Forgotten Railway Stories Ep. 6 - That Time Amtrak Went To Atlantic City

Welcome back to the Forgotten Railway Stories! This series will cover the stories of forgotten train stations, rolling stock, locomotives, and derailments that no one knows of!
Episode 6 is about yet another short-lived Amtrak train! This one is quite unique because it went to the northeast US's gambler central city! You heard me right, Amtrak once ran to Atlantic City! This was a short-lived service due to it increasingly losing money throughout the years ever since inauguration. It ran partially funded by the state of NJ and the casino industry, which got tired of paying because of increased demand. Welcome to... That Time Amtrak Went To Atlantic City!
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
1:22 What Amtrak Wanted To Do
1:57 What was the Atlantic City Express?
3:51 The Problems
6:13 The Last Hurrah
7:12 Another Atlantic City Express?
9:10 The Present Day
10:04 Conclusion
10:43 Final Thoughts
10:54 Thanks for watching!
SOURCES/CREDITS:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlanti...
web.archive.org/web/201107071...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindenw...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlanti...)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlanti...
www.timetables.org/full.php?gr...
• Amtrak Atlantic City E...
• Old Atlantic City Express
• New Jersey Transit Atl...
• HD: NJT P40BH's ACES T...
• NJ Transit & Amtrak At...
• Atlantic City 1990
• Central Railroad of NJ...
• New Jersey Transit Atl...
• NJ Transit Atlantic Ci...
Music:
• Swanee River
• Chicago
• Super Mario 64 - Main ...
• C418 - Stal (Minecraft...
• C418 - Taswell (Minecr...
• Manhattan Spiritual
• Amazing Plan
• HOME - Resonance
Thanks again for watching y'all, and THANK YOU for 1,000 SUBSCRIBERS!

[@westofhudsonstudios4726]

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[@paulw.woodring7304]

I wanted to fill-in some inside details of this service. I was a Washington, DC based Amtrak Lead Service Attendant during this time. I held the AC service from late October 1991 to the end of the service in April 1995. Amtrak created a Philadelphia OBS crew base and commissary for the service in 1989, and Philly staffed the train for the first year and a half. Amtrak then decided to close that crew base and commissary in late '91, ended the Harrisburg leg, and gave the jobs to Washington, which is when I was able to successfully bid one of them. They were good jobs, four days on and four days off, between three and four trips per month. The equipment cycle was as follows. Day one started in DC to A-C with a Diesel in push mode, cab car leading, via PHL 30th St., laying over about 90 minutes in AC, then proceeded to NYP and Springfield, MA, changing power to electric at Frankfort Jct., not returning to 30th St. The LSA changed at SPG with the one from the night before, then laid over 24 hours to the next night. The equipment became the morning train from SPG to AC, changing from electric to Diesel at Frankfort Jct. again and reversing direction to AC because the track was only direct towards AC to/from the south. The time it took to change power at Frankfort Jct., not being able to go directly from the NEC to the AC line forward was part of the problem with the schedule. Equipment laid over in AC most of the afternoon, becoming the evening train to Richmond, VA, arriving in Richmond after 9 pm. Equipment became the second train of the morning out of Richmond, to AC, laying over a couple of hours in AC becoming the afternoon train to DC, ending at DC in early evening. The death knell for the service was the opening of Foxwoods Indian casino in Connecticut in 1994. Ridership from the NY end of the service fairly quickly collapsed. The handwriting was on the wall as other states started to legalize casino gambling.

[@erichhouchens3711]

The New York, New Haven and Springfield trains to AC did not go to Philadelphia. Instead they reversed direction at Shore interlocking on No.5 track. Westbound an F40 would run from Race Street engine terminal lite to Shore and couple to the east-end of the train. Once the AEM7 had uncoupled from the west-end the train would head to AC. The AEM7 would then run lite to Race Street, The process was reversed going the other direction. The Richmond and Washington trains ran through with an F40 all the way. Only the Harrisburg trains changed direction at 30th street.

[@nickcef]

Much of the right-of-way from Jersey City/NY to AC still exists, although it probably needs to be redone completely after decades of abandonment. Some of the line is the now the North Jersey Coastline route, run by NJ Transit. It would be great to someday link all the Jersey shore towns by rail, from Sandy Hook all the way to Cape May. It could run as a seasonal operation and take a lot of traffic off the Parkway.

