliners]] are lined up at the left, with autoracks visible to the right.]]
[[File:Auto Train Autoracks Rear.jpg|thumb|alt=Autoracks lined up at their loading ramps at the Lorton station.|Autoracks lined up at their loading ramps at the Lorton station. The ramps are not visible in this photo.]]
Amtrak planned to introduce a Midwest–Florida auto train service called "[[AutoTrak]]" in 1974. Running between [[Indianapolis]] and {{amtk|Poinciana}}, it would have competed with Auto-Train's Louisville–Sanford service.<ref name=sanders>{{Sanders-Heartland|pages=86–87}}</ref> Amtrak built a terminal at Poinciana, acquired 20 auto-carrier cars, and ran a test train loaded with rented autos on April 30 – May 1, 1974.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=fhpXAAAAIBAJ&pg=3969,4760646
|title=Amtrak Will Build Million Dollar Passenger Facility At Poinciana |date=January 17, 1974 |publisher=Lakeland Ledger |first=Peter |last=Fiero}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=Railroad News Photos |page=12 |date=July 1974 |magazine=Trains |volume=34 |issue=9}}</ref> The test train damaged the autos; Amtrak delayed and eventually cancelled the AutoTrak service.<ref name=sanders />

Nearly two years after the Auto-Train Corporation folded, the Virginia–Florida service was revived by [[Amtrak]]. Amtrak acquired the terminals in Lorton and Sanford and some of the Auto-Train equipment. On October 30, 1983, it introduced a triweekly version of the service under the restyled name "''Auto Train''".<ref name=newsanford /> Daily service was introduced a year later.

Amtrak used Auto-Train's bi-level and tri-level [[autorack]]s. For passenger equipment, it initially used a mixture of former Auto-Train railcars and mid-century long-distance railcars from Amtrak's general fleet, all rebuilt to Amtrak's "Heritage Fleet" standards. In the mid-1990s, Amtrak replaced all these passenger railcars, which were of the conventional single-level type, with its newer, bi-level [[Superliner (railcar)|Superliner]] I and II equipment. In 2006, the aging bi-level, tri-level, and "van" [[autorack]]s were phased out and replaced with 80 new autoracks.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Warner |first1=David |last2=Sutton |first2=Harry |title=On Track On Line – Amtrak Passenger Equipment Roster – Rolling Stock |url=http://www.on-track-on-line.com/amtk-roster-cars.shtml#Auto |access-date=January 13, 2018 |website=www.on-track-on-line.com}}</ref><ref name=newsanford />

Amtrak operates two Auto Trains simultaneously each day: southbound #53 from Lorton and northbound #52 from Sanford, departing at 5 p.m. for a scheduled arrival the following day at 10 a.m.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Amtrak Advisory {{!}} Auto Train Departure Time Change |url=https://www.amtrak.com/auto-train-departure-time-change |access-date=May 18, 2022 |website=www.amtrak.com |language=en}}</ref> In practice, however, the trains usually run late. In May 2021, for example, only 31 percent of Auto Trains arrived on time, mostly because of interference by freight trains that have preference over much of the route.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Freight Delays and Your Amtrak Service |url=https://www.amtrak.com/on-time-performance |access-date=May 18, 2022 |website=www.amtrak.com |language=en}}</ref>

The ''Auto Train'' was the last Amtrak service to permit smoking on board. Amtrak discontinued the practice on June 1, 2013.

''Auto Train'' operates on the same route it and its predecessor have always used; the entire route is owned by [[CSX Transportation]] except for the southern {{convert|16|miles}}, which are owned by [[SunRail]].