[@NortheastTrainMan]

The glitch at 6:41 caught me off guard! 😂

[@wavesnbikes]

"Sipping a negroni in the Club Car, on the Blue Comet, imagine that". -Robert "Bobby Bacalla" Bacallieri, Jr.

[@paulw.woodring7304]

Right before he got "whacked" in the train store. Great scene. Many trains were harmed in the production of that motion picture.

[@wayneantoniazzi2706]

"A-C would be a LOT better place if that train ran today!" Poor Bobby, he never got to run that Baby Blue Comet set!

[@theyeeter95]

6:40 AYO WHAT THE AMFLEET DOIN (i experience that sometimes when i play that game lol

[@NewYorkRecordingsNYC]

Sad to see this line go. Harrisburg to Atlantic City is an interesting idea

[@Hal10034]

I rode Amtrak once between NYC and Atlantic City, but the train didn't stop at 30th Street in Philadelphia. Instead it veered east and crossed the Delaware River near the Betsy Ross Bridge.

[@kevinb8881]

I remember Amtrak service to Atlantic City!!

[@J-Bahn]

Also I would love to see a photo of Amtrak trains at Philly Airport.

[@wayneantoniazzi2706]

Very enjoyable! You're doing a great job with these "Forgotten Railway Stories" videos! And congratulations! I see you're over 1,000 subscribers! Well done!

[@kevinhoward9593]

1995 was also the year that The Boardway Limited died. 6:41 um? lol. surprised no one else seen that.

[@njtrailfan4106]

Awesome video it was very interesting to learn some of the history of the ACL thanks for taking the time to make this video and share this info with others have a great rest of your day.

[@richardmcgowan8854]

I don’t know if anyone has clarified this but, the Jersey central didn’t follow the route the Atlantic City line does today that is former Pennsylvania railroad trackage. The Jersey central line to Atlantic City went from Jersey city to along the north Jersey coast line passing Red Bank to go through central ocean county and the pine barrens before meeting up with the Atlantic City line at Winslow junction. Other than that great video, I wish the Jersey Central line was active now it would give those in central Monmouth, ocean county, and Burlington more access to the metro areas other than the bus or car.

[@mirzaahmed6589]

Not sure why anyone would take a train when a bus can drop you off right at the doorstep of a casino, and not a train station miles away.

[@TomHoffman-uw7pf]

The hell with buses. I'd stay home and watch You Tube first. Yeah, buses are cheaper. So is hitchhiking. You younguns probably don't know this, but intercity buses DID NOT EVEN HAVE BATHROOMS until the late 1960s. Some people would do anything to save 50 cents. The Amtrak service suffered from several handicaps. The station was in the middle of an industrial and warehouse district. Nowhere even close to where people wanted to go. Not the casinos, not the beach, not the hotels. Amtrak made little or no effort to offer rolls of quarters or food vouchers. The bus lines beat them badly at that. More than likely, the station was built in that wasteland because it couldn't get any closer because the area was too built up already. There were shuttle buses to the boardwalk. I can't remember if there was an extra charge beyond the rail fare. But even if there wasn't, transfers drastically reduce ridership. Particularly for people with luggage and/or small children. The trains to/from New York had an AEM-7 on one end of the train and a diesel on the other. The electrics were necessary to get through the Hudson River tunnels. There was no switching to be done at Frankford Jct where the trains reversed. That didn't mean that the trains didn't sit and sit and sit there, with the HEP off. Not good on a hot summer day. Finally, if you don't gamble ,or if like me, you aren't a beach person, there's little reason to go to ACY (that's the Amtrak code for it). The place is a teetotal DUMP. You have that glitzy row of hotels on the boardwalk. But go away from the ocean and you're in a scary looking slum within two blocks. Porn shops, liquor stores and people on the corner that you would not want to encounter in a dark alley. I did ride the NJT train once after Amtrak pulled out. It was three commuter coaches behind a diesel. Adequate for a 60-mile trip. The train seemed reasonably well patronized. I enjoyed seeing the small towns and the Pine Barrens. Didn't see the Jersey Devil, though. Tom Hoffman Pearisburg VA

[@dosaussiethai2127]

9:27 That is Greyhound timetable not train timetable.

[@ninyaninjabrifsanovichthes45]

"Y'know, my father taught me not to gamble, so, uh, maybe never mind" "That is the biggest BS I have ever heard in my life, Mr. Atlantic City Sports Betting." "Hey, it's good for the economy." - Donald Trump and Barack Obama, "The Presidential Zomboys Return to Origins" by Shreebington